Remembrance

Yesterday, while clearing some inches thick papers which accumulated behind the sofa;-) came in my hands some old pixes, between 20 and 15 years old, of my audio system.

Tears suddenly appeared in my eyes as, sooo cute I was, I used my old trusty "Chiocciola" (bass enclosure) with green Altec 416A and Altec 288C in smaller Iwata's wooden horn with classic Altec 2 ways x-over, (green) 301 Shindo with SME 3012R and SPU-GM, Be Yamamura's # 6 MC-transformer, Revox A-700 and Revox G-36, EMT 930st, Marantz 7C and 10B, homebrewed WE 421A (5998) stereo little amp.

Also, Naim SNAPS and WMD6-C portable cassette... and yes, in first pixes I had NO CD-player at all: I bought my first disk player, my trusty Studer A-730 - still in my satisfied hands - back in the 1996...

All considered, it was an elegant, no-frills rig, pretty right for my needs and tastes.

... a third pix shows me going 3 ways and multiamping, using Partridge WE 300B, Hiraga 20W and WE 421A, with the (crappy) Pioneer D-23, having added as third, upper way a JBL 2420 and its horn.

Also visible, under the green 301's Shindo, a Yuasa battery-fed Phono preamp à la Audiophile (Hiraga).

... and (one of) my alto sax(es) on a chair... I was badly puffing on it, trying to learn it and became a sax player.

Let's talk about WAF: when I showed the two ways system pixes with the kilim, now in my studio;-), she also moaned about... "we were happier" or "I was able to keep plants in music room"... and, sadly, she was right!

The tears, sincere, came as I well remembered that years... yes, I already was VERY fond of music and audio, ONLY younger, having regular sex and sport - Crosscountry skying, Rollerblades, bike three-four times a week and offroad motorbiking, every weekend, doesn't matter winter or summer, after job... also playing a lot with friends, at least one time a week.

Now, twenty or so years after, ALL is reduced: the above and my savings which shortened due to heavily investing in audio, more and more, as a never ending story.

Only dimensions of my audio system increased...

Why? I have several friends who had completely similar experiences than mine... WHY do we ALL get nuts?

Feeling fine with a 50hz-15Khz system - more or less the ears average hearing capabilities - or trying to copycat bats and their hearing;-)?

Going (someway) further and further, needing to go "beyond": is it in DNA or is it (a sort of) illness?