Who R U?

Hi guys, I am glad to get to know some of you whom I read comments from. Specially Craig (Garfish) who has saved me from spending too much money on the Analog gear. My name is Mohamed Youssif; I was born in Egypt 1960. B.Sc. in telecommunications engineering and have been working with satellite telecommunications since I graduated in 1983 and immigrated to the US. Got my citizenship and lived in the Washington DC Metropolitan area for 13 years. My hobby started when I was a teen playing drums and singing. My first stereo I bough in 1979 when I used to go to London every summer to work for McDonald’s and then buy stereo and come back to Egypt when school years started. My friends used to get very excited when they know that I am traveling because they know that I will be selling my old stereo. Now I work for Teledesic - (the Internet in the Sky) project of Craig McCow and Bill Gates- as Regional General Manager for the Middle-East and North Africa based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Now I have lots of equipments that is mix between what I brought with me from the US and what I purchased locally. So I have a mix of 110 volt and 220v equipment. However, I am currently purging the 110v equipment. It is a challenge but I am getting there.

hi again, mohamed. craig may have saved ewe some money, but he steered ya away from a *lot* better sound! ;~) regards, doug ps - whan ya purge the *last* piece of 110v gear - *that's* when yule get transferred back to the usa!!! :>)

Awl hell, why not. I’ve been addicted to this site ever since I found it, so why not fess up. 28 and living in NYC. (Still a youngster compared to many of those surveyed, though less so than I expected, truth be told). Grew up more or less in the D.C. area (Virginia, actually), went to CT for college, and was actually living in Spain (teaching, playing dilettante, and making an effort to write a book about a couple of timely summers spent in Russia and the conveniently interposed fall of the Soviet empire) when I came up with the jackass idea that, in order to properly understand all of the socio-political vectors and whatnot that go into this fancy new rule of law concept that was emerging in Russia, law school might be a good idea. Yea, jackass idea, back to VA for law school. Now, I’m doing more-or-less international arbitration and litigation in New York. Alas. My first "system" was a cobbled-together Yamaha / Infinity combo that I did sophomore year in college. I then spent the next nine years fantasizing about all of the upgrades I might get if and when I had the money. (Built a pair of speakers once, blew one out at a party, and then threw it out of a fifth story window for good measure. No injuries). Now it appears that I have the money, I got the system I was (had been...) dreaming of, the only trick is that I continue to dream of yet more expensive additions. . . Other interests? Seems that single malt scotch and wine are almost de rigeur - yea, me too. I’ve also been sporadically and consumingly obsessed, for years at a time, with rowing, skiing, sailing, rock climbing, Aikido, writing, scuba diving, fly fishing, and mountain biking - none of which seem to fit all that well with my lifestyle in NYC these days, sadly. Current obsessions, aside from sitting in front of the hi-fi with a stupid grin, include live music of nearly any stripe (though mostly jazz and blues - try to catch at least a show a week), languages (do most of my pleasure reading in either Spanish or French, though I almost never get to go), and girls. (Yea, single). Keep the stories coming, folks, this is quality stuff.

I am 46, married to the most wonderful woman in the world, have two terrific girls 7 and 8yrs, who in turn have a dog, two cats and a mouse. I live in New Zealand and descend from the marriage between one of the first British missionaries to New Zealand and the daughter of a tribal Maori King named Tamatewhakanene (pronounced Tar mar tay far ka nay nay). King "T" was the final signatory to this country's founding (but controversial) legal document, the Treaty Of Waitangi. I live in the ludicrously small city of Wellington, which is this country's capital, windy like Chicago and shakey like California, more cafes per head than New York. Commuting to the city is 5 minutes for me, 10 minutes in 'rush hour' - yet I live in a suburb that enjoys spectacular harbour views, abundant vegetation, bush walks and large sections (blocks of land). I am a business economist/strategist working in telecommunications. I have been involved in a number of audio ventures including manufacturing and marketing a valve preamp, and have good friendships with a number of people in the music, audio and film industries in New Zealand. Up till recently I had a good business sideline in Fiji, but the recent coup there has destroyed that opportunity for the present, much to my disappointment. If that coup had not occurred I would probably be now living in Fiji full-time. I have been actively keen (ie. spending money) on music since around 10 years old - first interests being the Beatles, quickly dropped for the Rolling Stones (at 10 and a half). Then ventured into Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, ELP etc (around 13). Followed by discovering Blues (15), then Classical (22), then Jazz (28). These days I have dropped the interest in pop and most electronic music in general. I dropped buying Classical when I reluctantly moved from vinyl to CD (very hard to get vinyl here) about five years ago. Somehow Classical has never sounded musical to me on CD. But I still go to Classical music concerts. Like many (but obviously not all) audiophiles I prefer to listen to mostly acoustic music and so my preferences are mainly Jazz, Blues with some Country and Folk sprinkled in too. Therefore my preferences in audio system are for transparency and timbral accuracy rather than for horse-power. My all-time favourite musicians include; Junior Wells (mainly when teamed with Buddy Guy playing guitar), James Brown, Shirley Horn, Sarah Vaughan, Lightnin' Hopkins, Bill Evans, Count Basie (his small band stuff), Tom Waits (but not the whole repertoire). My taste in people is confined to those with intellect, humour, honesty and self-respect - and so my friendships are few but deep. I am an introvert and so enjoy the solitude of a glass of wine, good music and a good book. My other 'phile obsessions and occupations are wine, coffee, motor-racing and rugby. I really enjoy reading Audiogon posts but do not contribute much as, being an introvert, I tend to wait till I feel I have something unique to say. One of my hobby-horses in the audio field is that audio magazines are not as relevant as most seem to believe. I feel the audio press is sadly, but understandably, all style and no substance - that journalism triumphs over reality, and that much of the audio vernacular is driven by these audio journalists needing to make the issues concerning a component more complicated than they really are. I find that I react to a component according to whether or not I can enjoy music when it is inserted in the chain, and that the attempts of audio journalists to categorise the sound issues into narrow components merely makes for a longer story - not greater insight.

Guys, you know what is missing, is emails, we should post our emails. Thai will allow us to communicate directly if we elect to. What do you think? Mine is myoussif@emirates.net.ae