2. misc-audio
  3. 189747-166623

little big win

I know it’s all about bass nodes and vibration control but on the side, it can also be about giving back and spreading the love (like @tomic601 does)

My neighbor has a mug-sized JBL bluetooth speaker. She listens to it everywhere and several times it occurred to me to throw it over the fence down the canyon outside the bluetooth range. It is so bad even "noise" would be offended to be associated with it. She does love music, especially jazz and live music like the Symphony and has been married to a musician for decades.

I can’t stand that speaker. So I have been looking for a pair of decent active speakers for months. I finally found one for a little over a $100, used but in decent condition. They arrived yesterday. I also bought a bluetooth speaker adapter and went over to surprise her. Of course half the connections didn’t work on the speaker so I spent an hour trying to fix it until finally I was able to squeeze some sound out. She immediately objected to where I placed them, on a cabinet, 4 feet high 5 feet apart. (She used to having those spots for books and flowers and what not) She insisted to put it on a lower shelf 2 feet high, 2 feet apart. I told her it was not an option, only after my funeral.

I told her to listen to it for a bit and accept them where they are and see if she likes the sound. It seemed fine to me, I could even sense a soundstage.

Two hours later she texted me that she meant to text me sooner but had been lost in pure joy of listening. She loves them and never heard anything like it, so captivating, in a home. (I told her that she would "notice" that she doesn’t know where the speakers are, they should disappear.)

I couldn’t be happier. I texted her back that just to be safe: "take the JBL to Goodwill tomorrow!"
The End

grislybutter
mahler123
3,362 posts
 

When my wife and I were dating in the early 2000s her speakers were two Bose Cubes that she had mounted on bookshelves 1 inch from the top of her ceiling and facing outwards.  Her priority was getting them out of the way so as not to ruin the room decor. Her receiver hailed from her University days a few decades earlier and one channel flipped out intermittently.  She had a VCR that she was afraid to use because it ate tapes.

  She was totally happy with this.  As our relationship progressed I was spending more time at her condo than at my place and the system drove me crazy, with my own rig gathering dust at my place.  I finally on my own bought an entry level Onyko AVR, a DVD player, and Paradigm Atom speakers.  I thought let me at least get this into the low midfi level and 21st Century video capabilities.

  My wife is a very even tempered person but my being presumptuous about this equipment was a major faux pas.  It took her a week to forgive me and months before she would admit that everything had vastly improved.  It is probably the most serious disagreement we have had in 25 years.

  About 15 years ago my daughter moved out of our basement (my wife never gave me any grief about having her planted there in the early years of our marriage, when her emergency weekend stay turned into a 5 year visit).  When she finally got her own studio apartment I bought her a AVR and gave her a CDP and speakers from my collection of unused gear and spent an afternoon setting it up.

  The next time I was in her apartment all the stuff had been unhooked and was in a corner of the room, having been replaced by a $20 Bluetooth speaker.

  @grislybutter everyone is heaping praise on you, and you were being altruistic, but based on my experiences, I will never go there again 

grislybutter OP
3,122 posts
 

@mahler123 the first one is a great story! Sorry about the daughter and the bluetooth speaker, must hurt. 

My daughter is a design nerd and not an audiophile. She used to listen to music on her iphone, on speaker, volume turned up.

I also set her up with a system, but discussed every step. I knew the key was the aesthetics. My neighbor gave me a pair of bose speaker stands. She loved them so I knew it was a good start. I put my old Celestion 5s on the stands horizontally. Added my beloved Marantz 1060 and bought her a Dual turntable. I also made a case for the Marantz last Christmas from recycled wood that turned out to be 1/10 of an inch too small!!! It never ends!
As far as I can tell she is using it. But at least likes to look at it.... 

grislybutter OP
3,122 posts
 

@tomic601 I thought most audiophiles were 40 year old virgins 🤣

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,102 posts
 

I became an  audiophile a potential unconscious one at 20  because i was under the supervision  of my two friends for buying my gear ( Tannoy +Sugden), one married  15 years older than me who designed his own speakers box and his own friend and " mentor" who became mine too , "a 60 years old virgin" really, who lived in an apartment alone where no woman will ever dare to enter because his speakers were suspended over the floor from the ceilings , all floor in all pieces covered with audio gear parts and he kept his vinyl in a fridge wrapped which flabbergasted  me  and appeared to me as completely "nuts" ...😋

 

i could not know at the times i would became like these two after my retirement ...And with my 100 resonators as "nuts" as this "mentor" ... But i  am not "virgin" ...😎

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,102 posts
 

I became an  audiophile a potential unconscious one at 20  because i was under the supervision  of my two friends for buying my gear ( Tannoy +Sugden), one married  15 years older than me who designed his own speakers box and his own friend and " mentor" who became mine too , "a 60 years old virgin" really, who lived in an apartment alone where no woman will ever dare to enter because his speakers were suspended over the floor from the ceilings , all floor in all pieces covered with audio gear parts and he kept his vinyl in a fridge wrapped which flabbergasted  me  and appeared to me as completely "nuts" ...😋

 

i could not know at the times i would became like these two after my retirement ...And with my 100 resonators as "nuts" as this "mentor" ... But i  am not "virgin" ...😎

 

By the way my two children received something audiophile from me , but even if it is better compared to what they had it never ignite an audiophile fever  in them ...

 

You cannot make a bear from a mice nor make a mice from a bear....

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