After catching some of Floyd Mayweather versus Logan Paul, I can't help agreeing with you.
Ron's Speaker, Turntable, Power and Room Treatment Upgrades
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
Ked, you ask a very relevant question to my life in the last year. i'm afraid to derail Ron's thread too much getting into my struggles. but his thread is about life stresses and frustrations, so i suppose my story is on topic. and this water damage repair is only a piece of the overall situation of my psyche.
last August was when i had just added the two Miyajima Infinity mono carts, and the EMT 948 and Durand Kairos. i was really starting to imagine being retired soon, but still had some plans for acquisitions to my system before i stopped working. very specifically i planned on staying in my current home and so setting everything up as i wanted it was important. business was in recovery from COVID and i was bullish on things.
to begin with the repairs did not look that daunting. i assumed that insurance would cover things and that we would be done with repairs by Thanksgiving. then in December i decided to upgrade my Home Theater in my house, adding more speakers for a full 15 channel surround, plus a high level processor, and 3 Funk Audio Subs. a long term thing my wife and i could really enjoy together. just after i committed to that step and things were incoming, it became obvious that the repairs were going to be taking much longer than originally anticipated, plus we got a bid that was crazy, so switched contractors.
then in February i added the Stax 009S headphones and the MSB headphone amp to my 2 channel system, an itch i had for a long time. finally i traded my Durand Sapphire Telos to Mik for an additional LFD cable, and bought a second Durand Tosca. in March i made my 'final' acquisition of the Aesthetix Io Eclipse phono (still in process for upgrades). in March things at work got really tough, which really weighed on me, and that combined with our repair stresses did cause me to close down some. i'm use to ups and downs in my work, but maybe combined with all the repair process, the lack of clarity on the insurance situation, and the idea of retirement, i was feeling the stress. all of a sudden i started considering an end game in a different home, one that was less demanding. did i really need a 5000 sq ft house plus a barn? it was not that i could not afford where i was at, more what did i want to spend my nest egg on really? should i downsize? what would that look like?
since March i have not made more acquisitions, or even thought about any. but i knew i was at the end of my hifi path. work stresses have turned around to a positive, even really good. now the insurance has come through. so the dark clouds have lifted. but i think downsizing is a strong consideration. even a few years back i assumed i would add more turntables but then once i had investigated what i really actually liked i would down size; i don't need 4 turntables, 3 phono stages and 3 tape decks. but do i still need my big room? or will retirement bring a different balance to my life and reduce my need for the big rig and the big place? right now i could go either way. i suspect once the repairs are done my wife will want to enjoy them for awhile. so i just need to live the process out and see what happens.
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I have visited Ron’s home, it’s absolutely stunning and will be a show piece once it’s completed.
In which case your lamms are still available
Well, my retirement project is still reproducing the SME- Quad ELS63 speakers as modified by Alastair Robertson-Aikman - his son kindly send me the complete project. But I will need a wide room for it, it needs four ESL63's in a double L arrangenent. I already have six in storage.
yes I have seen Ron‘s house also under construction and it will be extremely nice when finished.
the way that works with insurance repairs over $40k is that the check is held in escrow until all the repairs are paid (to make sure they are paid) and then we do get the balance remaining. we are already out-of-pocket on a significant portion of those repairs. not lusting after any gear anyway.
need?
anything is possible. the logistics of moving my speakers to a smaller room are prohibitive. i can't be a slave to them. but not worried about it if it comes to that.
i’m really looking forward to visiting you when it’s all finished and hearing your NOS system. Are you sure the foundation under your nothing rack and turntable is strong enough? Smiles.
Ron, I have a question each about your system and room while everyone recovers from illustrations of how to stagger major events so they all show up during an already crazed pandemic.
At the rate of current progress when do you anticipate having the Pendragon's off casters with a chair or two in front of them? Obviously after surmounting the final challenge to your family's enduring constitution, numerous rounds of fine dust and particle removal. A plight Mike L. will no doubt empathize with and possibly discover frees his mind from books on anchoring strategy.
Hearing how you recovered from the wall board shrinkage fiasco would also be quite interesting to me. By rights this is the face of your listening room most will remember it by. Tang might actually be able to swing repairing the damage with precious metals (no doubt in the most becoming shapes and forms). A few others would have attempted something acoustically/artistically adventurous with the irregular tableau. Everything tells me you've chosen a very uniform solution rid of any deviance from form as intended in the original design. I forget the exact wood coloring and room lighting effects you had settled on if you'd like to fill those in as well.
Very brief answers will suffice. Not trying to scissor away ribbons from your column inches on the grand reveal.
At the rate of current progress when do you anticipate having the Pendragon's off casters with a chair or two in front of them? Obviously after surmounting the final challenge to your family's enduring constitution, numerous rounds of fine dust and particle removal. A plight Mike L. will no doubt empathize with and possibly discover frees his mind from books on anchoring strategy.
Hearing how you recovered from the wall board shrinkage fiasco would also be quite interesting to me. By rights this is the face of your listening room most will remember it by. Tang might actually be able to swing repairing the damage with precious metals (no doubt in the most becoming shapes and forms). A few others would have attempted something acoustically/artistically adventurous with the irregular tableau. Everything tells me you've chosen a very uniform solution rid of any deviance from form as intended in the original design. I forget the exact wood coloring and room lighting effects you had settled on if you'd like to fill those in as well.
Very brief answers will suffice. Not trying to scissor away ribbons from your column inches on the grand reveal.
The listening room is on concrete slab. So as long as the whole house doesn't slide down the hill in an earthquake, we should be okay on that point
I don't want any pinstriping on the walls, so there really is no way to fix the gaps/cracks caused by the contraction and expansion of the 3/4" walnut hardwood panels. As long as one doesn't look too closely, the walls look pretty good (to me, anyway).
Once we close out the current scope of work, and touch-ups and repairs thereto, with the current contractor, and we close out the current building permit, we are going to hire a new contractor to renovate three bathrooms, a small laundry room area at the back of the garage, and extend the ceiling of Tinka's home theater room. I have no idea how many months that will take, but it won't be quick, I am sure.
Only sometime after all the dust settles from the work on the home theater room, which is next to the listening room with a large open archway between them, will I be able to even begin to think about installing stereo equipment.
Wow, what a story Mike. I extend my sympathies. (Between you and Ron, it's a head-shaking festival of rarified woes.). However, I understand almost all of it...but almost. Having been fortunate to have made few trips to the barn, what I don't get is the headphones! As I recall, the deer are far enough away that the sound coming from the barn at warp 9 shouldn't bother them much at all. So why the cans?
(apologies to Ron for the brief de-rail).
Wow, what a story Mike. I extend my sympathies. (Between you and Ron, it's a head-shaking festival of rarified woes.). However, I understand almost all of it...but almost. Having been fortunate to have made few trips to the barn, what I don't get is the headphones! As I recall, the deer are far enough away that the sound coming from the barn at warp 9 shouldn't bother them much at all. So why the cans?
hey Marty,
i've over-stayed my welcome with my distresses on Ron's nice thread with all his beautiful pictures. he has tolerated it up till now. here is the thread where i get into my thinking (or lack thereof) regarding the headphone direction. read this post and the next page or so and it should explain it.
MSB Select II arrival
I never power off my MSB SII/M500's, I put them into stand-bye every night. In the morning it takes about an hour for the system to get to it's best.
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