Hello all,
I am happy to join this forum so that I can exchange thoughts, experiences and knowledge without the aggression and hostility that I’ve grown accustomed to on the AVS Forum.
A little about myself
I grew up in Columbus, OH and put together my first audio system during my freshman year of high school (in the early 90’s) with money earned from lawn mowing jobs. It consisted of a Yamaha AVR, Pioneer Laserdisc player, original Advent Heritage speakers, and a custom built 18” sealed subwoofer powered by a Carver amp. I would have friends over for movie marathons and was the envy of my classmates with my system. I studied Engineering Physics at Ohio State University, and then went on to graduate school in Mechanical Engineering at UC, Santa Barbara and recently earned my Ph.D., specializing in mathematical modeling and computer simulations. I have since been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Theoretical Division.
I kept my audio system from high school until shortly before finishing up grad school, when I decided to reward myself. I ended up purchasing an Onkyo Pre/Pro and five Mackie HR824mk2 studio monitors, which was a leap forward from my previous system. I even took a stab at building my own subwoofer that would complement this system. I took a woodworking class and built a slot-ported enclosure for dual 12” Elemental Designs subwoofers. The sub was great for HT, but never blended too well with the Mackies for music. So I ended up purchasing dual SVS PB13 Ultra subs, which transformed my HT experience to a level beyond anything I had ever experienced at a theater. Around the same time, I had the pleasure of auditioning a killer reference system at a local hi-end shop consisting of JM Labs Grande Utopia BE’s, McIntosh MC501 monoblocs, and some very expensive tube preamp and CD player. After playing tracks from several of my favorite CDs, I knew my Mackies just weren’t going to cut it for two-channel listening. Music sounded so alive and unrestrained that those massive speakers just disappeared.
Since then, I have been on a quest to attain as big a slice of what I experienced with that $100k+ system as possible on a budget about 1/10 of that. After researching, auditioning and owning several different speakers, amps, and preamps, I feel I have arrived at a reference system on my budget. I picked up a pair of Legacy Focus SE’s at the 2009 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest at a killer deal and drove them back to my home in Los Alamos, NM. I have since added a Marquis HD center channel and mated them with a Wyred 4 Sound 6x250W multi-channel amp, which I use to bi-amp each. I still have my Onkyo Pre/Pro for HT, but use a Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE preamp for 2 channel and I recently picked up a Denon 3800-BDCI, which I use for bluray and 2 channel music. Cabling is a mix of Acoustic Zen for 2 channel and Better Cables for HT. The Mackies have been reassigned to surround duty for a 7.2 system. I feel completely content with my system, and am finally just enjoying the music and movies again. The only new items I can see on the horizon are an Acoustically Transparent screen and a bigger room with better treatments.
Cheers,
Matt
I am happy to join this forum so that I can exchange thoughts, experiences and knowledge without the aggression and hostility that I’ve grown accustomed to on the AVS Forum.
A little about myself
I grew up in Columbus, OH and put together my first audio system during my freshman year of high school (in the early 90’s) with money earned from lawn mowing jobs. It consisted of a Yamaha AVR, Pioneer Laserdisc player, original Advent Heritage speakers, and a custom built 18” sealed subwoofer powered by a Carver amp. I would have friends over for movie marathons and was the envy of my classmates with my system. I studied Engineering Physics at Ohio State University, and then went on to graduate school in Mechanical Engineering at UC, Santa Barbara and recently earned my Ph.D., specializing in mathematical modeling and computer simulations. I have since been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Theoretical Division.
I kept my audio system from high school until shortly before finishing up grad school, when I decided to reward myself. I ended up purchasing an Onkyo Pre/Pro and five Mackie HR824mk2 studio monitors, which was a leap forward from my previous system. I even took a stab at building my own subwoofer that would complement this system. I took a woodworking class and built a slot-ported enclosure for dual 12” Elemental Designs subwoofers. The sub was great for HT, but never blended too well with the Mackies for music. So I ended up purchasing dual SVS PB13 Ultra subs, which transformed my HT experience to a level beyond anything I had ever experienced at a theater. Around the same time, I had the pleasure of auditioning a killer reference system at a local hi-end shop consisting of JM Labs Grande Utopia BE’s, McIntosh MC501 monoblocs, and some very expensive tube preamp and CD player. After playing tracks from several of my favorite CDs, I knew my Mackies just weren’t going to cut it for two-channel listening. Music sounded so alive and unrestrained that those massive speakers just disappeared.
Since then, I have been on a quest to attain as big a slice of what I experienced with that $100k+ system as possible on a budget about 1/10 of that. After researching, auditioning and owning several different speakers, amps, and preamps, I feel I have arrived at a reference system on my budget. I picked up a pair of Legacy Focus SE’s at the 2009 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest at a killer deal and drove them back to my home in Los Alamos, NM. I have since added a Marquis HD center channel and mated them with a Wyred 4 Sound 6x250W multi-channel amp, which I use to bi-amp each. I still have my Onkyo Pre/Pro for HT, but use a Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE preamp for 2 channel and I recently picked up a Denon 3800-BDCI, which I use for bluray and 2 channel music. Cabling is a mix of Acoustic Zen for 2 channel and Better Cables for HT. The Mackies have been reassigned to surround duty for a 7.2 system. I feel completely content with my system, and am finally just enjoying the music and movies again. The only new items I can see on the horizon are an Acoustically Transparent screen and a bigger room with better treatments.
Cheers,
Matt
