Hi, James here... just joined recently, but as they say - long time reader (early 2017), 1st time poster. After much dilly dallying and missing out on some nice vintage tts recently sold, I guess it was time to join.
I used to be what I call a "suppressed audiophile"... grew up on my dad's gear, composed of 3 sets, the 1st 2 was composed of Audionics, SAE and Amber pre-amps, power amps and equalizers powering a pair of Bose 901s and Altec Lansing Model 14 floor standing speakers, but for serious listening and the set I still hold as my reference to this date is a bi-amped system composed of an Audio Research SP-6 PreAmp, Audio Research D-90 PowerAmp, Luxkit A3000 monoamp x 2, Dahlquist DQ-LP1 crossover, Dahlquist DQ 10 speakers, Dahlquist DQ-1W sub woofer x 2 with a Technics tt and a Teac reel to reel deck as sources... but in college realized that I could not really afford the hobby as replicating my dad's gear would be worth more than buying a new car - thus the suppression started.
Fast forward 25+ years (the audiophile still well contained)... after several days of coming home with the wife listening to the clock radio (w/c was bought more for the alarm) for some background music, I felt bad for her for having to put up with the crappy sound coming from the clock radio and decided to give her an upgrade, not that she was complaining as for her it was just background music.
1st stop was Dionwired to listen to at least a JBL clock radio or wireless speaker - nope, sounded awful, won't pay a grand for that, and if I'm paying a grand, might as well go up... and there you go, didn't realize it then, but the audiophile had been unleashed.
Remembered Bose has a radio clock, so went to Bose in Rosebank and listened to their radio clock and a couple other wireless systems. Definitely better than the stuff in Dionwired but something was still not right (bias was kicking in as I've never like my dad's Bose speakers), for R13k+ it was prudent to listen to other system 1st. On the way back to Pretoria, remembered there's an audio shop at MOA and decided to pass by.
At MOA, was thinking of B&W's Zeppelin but gotten it confused with B&O, and embarrassingly asked about the Zeppelin in B&O and thus politely corrected, but ended up listening to their wireless speakers as well and wife and I both liked the Beoplay A9s. Finally something worth considering, but now I'm up R47k+ from just R1k :BWAHAHAH::facepalm: So now, at R47k, maybe I should audition separates, maybe I can bundle something together at that amount.
Went to Menlyn to audition separates w/a budget of R50k, but realistically I knew it would be a tough order and ended up not really liking anything nor coming close to the A9s at that price point. Listened to the Zeppelin as well and did not like it. Also I was afraid of going the separates route as I knew I would end up chasing my reference gear.
At a friend of a friend's house, noticed he has Kefs. Never had the chance to listen to them but always wanted to, so he gives me demo. Just a modest setup but loved them, so I start looking up the net to see if they have some sort of wireless system.
Lo and behold, the Kef LS50 Wireless system was just released and also available in SA. Managed to audition them and it blew my wife and I away, and the rest as they say is history and I am now back in the game
, though very much under the wife's watchful eye :faint:...
oh and btw, after purchasing the LS50W, wife goes and asks me - "so where's my radio???" :whistler:
I used to be what I call a "suppressed audiophile"... grew up on my dad's gear, composed of 3 sets, the 1st 2 was composed of Audionics, SAE and Amber pre-amps, power amps and equalizers powering a pair of Bose 901s and Altec Lansing Model 14 floor standing speakers, but for serious listening and the set I still hold as my reference to this date is a bi-amped system composed of an Audio Research SP-6 PreAmp, Audio Research D-90 PowerAmp, Luxkit A3000 monoamp x 2, Dahlquist DQ-LP1 crossover, Dahlquist DQ 10 speakers, Dahlquist DQ-1W sub woofer x 2 with a Technics tt and a Teac reel to reel deck as sources... but in college realized that I could not really afford the hobby as replicating my dad's gear would be worth more than buying a new car - thus the suppression started.
Fast forward 25+ years (the audiophile still well contained)... after several days of coming home with the wife listening to the clock radio (w/c was bought more for the alarm) for some background music, I felt bad for her for having to put up with the crappy sound coming from the clock radio and decided to give her an upgrade, not that she was complaining as for her it was just background music.
1st stop was Dionwired to listen to at least a JBL clock radio or wireless speaker - nope, sounded awful, won't pay a grand for that, and if I'm paying a grand, might as well go up... and there you go, didn't realize it then, but the audiophile had been unleashed.
Remembered Bose has a radio clock, so went to Bose in Rosebank and listened to their radio clock and a couple other wireless systems. Definitely better than the stuff in Dionwired but something was still not right (bias was kicking in as I've never like my dad's Bose speakers), for R13k+ it was prudent to listen to other system 1st. On the way back to Pretoria, remembered there's an audio shop at MOA and decided to pass by.
At MOA, was thinking of B&W's Zeppelin but gotten it confused with B&O, and embarrassingly asked about the Zeppelin in B&O and thus politely corrected, but ended up listening to their wireless speakers as well and wife and I both liked the Beoplay A9s. Finally something worth considering, but now I'm up R47k+ from just R1k :BWAHAHAH::facepalm: So now, at R47k, maybe I should audition separates, maybe I can bundle something together at that amount.
Went to Menlyn to audition separates w/a budget of R50k, but realistically I knew it would be a tough order and ended up not really liking anything nor coming close to the A9s at that price point. Listened to the Zeppelin as well and did not like it. Also I was afraid of going the separates route as I knew I would end up chasing my reference gear.
At a friend of a friend's house, noticed he has Kefs. Never had the chance to listen to them but always wanted to, so he gives me demo. Just a modest setup but loved them, so I start looking up the net to see if they have some sort of wireless system.
Lo and behold, the Kef LS50 Wireless system was just released and also available in SA. Managed to audition them and it blew my wife and I away, and the rest as they say is history and I am now back in the game
, though very much under the wife's watchful eye :faint:...oh and btw, after purchasing the LS50W, wife goes and asks me - "so where's my radio???" :whistler:
