My starting point | Virtual Listening Room

My room. The rug really ties the room together, man!

Gotta have a Marantz receiver at least once in your life.

From the ground up

Starting to come together

Gotta have some blue lights

Execution of plan initiated

Meet Rusty, my better half! In the backyard

I want to get the best out of this.

It’s got blue (or any other color) lights!

1997 Moto Guzzi 1100 sport “i” (Another “two channel” audio source)

2004 BMW R1100s …Less “distortion”

2002 Moto Guzzi V11 LeMans (lusty yet refined)

2007 Ducati Sport Classic GT 1000

Description

Very pleasant sound with the stock pipes, though could be improved.

Room Details

Dimensions: 18’ × 19’ Large
Ceiling: 12’

Components Toggle details

- Marantz SACD 30n
It slices! It dices! Sounds good to me. Gathered a fair amount of cds over the years and my trusty Nakamichi OMS-1a can’t stream. WiFi and Bluetooth enabled.
- Marantz 10b
Grew up on Seattle fm stations in the 70’s now I’m closer to Vancouver and really enjoy the classical music of CBC most mornings. Radio never sounded better to me.
- Marantz 8b
It glows in the dark.

Currently running British Phillips (Mullard) el-34’s and I’ve got 2 sets Siemens that I think are E. German as well as a quad of Golden Lions. I should seriously spend more time A/B’ing them, but they all sound great to me.

Mullard E90F’s

Thorn 6CG7’s

I’ve others too, but I’d have to bust out the tube caddy to jog my memory.
- Marantz Model 7
Cuz I loved how it sounded in my youth. Thought I should start at the beginning.
Vintage Telefunken (x6) cuz that’s s what she came with. Gonna dance with the date I brought to the party, but I’ve got my eyes open. Actually, I’d love suggestions. Those 12ax7’s are begging to to be deployed in some guitar amps. I kid! Mostly.
- Thorens TD-125 mkII
SME 3009 series II (I think)
Sumiko song bird hi output mc
- Klipsch Cornwall IV
Cuz ……Marantz and tubes? I like!! Not optimized in room yet and may never be due to room irregularities and my nascent knowledge of acoustics, but I pay attention.

Various “affordable” speaker wire until I get the above sorted. Currently using blue jean cuz they’re local. Was using anti-cable that I think sounded a wee bit punchier, but I hated the inflexibility, plus I wanted to try bi-wire (shotgun?). Cables are the next frontier.

All other interconnects are Mogami gold, cuz I like their guitar chords.
- Marantz Model 19
Cuz I wanted blue lights!

The garage needs a system too!

It’s got a wood case, so it’s classy.
- Luxman L-550a mkII
I hate it. It punches above its weight. It makes my turntable shine. It has vu meters but not blue lights!! They’re kinda soft amber and the needles bounce a lot…. so that’s cool.
Did I mention that I hate it? Very, different from my old stuff. In a very nice way, but I hate change, Lol. I now want to build another system around it for either my bedroom or office.

Oh! I almost forgot….It’s got a remote. Kids today, what’s next?

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Yup, ol' Pete Curry. We met the first day of 7th grade and became fast friends. The first drumset I sat down at was his (his first instrument was drums, bass second, guitar third. He's good at all three, as well as engineering recordings. He has a studio with a 3M 2" reel-to-reel), in his bedroom in Cupertino. Six months later I had a set of Ludwigs and Zildjians, and a coupla months later was in my first group (as we called them at the time, not bands). I auditioned to take the place of the drummer who had just left to join The Chocolate Watchband.

The next year Pete moved to Santa Cruz (the beach town immortalized in The Beach Boy's "Surfin' USA"), where he lived until moving to L.A. in '78. I joined him there later in the year, where we played together in a band named Bernard, led by a great guitarist (Dan Bernard) who drank himself to death in his 30's.

We went our separate way for years, reuniting in the 90's were we were again together, this time in an instrumental group named The Hillbilly Soul Surfers. He left the band when Los Straitjackets offered him a job, and THSS soon did an album (entitled MoonTan) with a guitarist you may be familiar with, Evan Johns. He too drank himself to death, but not until he somehow managed to make it into his early-60's.

Alcohol and drug addiction, all too common amongst musicians.

bdp24 September 19, 2021 08:11

Oh yeah, now I see the six tuners on the Mosrite. The Ventures On Stage album is great, recorded at shows in Japan, England, and the USA. I saw them perform about 20 years ago, on a cruise ship trip to Mexico. Opening the show every night was another instro-band, Los Straitjackets, whose bassist I've known since 1962 and played in a coupla bands with.

bdp24 September 18, 2021 22:58

Your guitar amp collection looks like Ry Cooder's live gig set-up ;-) . Is that Mosrite a bass?

bdp24 September 18, 2021 00:45