Could use some help, please


I once heard the sound of the felt pad just before the hammer hit the string on a piano. What impressed me was that this was not a live piano but a recorded reproduction. On that day I was hooked.

Since then, and three grown children later I have dreamed of having a Hi Fi system that could truly reproduce music as if I were there. My dream has remained out of my reach over the last 30 years.

I am disabled, confined to a wheelchair every moment that I am awake. Home bound and only getting out to see the occasional doctor or clinic. I live on a fixed income along with my wife and grandson. My dream of a Hi Fi has consistently had to take a back seat to the every day challenges of keeping a roof overhead at below poverty level income.

I'm very proud of my accomplishments and over coming the adversities of disabled life, so it is with great internal conflict that I convey the following;

So far I've manage to put together an Onkyo A-RV401 Amp, T-403 Tuner, DX-702 CD Player, TA-RW344 Cassette and a CP-1100A Turntable. The Amp, tuner, tape deck, and turntable were an Ebay surprise I found for $50 as a set. The CD was another Ebay prize I picked up for $6.50. Originally I had found a DX-1500 CD but was damaged during shipping. For speakers I picked up an older pair of Kenwood JL-802 speakers at the local flea market for $20 and a really old pair of Sansui SP-50's from Goodwill for $5.00.

Although, this system is far superior to the Emerson it replaced, I'm still not hearing real music. The Kenwoods have a tendency to get muddy sounding in the mid to upper mid range tones. They also require higher power levels to get any bass response out of them making it difficult to have conversations. We have taken a liking to the old Sansui's on lower volume levels. Their sound is not bad for the age but there is no definition to the sound. There is also no 3-D range, if I'm using the term correctly. When the Kenwoods are turned up the music fills the room and surrounds the listener, where the sound from the Sansui speakers is flat and just there.

I'm thinking my biggest weakness lies in the speakers. (Though I am sure many feel the whole system may be lacking.) I'm up to $75 so far which for some may not be very much, but for me, that's a large dent in my monthly income.

I have bid on several sets of Kef's and Bostons only to watch them price themselves out of range in the last hour of the auction. My friend suggested that someone on this site may have a pair of speakers that are old, cosmetically damaged or even being used as the rears in a surround sound. If any of you have a pair of speakers sitting there that you would part with for a very small amount of money, please let me know. I sure could use them. In fact, any advice you might have, even on a DIY speaker you have personally used with good results would be welcome. Any advice on getting the most out of the system I have now would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for this great site and for all I have learned from reading here.


http://neverthoughtithappen.blogspot.com/
128x128dave52355
You guys are great!! I am so impressed with all of these responses. You hear so much negative on the news anymore that I was beginning to think that humanity had left long ago. This is such a major reaffirmation that there are nice people still around.

Chadnliz: I had not even thought about cables and such. I'm just shocked at the responses. Let me know what you need for shipping and I'll see if we can swing it. Thanks

RW it truly is Christmas in New Mexico the only thing missing is the snow!!
Dave, it would be helpful if we could set up a list of the items being donated or being sold cheaply so that we can eliminate duplication of effort. If any members out there have some web space they could donate, we could build a list of the gear. Barring that, we need to have some centralized location where we all can correspond, Audiogon is not well-suited for this purpose. Anyone have any ideas on this?

If needed, I could knock together a quick app that would let us enter the gear, who is providing it, etc. (I'm a .NET programmer by trade.) But I don't have a website to host it.

If anyone wants to correspond with me offlist about this, send an email to: rlwainwright@gmail.com or call me: (301) 530-4589 between 9am and 10pm EST.

I am leaving for a (much needed) 2 week vacation in 10 days. I'd like to take care of this before I leave, if possible.
Dave, I have a .5m Audio Art Cable IC3 interconnect that I posted for sale recently; it is a very nice sounding cable If that lenght will work for you and you'd like the cable I'll pull the add and ship it to you no charge - cable or shipping; just let me know
I want to thank everyone who have posted and contacted me. I have been offered and accepted a Rotel cd player, a cash donation and Tannoy M4 speakers. There are some other offers that are out still that I am very pleased about and will tell everyone when finalized.

This has been a dream come true for me and I have all the fine members here to thank.

Again thank you very much.
Just wanted to let everyone know that my first "care package" arrived today. ( my wife called it my care package ) Inside I found a pair of TICE IC 1A Interconnects. They look really cool.

I just wanted to say Thank you!!