samhain1969

24-year USAF veteran; 16 years spent as a aircraft fuel systems repair tech./8 years as a personalist. Stationed in: RAF Lakenheath, Pope AFB, Al Kharj AB, F Mildenhall, Hill AFB, Osan AB and retired from RAF Lakenheath (my 1st base).  Traveled all over the UK, western-Europe and the Med during my tenure.

Originally from Virginia, living there until I was 8 then moved to Penn (Carlisle) when my dad got a job transfer and lived there until I was 18 and went into the AF.  Got lucky living there...  Used to be the Redskins summer training camp and would scrimmage the Colts, even after they deserted Baltimore in the middle of the night.  Carlisle was also home to N. America's largest car-swap and had 2-4 shows a year; all cars/makes/models, vettes only, mopars, etc...  Was blown away when I saw an all-original 70' Plymouth Superbird, with it's original hemi!  Asking price was $35K.  This was in 1984...  If only I had a way to get loan, LOL.

I started reading Stereo Review (SR) magazine around this time as I got a rack system for Christmas in 84' and also got a subscription to SR too!  My rack system was a SoundDesign.  Nothing mind-blowing but it was mine and I loved it and it also had a turntable for my growing LP collection.

Reading that magazine helped me out a bit, as when I got to my first base (Lakenheath) there was a plethora of hi-fi equipment to be had at the Base-Exchange and at a shop called Electric Avenue that was run/operated by the Services Squadron.  I had sold my first car (75' Plymouth Duster) and had been working since the age of 15 and did save the majority of my paychecks and my allowance from home and had a nice chunk o'change in my bank.

In other words, I was in hi-fi heaven as there was equipment there I had not seen except for in magazines and not even a hi-fi shop in Camp Hill, Pa. called Bryn Mawr Stereo did not have on their floor/shelves!

So...  I bought a pair of Cerwin Vega D9-E speakers first, last pair with none coming back in stock.  Floor models, no damage...  List was $999 and I got them for $825 and free delivery to my dorm room!  Awesome!  Next purchase was amp/preamp which were Onkyo M5030 & Onkyo P304.  I had about 100 cassettes and no CD's, so my friend suggested that I get either a Denon tape-deck that loaded horizontally or a Nakamichi.  I got the Nak CR1A as it was on sale, as I was now budgeting due to the cost of the Onkyo's.  I then decided to nab two CD's...  Jimmy Page-Outrider and Metallica-Ride the Lightning.  With that, I now needed a CD player...  So, I saw the Sony CDP-C50 5-disc carousel.  Some Monster cable RCA's and Monster 16 ga. speaker wire and everything was complete, as far as purchasing was concerned.

Setup was a breeze.  SOUND!  Even the D9's are not "audiophile grade" speakers, I was blown away.  I'm talking about low to medium volume here.  HOWEVER...  When the volume knob went righty, the sound was awesome and thunderous as Thor striking the ground with Mjolnir, then "CLIP".  The M5030 power-protection kicked in.  Everytime, all the time at about 50% volume.  The Vega's where too much for it, so it had to go and was sold for a minimal loss.

Enter it's replacement...  The Yamaha MX-800.  It was the perfect match for the D9's and it could go past 50% volume and then some and those Vega's never clipped, nor did the Yammy and the sweetest thing of it all, little to no distortion unless using the Nakamichi. It went bye-bye and was replaced with a Yamaha KX-1200 tape-deck as was the Sony 5-disc, due to playback/CD selection issues.  It was replaced with a Yamaha CDX-1110 single disc.

During this time my friend Paul took me over to this other dorm, to this Buck-Sargent he knew to show me his setup...  I was like holy ****, it looks mine nearly, cept' he had these big, I mean HUGE box looking speakers on either side of his stereo-stand.  They had wedges in the bottom and had "Klipsch" badges on them.  His system had the Yamaha MX-1000 amp and the matching Yamaha pre-amp CX-1000(?) but he had the same tape-deck and CD as I did.  When he fired it up, low I was amazed at the soundstage.  Then he took the volume up a tad more and had me sit in front of one of the speakers, then added more volume, LOL.  I could feel my innards being rearranged yet hear every note of The Nuge's "Free For All" clear as a bell!  My Vega's sounded like tin cans compared to these things!  This was my first-ever intro to Klipsch (La Scala).  My budget was gone, no more selling and buying new audio components/upgrades, but I wished I could have and wished the La Scala's were available when I bought my speakers.  I still think about that, 29 years later...

But, my first true system was finally complete and I was happy with it!  It was pretty much distortion free, clean sounding and could shake the foundation in it's own right.

It lasted me from 1988 until 1994, at which time I sold the Vega's and went with a JBL L-Series speaker system (L5 fronts/L3 rears/JBL Movies 2 center) and a Boston Acoustics 10" front-fire Sub then added an Onkyo ES-600 Pro Surround Processor.  I swapped my Onkyo P304 for a Yamaha CX-600u pre-amp (plus I got $100 on top as my P304 was mint at the pawn-shop in Fayetteville, NC I got the Yammy pre-amp at) as I needed a pre-amp w/a remote.

This was my 1st intro into surround/5.1 and it worked out pretty well.

My current main HT is a traditional one; in a living room, no high-end/purposed HT room.  

- Sony XBR 49X900E

- Sony UBP-X800 UHD

- Sony SLV-ED100 VHS (region-free)

- UBX UD653 DVD (region-free)

- Marantz SR7010 AVR

- Yamaha NS- 8HX (2) floors/fronts

- Yamaha NS-C5HX (1) center

- Yamaha NS-2HX (2) rears

- BIC PL200 (sub)

The Yamaha's are a series that were Euro/Asian market release only; maple veneer, white spruce cone drivers and aluminum dome tweeters w/wave-guide horns.  I picked them up while stationed in the UK in 2002.  I do love the look and sound and will keep them.  However...  Down the road, I will be replacing them with an entire Klipsch ensemble and place the Yammies in a man-cave with a Yamaha AVR.

Below is a pick of my modest Klipsch-PC speaker setup.  I know the speaker layout is not ideal for a traditional stereo or even a 2.1 setup.  However, it works pretty well for me and the imaging is perfect for my sitting position.  I have the RW-12D dialed in, in such a way that it is not directional; not noticed as being right beside the desk.  This took some time in doing but when done, is an awesome sub and the perfect match for the RB-81 II speaker(s).