Who R U?

OK, I'm gonna jump in. I'm 57. At 26 after successfully dogging the draft, I was laid off at Boeing. Then my girl friend dumped me so I moved in with a odd but interesting new friend of mine. I cleaned his house and he got the big tube amp I had built working. He was trying to build the worlds most powerful transistor amp ..... looked like fun to me, so he made me his partner. Ten years and a lot of stories later Phase Linear was sold to Pioneer. I had a 36' foot cutter built and went sailing for five years.

I got the itch to do something again somewhere in Costa Rica. Co-founded Heart Interface which built power inverters. Wasn't happy with that, so, with three friends for partners, I started Trace Engineering. This company also manufactured power inverters primarily for the alternative energy market. Trace did well and with 250 employees we sold a few years ago.

I ride my recumbent bike alot and still sail although mostly on sailboards in the Columbia gorge. I became a pilot five years ago and love to fly. Learned to fly helicopters recently and fly an R-22 from my backyard almost everyday. I am presently leading a happy life of meaningless self-indulgence.

Great post Dave. I'm 38. I have wife and 2 children (boy and girl, 6 and 8). Been married for all most 15 years. I've been a manufacturing engineer for all most 17 years. I live in western NY near Buffalo. I've been into audio since I was 12 years old (I moved my parent's console Philip stereo into my room and hooked an 8 track tape to it - the phono didn't work). My first real system consisted of Adcom 545 100 w/ch amp, Adcom preamp, Adcom CD, Snell E3 speakers, and Monster Cables. I moved up to all tubes (Golden Tube), B&W speakers (P5), CAL CL-15 CD and Audioquest (Forest and Lapis). I'm now using SACD, DVDA, Aloia amp/preamp, Talon Khorus, Aurious MIBs, and Audio Tekne and BMI cables. I can't believe I've spent this much on equipment in the quest for the best sound. Its been a long journey that I feel is near the end (waiting for Sistrum platforms for Talons and modding the SACD). I have "enjoyed the music" along way but my next project will be discovering all of the good software out there. I've been hooked on Patrica Barber, Diana Krall, Holly Cole, Rebecca Piegon, and Kendra Shank (Afterglow). I also like most Jazz (Miles, Cole, Adderly, etc) and particularly like the DMP Jazz recordings on SACD. The forum on Audiogon has helped me alot. I've received good advice and have excellent sources for info. I'm glad to see the negative posts have decreased. Based on Audiogon, I've made a friend in Canada who has turned my on to better music and equipment. David99 also sent me some good info on music. If there is one thing I can say, when we audionuts talk, we have our own language and we tend to share alot in common. This post is great because it allows us to get to know the guys posting in the forums better. Thanks, Mike Girardi

I'm 31 and live in the deep hills of Colorado. I'm lucky because I have a number of the best audio companies in the world in my back yard - Dunlavy, Avalon, Rowland, Bouler, Audio Magic, Green Mountain and Ayre. They all seem to be fairly friendly and willing to extend a welcome to anyone that stops by. I got into this hobby in high school when I noticed that as I upgraded my car stereo, it could go louder without sounding worse. My car audio dealer was also a high-end dealer and got me started with a used CJ preamp and a little Adcom amp. Despite the CJ blowing up about 10 times, I never managed to give up on audio and have since built my system to the point where my focus has gone from music to equipment and back to music again - my system lets me enjoy what I hear rather than nit-picking about perceived flaws or things I can improve on. I'm married to a woman who claims to not care about the gear, but who has objected if I bring home something on audition that she doesn't think sounds good. I have no kids (yet), though I have two dogs who couldn't care less about the source of my tunes.

Bert T Murph(y?) - I suspect we had the same dealer in CO, either ListenUp or US Tech. I'm 32, and also got into this odd little hobby of ours the same way, through car audio in high school. My salesman led me to a room where I played the same CD I had just heard in my car on a pair of Infinity IRS Betas, and I was hooked. For the next few years, I suffered through miserable systems in college and when I graduated I managed to secure a grunt job at a local dealer. 9 years later, I'm working for what I consider to be the manufacturer of the best SS gear in the world (naturally that makes me biased, so no rants please). I think I get more fun by watching new people to the high-end discover what they own but have never "heard" before, and I'm happy to see people discovering music and the high-end, regardless of the brand they choose to play it on. I'd much rather swap music than arguments about brand name foibles and preferences. My wife is fairly patient and very tolerant, though the hounds are oblivious - the amps are just warm enough to lie next to. Over the years I've met and learned so many people and things, it's impossible to value the wealth of knowledge I've gained - we're an opinionated and argumentative bunch, but we're dedicated. Just when I think I've heard it all, something new pops up - audioophile quality punk rock, symphonies compsed with feedback, jazz on Fisher-Price instruments, you name it. Who's got a good musical oddity or an excellent unheard of recording to share?

I'm 36, married recently, and have an understanding wife who looks at me like like I'm more than a little crazy whenever I tell her about my latest purchase/discovery in regards to this insane hobby of ours. However, in the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "I catch her digging the ride" sometimes. My Mother was Irish and my Father was Italian, so I really had no choice about growing up and loving music. I caught the Beatle bug at the tender age of 7 and never looked back. My oldest sister married an audiophile when I was 10, so you can see how all of these ingredients in the same bowl can really leave you with little choice but to be afflicted with this hobby(illness).
To make matters better(worse?), I'm a systems designer for a home theater/ audio company in Cherry Hill,New Jersey.
I LOVE MY JOB!