Warning - long winded post ahead...
I came to an interest in tube audio through a very circuitous route. I was an audio enthusiast in the late seventies - early eighties which led me into a career in electrical engineering, though I never did any audio stuff as a professional. Back in the day, I was totally solid state. The pinnacle of my early career consisted of building a pair of Dr. W. Marshall Leach double barrell amps from gear I mostly scrounged at Eli Heffron. I also built my own speaker cabinets but purchased turn table (Revox 790B) tape deck, etc.
I was an early adopter of CD's when only classical music was available. I noticed a form of listening fatigue when listening to CD's that I did not experience with LP's. So I sought out help from the Boston Audio Society - a group I had heard of but had never joined or attended a meeting. I got lost getting there and arrived about 15 minutes late. They were doing some kind of an AB test, listening to Mahler symphony over and over. Both A and B sounded bad to me, and I looked carefully at the stylus and there was a big clump of dust on it. Listening to the conversation a bit more, it became clear they were comparing two types of speaker wire. So I left in disgust.
That is when I realized I had stopped listening to music and was just listening to equipment. I was one of those guys that wore out the first 60 seconds of Also Spack Zarthustra - three copies. I needed to get into the housing market, so I sold my system and bought a house and learned to enjoy music again. I bought a modest Adcom "stereo".
Life intervened, marriage children a few changes of jobs so fast forward to 2010. I see a working Predicta in an antique store. I had to get me one of these and when one became available locally on eBay, I bought it and learned how to restore it. Mostly replacing the caps. I watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on it and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I mostly learned how to restore the TV and several other TV's 6TS30, HaloLight, from the Antique Radio Forum. Which led to an interest in antique radios. Mid thirties radios are my favorite, and while they do not have Hi-Fi sound, they can sound very good.
A friend at work knows my hobby, and asks me if I can help rebuild his tube amps - a pair of Eico HF35's that he picked up from craigslist for $50. I had to read a lot and managed to get them beautifully restored for a cheap money. Well I thought they sounded fantastic and I had about 8 large table radios and three console radios and if one more radio came into the house, my wife would be leaving it.
Which brings me to here and now. I am building a VTA ST120 amplifier kit. I know most of the people here scratch build, but I am not to that level of ability yet and not sure I will ever reach it.
WHat I really like about this forum is the lack of purists that infiltrate the radio hobby. Silicon, tubes, all forms of design are embraced, often in the same piece of equipment. What matters is the music. Not very much snake oil either. It's a nice place. My join date is 2011, but I only read a couple of threads until recently when I have been devouring the place. Going to mostly lurk until I maybe have some questions or something worthwhile to contribute.
I came to an interest in tube audio through a very circuitous route. I was an audio enthusiast in the late seventies - early eighties which led me into a career in electrical engineering, though I never did any audio stuff as a professional. Back in the day, I was totally solid state. The pinnacle of my early career consisted of building a pair of Dr. W. Marshall Leach double barrell amps from gear I mostly scrounged at Eli Heffron. I also built my own speaker cabinets but purchased turn table (Revox 790B) tape deck, etc.
I was an early adopter of CD's when only classical music was available. I noticed a form of listening fatigue when listening to CD's that I did not experience with LP's. So I sought out help from the Boston Audio Society - a group I had heard of but had never joined or attended a meeting. I got lost getting there and arrived about 15 minutes late. They were doing some kind of an AB test, listening to Mahler symphony over and over. Both A and B sounded bad to me, and I looked carefully at the stylus and there was a big clump of dust on it. Listening to the conversation a bit more, it became clear they were comparing two types of speaker wire. So I left in disgust.
That is when I realized I had stopped listening to music and was just listening to equipment. I was one of those guys that wore out the first 60 seconds of Also Spack Zarthustra - three copies. I needed to get into the housing market, so I sold my system and bought a house and learned to enjoy music again. I bought a modest Adcom "stereo".
Life intervened, marriage children a few changes of jobs so fast forward to 2010. I see a working Predicta in an antique store. I had to get me one of these and when one became available locally on eBay, I bought it and learned how to restore it. Mostly replacing the caps. I watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on it and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I mostly learned how to restore the TV and several other TV's 6TS30, HaloLight, from the Antique Radio Forum. Which led to an interest in antique radios. Mid thirties radios are my favorite, and while they do not have Hi-Fi sound, they can sound very good.
A friend at work knows my hobby, and asks me if I can help rebuild his tube amps - a pair of Eico HF35's that he picked up from craigslist for $50. I had to read a lot and managed to get them beautifully restored for a cheap money. Well I thought they sounded fantastic and I had about 8 large table radios and three console radios and if one more radio came into the house, my wife would be leaving it.
Which brings me to here and now. I am building a VTA ST120 amplifier kit. I know most of the people here scratch build, but I am not to that level of ability yet and not sure I will ever reach it.
WHat I really like about this forum is the lack of purists that infiltrate the radio hobby. Silicon, tubes, all forms of design are embraced, often in the same piece of equipment. What matters is the music. Not very much snake oil either. It's a nice place. My join date is 2011, but I only read a couple of threads until recently when I have been devouring the place. Going to mostly lurk until I maybe have some questions or something worthwhile to contribute.
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