Hi folks,
I was told about this place so thought I'd come and check it out. But first off, my introduction.
I have always been a music lover and as a kid, I remember hearing mostly my Mum's music which was Black Sabbath, Whitesnake, Rainbow, Quo and Abba ....... hey - don't want to be a single genra obsessive
We only had a cheap music centre, and I had a portable tape player - and I am sure I'm not the only one who used to kneel at the music centre on a Sunday recording the tracks I liked off the Top 40 (trying to chop off the talking without losing too much of the music) .....
Anyway, I go introduced to reasonable sound courtesy of a Pioneer system first. Tuner/Amp combo with seperate tape deck and TT. To which I later added a CD player.
Then I visited the Sound Org in York and my first 'proper' separates system was built. I retained the CDP from the Pioneer, but bought a Linn Basik, Linn Intek integrated and Epos ES11 speakers.
The Intel and ES11s are still going strong in a friend's home.
I then moved the Pioneer on and replaced with a Meridian 200/203.
I than had a few changes which included Cambridge C70/P70 pre and power, later Naim 102/180/HiCap/Napsc on the amp side, Linn Nexus SE and then Naim SBLs on the speakers side. The Meridian also joined the Intek and ES11s at my friend's home when I bought a Naim CDX.
Anyway, up until then, most of my music was hard and classic rock. I enjoyed my music in a very forward 'press you onto the back wall' style, I wanted to feel bass notes like I did at a gig, and what I had did that. But it was clearly lacking something as although I had enjoyed it for 9 years and loved it, I had grown and my tastes had changed...... I didn't want to be assaulted by my music, and I wanted something that would play more music types.
So the amps got replaced by a stunning valve amp - I had heard valves before and they had been no use to me as they either didn't rock, got muddled in fast music or just were not dynamic enough - but the amp I chose had the warm, spacious intimate sound you expect with valves..... but would also rock and play all music types.
Also, the SBLs are accused of not doing much bass. Well, with the Naim amps, I'd say I would agree to an extent - I needed serious volume to get the slam. But when I connected the Unison Research S8 to the SBLs.... they found the bass!
Anyway, the SBLs were sold on and I replaced them with some Audio Physic Avante IIIs (very very nice, but I did have a little resistance from my partner complaining about how far they need to sit into the room).
I also replaced the Linn Basik with a GyroSE with Orbe upgrades.
And have very recently replaced the S8 with the stunning S9.
I am going to look at some upgrades to my TT next (better arm and cartridge, but need a step up for the phono stage first).
I am now VERY VERY happy with my system. I love it. I still listen to rock, but also listen to a wide mix of music and do like a lot of female vocals. I also go through bouts of nostalgia and play very very uncool stuff, but its fun and music should be fun. It should touch you emotionally, lift you or make you smile (even grin). It reaches you far more than 'vegging in front of the box' and I feel lucky that I found this route and don't have to suffer the waste of time that is soap operas and 'reality' shows.
So this is me.
Oh - and yes, I really am a girl, just get that out of the way. Yes I realise there are not so many of us into this hobby. I don't know why.
