My first major purchase was a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls in 1978 when I was sophomore in high school.
The parents were not amused. The speakers were followed by an NAD set that was 50 watts per channel. A 25 watt per channel reciever and a 25 watt per channel amp that I ran bridged. I had a no name turntable and FM radio. I was in heaven!
In 1982 I added a Nakamichi Dragon and once again, I was in heaven!
Along about 1987 or so I decided that more bass was in order so I purchased a pair of Yamaha SW2x15 subs and a giant 100 pound Peavey amp to power them. Once again I was in heaven.
I coasted along for about 5 years and then the new best thing came out and I had to have a CD player.
Once again I was in heaven.
About this same time there was this new thing called surround sound, I had to have one. I bought a Sony 5.1 and put a mismatch set of speakers together for the den and with our 27 inch tube set, I was in heaven. I figured that it couldn't get any better, I had a Surround system and a big 2 channel. Life was good.
Then several things happened at about the same time. Mac computers were all the rage, Itunes was a curiosity, the internet was gaining traction, and the new best thing, "High Definition T.V." was coming out. We decided that the best way to enjoy HDTV was to get a projector because we wanted a big screen. With a big screen the only way to go was with big sound. I started piling up equipment to turn our 2 channel into a 7.2, because that was also the new best thing. The crowning moment was when the brand new NAD T-163 processor showed up. I was told that I had one of the first ones in the USA! YAY! I was in freak'n heaven! Kind of....all of a sudden I had 9 speakers pointed at each other, and something always just was a little off. I ran the tone controls flat. The purest that I am. I purchased a sound pressure meter and spent hours setting all the channels at the same volume, and something just always seamed ...off.....HMM.
I left the system alone. Compiled an MP3 collection of 13,000 songs(more on this later), and just muddled along. It's as good as it gets, right?
Then we decided to do a small system in our game room. We got an upper mid grade satellite/sub system with a receiver that had room correction, the new best thing. Set it up, and it sounded better than the "big system" in the theater room. Even with the little tiny sub. WTH ? Must be the room correction? No, we just got lucky.....
Here is where I made my big mistake. I couldn't bring myself to believe that a mid priced processor could make any type of noticeable difference in sound quality over my "state of the art" T-163. So I spent 4 years, knowing in the back of my mind that I need to upgrade, and didn't.
The NAD developed a soft hum that would come and go. It got to the point that I need to replace it. By far the best thing that's happened to me in a long time!
I replaced the NAD with an ELITE receiver with the MCACC room correction. I ran the program, and didn't trust the settings, asked a question here in the forum, and was told to trust the software.
After several hours of A/B testing I have to say that I am, once again in love with the system.
It sounds so much better that I am really glad that I held on to all my CD's and albums. I have come to the realization that the Itunes library is for background music at parties, and that the hard media sounds so much better, also there is something about having to change CD's that is more involving. But I digress.
The reason for this whole post is to help that person who is on the fence about upgrading to the new technology, because the grass is definitely greener! Do it and don't look back!
