How did you get into the hobby of HT?

[L.J.]

WOW!! Wescott, I just finished your book, (JK) and that's one heck of a story. You have a beautiful home. Thanks for sharing your story and pics.

[westcott]

WOW!! Wescott, I just finished your book, (JK) and that's one heck of a story. You have a beautiful home. Thanks for sharing your story and pics.

I apologize for the long winded story. I thought the background history would give more perspective.

I appreciate your kind words. My wife and I made several compromises and we are not completely finished, but I think we both won!!! I am a lucky man to have a wife that would let me use the family room for such a venture. No other room in the house was adequate, IMO.

[GMichael]

Great story & pics Westcott.

[westcott]

Great story & pics Westcott.

Your comments are greatly appreciated! Makes all the hard work all that more worthwhile.
My wife and I did every bit of it except for the roller hurricane shutters.

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes!!!

[topspeed]

I'll lay blame with my obsessions on my dad. If he wasn't tweaking his Hafler, building tubes amps, or messing with AR speakers he was waxing the E-Type or SL (the last two are cars for the heathens amoung us). Lo and behold, guess what I'm in to? When I was 6 years old, I got my first drum kit and practiced in our game room. This only intensified my love for music and music reproduction.

Over the years, I inherited my dad's throw-aways as he upgraded. Various Wharfedale and AR's followed. I still use and love his Marantz 2230 in my bedroom rig. This went on until college (Fight On!) when I used my first bonus from an internship to purchase my first rig: a PS Audio 4.6 pre, B&K ST140 amp, and Mission 780a Argonauts.

This basic rig served me well for over a decade. I'm rarely bit by the upgrade bug and tend to keep my gear for a good, long time. In fact, my progression from 2 channel to multi-channel was instigated by the gift of a Denon AVR for Christmas 3 or 4 years ago from... guess who? To this day, I'm still not sure if that was blessing or curse. I went from being completely content with my old 2 channel rig to needing a few stiff drinks after gazing upon the back panel of a modern AVR. For a guy used to a simple passive stereo preamp, the sheer number of RCA's on the Denon was enough to yell "Elizabeth! This is the Big One! I'm comin' for ya, darlin!"

After months of auditioning, out went the Missions (hey, you try finding a matching cc for 15 year old speakers!) and in came the B&W's. Music sucked in 2 channel with the Denon so I added the HCA2, a solution that has worked famously. Just recently I added a 52" JVC DILA set, upgraded to a DirecTV HD-DVR, and replaced my Sony dvd player with a Denon 2910 universal. When you're stupid enough to have $1200 surrounds, you should at least listen to hi-rez through 'em.

Through it all, music has always been the priority. When I buy my next house, there will be a music room. In this room will be a dedicated two channel rig, my drum kit, and whatever instruments my kids want to play.

Huh, why does this sound so familiar?