Who R U?

Great to see so many in "my age bracket". I just turned 47 on 1/6/03. I have been into this hobby since my early teens, growing up in the Buffalo area. My single biggest audio epiphany was hearing how good a high power sound system could be made to sound in less than ideal conditions: the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound PA!! I'll be a Bills fan till the day I die :) Went to college in Boston 1974-1979, and continued to live in New England until returning to the Buffalo area for grad school in 1986. My profession is as a librarian/IT professional. I have lived in South Carolina and Hershey, PA since leaving Buffalo for the second time. I currently live just outside of Philadelphia on the NJ side of the Delaware River. I have a son who is a college freshman, and a 5 year old daughter who started kindergarten this year. My wife is supportive of this insane hobby of mine in as much as is possible. We have a Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie) by the name of Charli.
My other passions besides my family and audio are fly fishing and skiing

My name is Chris Field, Im 26, somewhat single, an Aquarius and I enjoy long walks on the beach and idle chit chat.
After barely making it out of highschool (1.6gpa) and not being accepted to any college (obviously) I figured that wasting my highschool carrer (while fun) was not the best idea.
I joined the United States Air Force in 1996 with a guaranteed job in the electronics field after scoring near perfect on the ASVAB ( cant believe people can fail that thing)
I lucked out and was assigned Telecom.
After 7 months of training I was assigned to Misawa AB Japan, where I first encountered good stereo equipment. I bought myself a good reciever and DVD player and ever since then I have been upgrading / overhauling my system.
After Japan I was stationed in Wright-Patterson AFB, Oh, (god that sucked. If there is a buttcrack of the world it is the state of ohio, no offence to anyone living there, you already have it bad enough)
I stayed their for a brief year and a half and got out of the military after my 4 years was up
I managed to grab the coat-tails of the telecom bubble and god a job at Time Warner Telecom working on DMS 500s, 5ESS, Seimans, STPs, SCPs, doing network surveillance as well as troubleshooting any / all customer troubles. This job I'm currently in probably has one of the meanest learning curves in the world, but the pay is ok and the learning curve keeps you busy. (how did I manage the 1.6gpa?)

In my telecom life I have installed/maintained/troubleshot Local PBXs, Electronic Key Systems, and DMS500 & 5Ess Class 5 switching systems. Ive installed Cat-5, spliced fiber(fusion) dug cable trenches and been electrocuted 3 times. (that explaines the nervous twitching ;)

Ive been into audio equipment for about 7 years, I started out in the mid-low grade, finally got myself a very very nice mid-grade, and now im looking to push it into the high-end of the spectrum.

I want to drive my carreer to High-End audio, but unsure of the path. With the PBX / cat-5 installation experience I'm confident I can install multi-zone systems, its all about running cables. I would like to try that, but have a hard time finding the time.

Im not married yet, but I have a wonderful girlfriend who is currently going to school full-time to become a massage therapist. Once she finishes it will open up a lot of my finances to the point that a $1000 monoblock is not completely out of the question. I have tried various times to get her interested in this twisted hobby, however, it just does not appeal to her whatsoever, however, she does not complain about it, because she does enjoy music and movies. She just doesent understand why im constantly moving the speakers a little, and dressing/re-dressing my cable management system.

Hi, I'm David, 58, living by the sea in Wales, UK. Married with grown up kids (one an investment banker, the other a pro rugby player in France). I work as advisor to a number of high technology companies and look after investors interests in high tech businesses.

My journey into audio started at college with the usual low cost set-up using British valve (tube) equipment such as Quad and Leak. Over the years system has developed (mostly forward, sometimes backward) through the usual steps with electrostatics (Quads, Dayton Wrights, Accoustats, Martin Logans) to a long and rewarding association with Infinity RS-1b speakers driven by Audio Research amps and today to Wilsons driven by Pass X1000 monoblocks.

Taste in music is very wide from Bach to Opera to reggae to pop. I like to go to the opera as often as I can (Covent Garden in London, San Francisco, Moscow) and I'm still striving to recreate that sound at home. Getting close but not there yet!

Besides audio, I run steam trains in the garden and I'm into photography and also fine wines.

Any audiophiles on the US side of the pond who need help, advice or a contact this side of the pond, please feel free to contact me.

Welcome to the latest posters.
Lots of new members here who havent posted their bio yet.
Come on guys and gals!!!
Hey Tim,it looks like it's going to be a while until we have to spend some money on a CD or LP for the winner of the 500th post.:~)

Dave, Maybe I can help you get there by a "bio update". It has been going on 3 years since I first put in my admittedly "thin" bio. I'm now 35 and my kids are aged 5 and 4. I still have the same gig at an investment firm doing individual and small business retirement planning. My wife STILL thinks I'm crazy with the audio bug and can't understand my need for "bigger, better, faster". Whenever I put a new componenet or cable in I always ask her opinion and she always says "It sounds good" then spoils that remark with the follow-up "but I also thought it sounded good before". She still sits in her chair out of the sweet spot (to the left of the left speaker in fact) and insists that she can hear it "just fine" from there. I seem to go at this hobby in waves and have found I usually tinker with my system in the winter. Not only am I inside more but the lack of humididty seems to improve the sound. Also, living in Dallas, there is less demand for electrical power in the winter and brownouts are very rare, which seems to also impact the overall experience (maybe I AM nuts!). This past year I decided to take the hi-rez plunge and bought an SACD/DVD player. I am very happy with about 80% of the titles I own - the other 20% are no better than their CD counterparts IMO. I guess that just goes to show you can't turn a poor recording into an excellent one by simply adding the latest technology! I'll sign off now and update again in another 3 years:-) Enjoy the music! - Tony