[Mendocino]

Hello everyone. My name is Josh, and here is my story :
It all started with music !!  It was the early 80's after all, and I was in my teen years!  Music was SO new and amazing .... well, think about the music of the 70's.  MTV and a new sound ushered in music in a new and exciting way. And I was a vocalist in a band, huge hair and all. I simply have ALWAYS loved music! So when I married early, and necessarily, at 18 yrs of age, I went to Sears and purchased a $900 'rack system', with 4- way tower speakers made of 3/8" particle board and sporting 15" woofers. Yes ... I now owned the world.
Until my new wife's old friend became my best buddy. He was into audio gear and loved music as well. An audiophile if you will ... and I was in trouble for life. He argued until he convinced me there actually could be better speakers,  and then brought his own pair over ... uh oh. So I saved my very hard earned funds,  and he and I drove to Plano TX and purchased a traded in pair of North American Sound Monitor speakers for $350. They didn't need the 16 bands per channel of eq that came with the rack system. So I started listening with the eq button switched to 'off'. My friend and I started taking weekend trips to the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area to the numerous high end audio stores. Where I quickly learned my rack system was simply ... crap. I had to get a better system, and started where I could .... pawn shops. After all, I had a new baby and wife at 19,  and worked for very little. I could only drool for the Adcom GFA-555 or Luxman receiver I wanted. So I purchased a used Nakamichi tape deck,  a Sony cd player,  and a Technics stereo receiver which weighed 60 pounds or more!  And wow, it was started! I purchased a subscription to Julian Hirsch's magazine, and started receiving TONS of literature from TONS of manufacturers. No internet,  remember ?  So I had closets of audio literature filed away. And started learning all that I could about it. These speakers were just giant killers in anything even close to my budget, and stayed in my system for several years. Until I started understanding my speakers did sound a bit 'shouty', as a result of their high efficiency and design. So I sold the NAS monitors and purchased a pair of Visonik David bookshelf speakers, and a HUGE custom subwoofer which was a dual sub, isobaric design in a 9cu ft box. This was powered by a Carver 2ch amplifier, and a DBX x-over. I placed the speakers on stands I made from 3" pvc pipe. This wasn't satisfying for two reasons : the speakers f3 point was probably only 80hz, and the dual 15" subs couldn't dream of playing well up to a higher x-over point to blend with the satellite speakers, leaving a frequency gap very audible. After a few months, I sold those two individually, and purchased my first true 'high end' speakers for $190 at Dallas Audio Concepts. The mighty PSB Alphas. They had the rich midbass I had been missing, and would play louder than the Visoniks. These were satisfying for the most part for quite a while. But every time I would visit my friend with his NAS Monitors, I would leave amazed by the dynamics again. ( This is very important !  I had zero clue, but this constant dissatisfaction from one trade off to the other ;  Warm and inviting, or fast and lively. This would continue to my sales, and cable development later). So soon enough, I went looking around different audio stores once again. This time going to Austin Tx to listen as well. There started a VERY important journey I didn't yet recognize yet .... the Yin and Yang search. So I sold the Alphas, and purchased another pair of bookshelf speakers, the Mirage M-290. This switched the tonal flavor away from the warmer Alphas for a more exciting sound ..... which I quickly learned was sibilant and artificial actually. I was able to help band aid it a touch, by adding crazy dull sounding cables from Van Den Hull and the Cardas Micro twin B. Just a mess at this point, I went back to what I knew was at least not fatiguing to listen to : warm and rolled off.  So I had remembered certain higher priced speakers which threw a large soundstage ... the huge Polk and Mirage offerings as tall as a man. I liked that, and found IT SEEMED to stem from systems which leaned to the more warm side ... I wrongly believed. So I took a trip to San Antonio and Austin again, and came away with a crazy system next .... why ?  A mind blowing demo from a great salesman, with a gimmick cd. I was played a system which had sounds coming from the rooms down the hallway, behind me! A crazy effect that was neat, by a very listenable speaker. So I bought the entire small system : Nakamichi MB-4S cd player, Parasound integrated amp with gold badge and gold feet. It had 'designed by John Curl' proudly on the brass badge. Legendary amp designer or not, after switching in and out of several systems, I realized it was sterile and lifeless as well. Nordost Flatline 4 speaker cables and Spica TC 60s. If you sat at a PERFECTLY measured distance from the speakers, and didn't move a muscle, you'd get a HUGE immersive soundstage which was crazy .... at the expense of almost zero dynamics, and lacking the top octave. LOL.  But it wasn't fatiguing at least!  Needing more dynamics led me to switching to an older Adcom preamp and a Nakamichi Stasis PA 5  amplifier. Big power and a decent amp. But it showed the frail Spica's power limits quickly. It was about this time I moved to the Houston area to work and live.  I was starting to get really tired of the Yin and Yang circle, but wasn't happy with my speakers any longer. I was deep into Pro Audio reproduction and recording,  so I dropped in a high end audio store on a whim. And was freaking hired !!!!   One of the best and worst things ever to happen to me!  Finally I was going to work a dream job in the industry I loved .... finally I could afford the gear I really wanted !!!  My addiction went insane next !!!  The guys I worked with knew what I wanted to learn ... and I had the info they wanted about room acoustics and room set up. They were as fanatical as I was about audio gear, and we normally stayed 2 -5 hours after store closing, and switched endless different gear combos around ... all to learn what we could about sonic signatures,  and what we really could discern !  Invaluable first hand info which still allows me to KNOW what I'm hearing today, and not just placebo effect.  We started ordering in TONS of different audio manufacturers equipment for evaluation in our store. We did this for over two years, and listened to gobs of different gear in our own known listening rooms !  Allowing us a very good point of judgement about inherent sonic characteristics of different gear .... and yes, cables and tweaks ! ( this is where I started seeing cables as tone controls ). This huge listening and comparing experience helped me to start making a LOT of income in high end audio sales. Here is why ... I realized almost NOTHING in the world of audio gear at ANY price point was really very neutral. This acceptance of defined sonic signatures allowed me to match different brands to make as synergistic to neutral sound as I could. I used the strength and weaknesses of every kind of gear we sold, to compliment or discount the other's characteristics. Add in our perfectly rounded selection of 'tone control' ahem ... cables, and I garnered a reputation in the city for putting together amazing sounding systems ... if sometimes oddly matched. Add to this my Pro Audio engineering experience,  and acoustical engineering degree, and I was a shoe in for setting up a customer's new system to be as good as is possible in their home ... often in different rooms as even they intended !  LOL.  Long story short, I had great success selling for years.
Back to my own system though ... I've just started my new job, when I spied an unusual pair of speakers I wanted ... Alon Mk 1s. Those are still some great little speakers.
I switched the Adcom and Nak amplifier for a small Bryston 60B, and things improved for a bit. But I needed a much better front end. I bought a Linn Mimick cd player. Things started sounding better, but I needed more power. So next came an Audible Illusions Modulus preamplifier and a pair of Linn 5105 amplifiers. Big upgrade, but the speakers were now the weak link. Speakers were a bit tough for me. In our store, you were REQUIRED to own gear our store sold, if we owned any gear. I didn't care for the other brands we sold enough to own them myself. But I had recently discovered a very synergistic match : Linn absolutely loves Tara Labs RSC Air cables !  And I already owned Linn amps, so I went with their newest and loudest offering, the Linn 5140 floor standers,  and I added another 5105 amplifier for tri amped sound. I really wanted a remote control, so I gave up my Modulus preamp, and took a BIG leap upwards with a Naim NAC 82 preamp with flatcap power supply. Wow ... just wow. Huge difference with a way quieter background and stunning dynamics. And this got me to thinking ... how good is Naim exactly ?  I had ordered the preamp at my store owner's frustration, because even though we were technically Naim dealers, we sold Linn. And the two companies dont play nicely. So he was really fit when I next ordered myself a Naim CD2 cd player with Flatcap .... this is the best CD player I ever heard, other than a customer's Naim CDX. My system was now getting really good. So I did it ... I purchased my entire tri wired systems worth of Tara Labs RSC Air One cables ... all of them. I could have bought a car instead,  LOL.
My system was SO good, I needed more resolution.  So I purchased a pair of Alon Mk5 speakers at cost. We didn't carry Alon any longer, and I was fired for owning speakers we didn't sell. Along with the Naim gear, it was too much. So I left for another audio store to sell a competitor's equipment.  It was sometime in here, that I started really enjoying Some speakers I had coveted for years, since Julian Hirsch wrote they could and did handle 10,000 watts !  It was a huge downgrade in some ways ... but I now had two children, so I decided to sell my current system for serious bank, and start over at a lower level. I made enough money to buy a hot rod, and a new system as well. I should say the expensive system did get close to sonic neutrality with the Yin and Yang thing. I was close. ( at the time, Tara Air was the most open and transparent cable I knew of).
So I went with a new start.  I bought a Sony SCD777es, and sent signal to a B&K Reference pre amp B&K 4420 amplifier.  I kept the Tara Labs cables though. This went to a pair of PSB Status Mini I's. This was a nice system for a while, and would have lasted longer, except for a mistake .... my mistake. I accepted a local high end audio rep's invitation to dinner at his place. And when I get there he is playing a new Adcom amplifier ... I had always said I wouldn't own Adcom, after not caring for their harsher sound. Then came the GFA-5802. It sounded so good through a pair of the brand new Energy Veritas 2.4i speakers. So I sold my gear and bought those. Added a danish Thule preamplifier,  and found the SACD player had too much of it's own signature. So I purchased a great time expensive cd player ... the Arcam Alpha 9. I enjoyed that system a lot, but recognized the circle once again !!!  From the warm and punchy PSBs to the lively Veritas. This was very frustrating,  and I gave up for a lot of years .... 10 to be exact. I sold all gear and concentrated on car audio. Then around 2005, I got the audio bug again. But I knew my world of high dollar high end was over. I no longer made huge money or purchased at employee below cost pricing. So I went Ebay and bought a very nice and used B&K Reference AVR 307 and a pair of PSB Status Silver i's. I was lucky and picked up a $5000 Lexicon RT-20 disc player and was set again.  Once again, this is about as good as a A disc spinner gets ! But fate had it's way, and I had a terrible accident which led me to over a year in recovery. With most of my time spent in my listening chair, I took it upon myself to figure out exactly why different cables so so differently from each other, often times. So I spent a year playing with TONS of cables and diy testing, trying to gain an understanding of the how's and whys . As soon as I was healed however, I sold the system when I decided to move. Next came a huge revelation in my entire world of audio, which changed things forever for me ... a pair of speakers. This was now the year 2010, and I had been turned on to a custom speaker builder, from one of the audio forums. After receiving my new pair of Vapor Cirrus Black, I realized the Yin and Yang 'musical chairs game' was finally over!  This had nothing to do with any personal preference or bias, but instead was due to the speakers being dead straight down the middle of the Yin Yang balance. They weren't warm or analytical .... yet they were both at the same exact time. In the most revealing and lifelike musical presentation I'd ever heard, by a large margin. The balanced down the middle sound, allowed me several advantages in making my system better. It allowed me a neutral and revealing control sample, in which to ACCURATELY judge precisely what other equipment, cables, and tweaks were adding or taking away. A perfect 'reference' if you will. This also allowed me to confirm and further tweak what I had already learned about audio cables, and what they were really doing, or not doing.
I learned it was several things which transpired, to suddenely allow me to be able to afford speakers so perfect to neutral. Driver technology had rapidly advanced in lower priced options. Speaker design was now in the 'forum' stages, and proper knowledge had replaced manufacturer's propaganda.  And a speaker engineer I knew personally, or was working on building the best speakers be could, without ANY concern At all for profit, marketing, etc as of yet. He was still in the act of developing his new speaker business. And I got in on the ground floor. I decided to call down the B.S. I had learned about the audio cable business, by building my own cables based on what I had learned did and did not work, and selling them. I started my cable business in 2011 and kept it going as a small boutique side business until my wife became ill in 2013, in which time I stopped the business to give more time to her. I went from not having enough time in the day to make and ship out all of my cable orders, to just making them for friends in the industry and family members. Her illness required me to once again sell my equipment in mid 2013. Knowing it was temporary again, after all I am an audio addict, I kept only my custom cables. And sure enough, I'm now using them again !  I'm no longer playing in the high end of things, but I'm rebuilding. Until I can get that finished, I'm using a wonderful little Marantz NR-1407, into a pair of simple and temporary diy speakers with modified Energy ESW-8 subwoofer.  A lot of priorities have changed since my wife's illness .... my new system goals are VERY moderate now. I plan to purchase another Marantz, for the updated features, the SR-5010 for processing and power needs, with hopes of maybe adding a nice 2ch amplifier. I'm going to use a laptop for my music server, and of course ... I must buy another pair of Vapor loudspeakers. All while living on SS and taking care of my sick wife ..... All hail the mighty addiction of the audiophile music lover !!!!   LOL
And that is who I am .... Hello.

[FullRangeMan]

Thanks for your brief introduction and welcome

[Phil A]

Welcome to AC! Just a suggestion - paragraphs help lots. I use an SR5010 in a spare system (integrated AV system with a Sherbourn preamp and Emotiva amp).

I'll update the main (integrated AV) in the near future. Perhaps an SR7010. We'll see.

[JerryM]

I only read that your name is Josh, and that you're from Mendocino.

Welcome to AC, Josh. Stop by in SoCal when you have the opportunity.   

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC Josh    

[rajacat]

Nice audio autobiography! I agree with Phil A, some more paragraphs would make it easier to read. That was quite a ramble like you had a head full of Mendocino finest bud, eh?

[Mendocino]

Sorry guys.  I didn't actually type all of that for the forum. It was copied and pasted from my literal audio autobiography,  I recently typed for my own records. And I was truly flowing fast as I was writing down long forgotten information from my past. Paragraphs weren't considered at the time, lol.

[Guy 13]

A warm welcome to AudioCircle Mr. Mendocino.

Guy 13

[JLM]

Welcome.  Thanks for sharing your experiences. 

I note your comment about nothing in (home) audio sounding neutral.  As opposed to professional work, home listening is for enjoyment (hearing what we want).  So we constantly waiver between mixing either too much of a good thing (say warmth) or trying to blend conflicting sonic attributes into our systems to find the ultimately most rewarding set-up.  As you alluded to, sometimes the smaller/simpler systems can be the most satisfying.

I'm also of retirement age and have had a few of the same experiences over the years.  Audio is certainly more of a process than a destination.

[brooklyn]

[TrungT]

Welcome to AC 

[guf]

Thanks for your brief introduction and welcome

lol

[Dmason]

Interesting treatise, Mendocino.

The mention of your town reminds me fondly of trips north, to Santa Barbara, and Winter time surfing at "The Ranch," and Mussel Shoals.

I'm with the notion of audio as a process and not a destination  ...this dynamic can also give rise to a disease called audiophilia nervosa. High rotation madness. 

What I have been slow to discover is that well produced, quality recordings are VERY high quality and seem to benefit from neutral and revealing audio equipment. Last year I combined small powered monitors with a single triode line buffer, with a selection of big budget production music with several examples from John Williams/London Symphony soundtracks from Spielberg movies, and the results were astonishing.

I would say the biggest factor for communicative sound in my experience, is directly coupling amplifiers to drivers. Eithe wide band driver or actively powered pro audio type modern speakers seem to be a key. Brings wide choices. You can purchase high quality small Fountek wide band drivers for $35 from Madisound, or $250,000 WestLake monitors from LA,using expensive TAD drivers, delivered, and installed. Just avoid crossovers, it would seem.  Adding tubes adds organic tone without question. Ifi Audio offers the outstanding iTube for a very good price, and Joule Electra has stunning tube preamps for much more.

I've heard megabuck systems that were unlistenable shrines to conspicuous consumption, and terrific low budget set ups that can be highly involving.  My iPad, Ifi iDac, and Serene Audio Talisman tiny powered single driver speakers are an example of decent sound for no mucho dinero. The Vapor Audio were highly regarded at a recent audio. Ribbons sound great.  Recently I listened to a system that I owned until about 12 years ago. The well regarded Dynaudio Contour 1.8, a Bryston 4BST amp, and Arcam CD player. I did not like the sound at all. Sounded jumbled and "mechanical."  Astoundingly so. The little Founteks, or my Pioneer/TAD 6.5's in the Bentwood Angels, Bob's TL or ideas from the late Terry Cain, or Magnepan, all share a common trait: coherency of a single point source which seems to my ears to be sort of #1. Even the big Bentwood Angels with $12,000 worth of TAD drivers still offered a kind of discontinuity, but still the very best big speakers I have ever heard.

[Mendocino]

quote  Mendocino. your town reminds me fondly of trips north, to Santa Barbara, and Winter time surfing at "The Ranch," and Mussel Shoals.

I'm with the notion of audio as a process and not a destination  ...this dynamic can also give rise to a disease called audiophilia nervosa. High rotation madness. 

What I have been slow to discover is that well produced, quality recordings are VERY high quality and seem to benefit from neutral and revealing audio equipment. Last year I combined small powered monitors with a single triode line buffer, with a selection of big budget production music with several examples from John Williams/London Symphony soundtracks from Spielberg movies, and the results were astonishing.

I would say the biggest factor for communicative sound in my experience, is directly coupling amplifiers to drivers. Eithe wide band driver or actively powered pro audio type modern speakers seem to be a key. Brings wide choices. You can purchase high quality small Fountek wide band drivers for $35 from Madisound, or $250,000 WestLake monitors from LA,using expensive TAD drivers, delivered, and installed. Just avoid crossovers, it would seem.  Adding tubes adds organic tone without question. Ifi Audio offers the outstanding iTube for a very good price, and Joule Electra has stunning tube preamps for much more.

I've heard megabuck systems that were unlistenable shrines to conspicuous consuption, and terrific low budget set ups that can be highly involving.  My iPad, Ifi iDac, and Serene Audio Talisman tiny powered single driver speakers are an example of decent sound for no mucho dinero. The Vapor Audio were highly regarded at a recent audio. Ribbons sound great.  Recently I listened to a system that I owned until about 12 years ago. The well regarded Dynaudio Contour 1.8, a Bryston 4BST amp, and Arcam CD player. I did not like the sound at all. Sounded jumbled and "mechanical."  Astoundingly so. The little Founteks, or my Pioneer/TAD 6.5's in the Bentwood Angels, Bob's TL or ideas from the late Terry Cain, or Magnepan, all share a common trait: coherency of a single point source which seems to my ears to be sort of #1. Even the big Bentwood Angels with $12,000 worth of TAD drivers still offered a kind of discontinuity, but still the very best big speakers I have ever heard.
[/quote]

What a well written response. You covered some very interesting points. And yes ... Mendocino is about as beautiful as it gets in America. Laid back and slow.
You say "high rotation madness". Other than most hobbiest's having a high propensity for serious OCD, I always attributed this to the search for neutral, or lifelike. Dead center of the Yin and Yang. Our brain knows what sounds correct. We're dissatisfied when a system is either too warm, or too analytical.  So we rotate ! LOL
      I agree that active SHOULD be the transparency ticket. But I've never heard dsp sound as realistic as the best designed x-overs with high quality components.  Vapor speakers sound worse with Mini dsp according to Ryan as well.
No crossovers at all ?  I haven't heard a wideband driver with enough dynamics to assimilate live music's nuances.
And I can't start to consider line arrays any longer, due to room and budget.  So I'm stuck for a bit, lol.
What I really want, is a 100db + horn speaker, mated to a 15" woofer, which has NONE of horn's drawbacks, and the finesse of the Vapor Cirrus !  LOL
        And yes !  Oh how I wish I had of always been wealthy.  I'd just love to still have all of the equipment I've purchased over the years, to hear the progression.  But like most, I sold my old gear when I upgraded each time. It would be amusing and shocking to realize just how poorly some of our old equipment would compare to today's technology, in sound quality.
But you also said one of the best quotes ever, about big end audio systems, when you said " I've heard megabuck systems that were unlistenable shrines to conspicous consuption, and terrific low budget systems which can be highly involving" ... Sums it up perfectly.

[Dmason]

Glad you enjoyed my response; it was written in the aftermath of attending a very large Dominican christening party.. uff..

I agree with your points as well. No replacement for displacement. I would be truly happy with a room large enough to allow Altec A7, or Bentwood Angel with $12,000 of TAD drivers to coalesce, but that is out. I have the tiny Serene Talismans here, and the smaller Bentwood Angels with far less expensive Pioneer/TAD drivers there. The latter, being horn loaded single driver speakers, have pretty darn good dynamics, relative to their scale, etc, etc.  They are the best small speaker I have heard, to these ears, etc.

My first "real" summer job was working for Clair Brothers Audio on a 1978 US summer tour. The client was a little band called "Yes." At that time, they still were widely used JBL, Altec, Westrex mega multicell horn units, Alnico motors, huge bass horns with dual 515's, Neve tube line amps, Langevin tube limiters... mmm   "those were the days"