Dan
Ex Member
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I bought my first stereo in 1978 while stationed in Japan. It was a true stereo- two Sansui speakers, integrated amp and tuner, a equalizer which I can't remember the brand name, a Aiwa cassette deck and Kenwood turntable. The speakers were soon sold for a down payment on Polk Audio RTA-12s. My turntable was always spinning, I had over 1000 record albums.
Like many of my hobbies and things I owned, I sold the record albums for cheap to a collector for $1.00 each because I needed something else. A seven year long failed marriage caused me to sell the stereo and helped with my decision to return to school using the GI Bill. My second "real" wife let me buy another stereo soon after we were married- a Mitsubishi package that was stolen from our house in 1999. A wrought iron gate on the front porch keeps a Denon receiver based system in our den, well used by my 15 year old son, mostly for X-box.
While I don't have a single record album in the house, I do have CDs and iTunes music I listen to. My music tastes have changed, and because my son plays piano and violin and guitar, I know about the major composers and recognize and appreciate classical music.
I bought some used Omega Grande 8R speakers and connected them to my Aiwa bookshelf unit with cannibalized extension cords, intended for use with my Zen amplifier. They sounded great on the cheap Aiwa system in my little machine shop.
My SE84C+ arrived last Friday, and I'm dutifully breaking it in 5 hours a day. Its great to listen to music again, and I was concerned it wouldn't go loud enough to listen to at concert-level. It is and does play loud. "Summer Madness" by Kool and the Gang shook the shop with the bass lines, and the amp handled the keyboard flawlessly, something my Denon receiver can't do. Hooked to a CEC cd player, I can hear detail I never heard before, so much so that Etta James startled me, and Allison Krauss' voice is more beautiful. I can hear people clearing their throats, dropping items while listening to live recordings of classical music concerts. Its also great to have my own system again, and my son enjoys his music on the home theater system.
Thank you Steve and company! I'm doing my part to buy American products- and what a great product! I can't say how happy I am with the industrial looking amplifier, but what really matters is how it sounds: it sounds awesome!
Dan
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