The audio setup

So I've been trying to look at ways to get my iMac a little louder.  I am using this machine as my primary entertainment device (amongst other things as they are sweet machines.) Full disclosure, I am a former skeptic who joined the black turtleneck mafia.



All of my media is consumed through this device. My primary media consumption includes:

• TV shows/movies Netflix
• TV shows/movies via iTunes
• OTA HDTV
• Music
• I hesitate to add Hulu+ to this list - it feels like wasted money
• Pictures and movies I make

I don't have cable, so I only buy the shows I'm interested in. Since I brought it up, I might as well list those too:

• The League
• Archer
• Venture Bros
• Sherlock (via Netflix)
• Doctor Who (via Netflix)

On Netflix typically you can get a show the season after a new one has begun. So when Season 4 of Archer shows up on TV, Season 3 is available.

My real problem has been sound. The iMac has awesome speakers. Very powerful for the form factor.  And having played Call of Duty at top volume, I can tell you they rock.

But if you're on the couch in my living room with traffic going by, well, let's just say it's a challenge to hear some dialog.

Now, in my living room I have had a pair of Sansui SP 1500 speakers my dad got in Viet Nam. They weigh 47 pounds each and are likely re-branded JBL.  Incredible deep sound. You feel it as much as hear the sound.  Very lush. I also nabbed a pair of Bose 201 Series IV which are, well, bookshelf speakers.

So I start researching different kinds of amps which can take your signal and then boost it for speakers. Found a nice writeup on some that are out there on the market. The Neuhaus T-1 has to be seen to be believed.

Anyway, I'm thinking that before I think about shelling out cash, maybe I look at the nice, powerful, tube-based receiver/amplifier I have sitting next to me.

The receiver is a Pioneer SX-1000TW which my dad also got in Nam.  Beautiful wood cabinet. But it was scratchy as hell.  Turned out the pots (short for potentiometer - or dial in normal person speak) needed a cleaning and lubing.  Used some Deoxit to clean things up. There's a cleaner and there's a lubricant.  Got the 2 pack at Radio Shack (where my youngest kept ripping of electricity and light experiment books and reading through them.)

Things sound a lot better now.  I rejiggered the living room so I could stack the receiver, a tape deck(!) and a turntable.  Need another tweak on the antenna and power supply so I can get it all to fit nice.

The next bits will involve getting a splitter on the coax from the Terk HDTVa antenna to both the Eye TV and the receiver's FM hookup - not that it feels like the receiver needs it, but I wonder how much cleaner the signals will be.

And then the final bit - other than cable management - will be getting the output from the iMac to the receiver's AUX jack.  It won't be digital, but it should be really, really loud, which is what I am after. Want to hunt through my boxes for some of these cables before I lay any green out.  I know I have coax lengths. May need more speaker wire for the bookshelves (which can wait.)

So now I'm sitting here listening to Blue Öyster Cult's Extraterrestrial Live with Robby Krieger playing guitar on Roadhouse Blues. On an LP I bought in like 1983 on a stereo my bio-dad bought in Viet Nam in 1971 with a USB turntable I got a year or so ago.  I have to rip this at some point. It's too good of an album not to. I am happy with the results of my rip of The Door's Absolutely Live - hisses, scratches, pops and all.

Sometimes the future is awesome.