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Is KISS ever possible for sufferers of Audiophilia & Videophilia?

60.231.182.124
Posted on November 27, 2015 at 15:18:16
John C. - Aussie
Audiophile

Posts: 5146
Location: Northern Tasmania
Joined: November 9, 1999



For me, sadly not. Something which starts out simple, inevitably ends up complex but I suppose that is the nature of this "hobby". The latest madness has occurred in my headphone system which started obeying KISS but ..... I've just put up two pics in the gallery and included one here that might make the rambling below a little clearer.
The main system has grown like Topsy into an involved collection of 12 front end items, 6 amplifiers, 9 speakers and a projector. Far too many hard earned dollars have been spent and the ultimate irony is that, now 80, my hearing has deteriorated so the high frequencies are unappreciated. That said, the vital midrange and the bottom end are still evident and important so I can still clearly distinguish between good and bad sound.
The hearing problems have steered me to headphone listening of music so I set up a "man cave" listening post in the adjoining room. It started off being relatively simple with digital feed from the music server going to a combined DAC/head amp but soon evolved into a separate DAC and headamp. It stayed that way for awhile until the thought came that it could also be used to view music videos with the addition of a player and a Dell monitor. And It did actually remain in this guise until the last few weeks with good quality audio accompanying the video coming from a modified Panasonic Blu Ray player.
But then disaster struck. The Panasonic would no longer play Blu Ray discs but would still play DVDs. First thought was that the lens needed cleaning so a specially designed cleaner for BD (with gentler action than those for DVD) was purchased from Amazon. Sadly that did not work so off to the repairer it went only to be told a week later that parts were unavailable so nothing could be done. We are rapidly approaching a throw away society
So, with age of wisdom finally set in about wasting money on expensive gear, a Google search found an inexpensive refurbished LG player. No bells and whistles but surely it would be OK for the supplementary video occasionally used? But immediately one snag arose. It had no digital audio output for the headphone system. But was relatively easily solved with an HDMI converter which could extract 2 CH audio and pass on the video. That was the first unanticipated complication.
All finally hooked up and a DVD inserted but it would not play as the LG was not region free! However the Panasonic had been doctored to play DVDs from anywhere so it was hauled back to play this medium. But that posed a further problem of two HDMI outputs but only one input on the Dell. Sigh. Ah, but I did have a converter which could take in up to 4 HDMI inputs with two possible outputs. And it was remote controlled. So, with a fair bit of messing around in the relatively confined spaces in the cabinet I made for this system, it was hooked up. But it did not work - no video. Maybe the required HDMI handshaking was too much or maybe there was an error in the connections, I'll never know because the tangle of wires and converters forced a rethink. Replace the Dell with a small TV.
Research soon revealed there are not many 24 inch models available with two HDMI inputs but a local store had a Samsung on offer on a sale which finished that weekend. So it was purchased and installed. BD quality was stunning but DVD looked very ordinary because there was no upscaling in this inexpensive TV.
Ahah, there was a solution. The VP50 PRO video processor had been taken out of the main system because the Onkyo preamp/processor did the job there just as well, and it could be used! So it was squeezed into the cabinet and hooked up. Yes it did improve the video but not quite as dramatically as hoped, but still better and worth the effort. So I can now have fun fiddling around with changes to DVD video.
However, the system now involved using 5 remotes so a spare universal remote was hauled back into use to control this increasingly crazy system.
The result of all this is an involved and complex man cave A/V system. KISS has gone out the window but then I do now have more toys there to play with. And, after all folks, isn't that the bottom line necessity for those of us suffering from A/V afflictions?

John



What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.

 

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RE: Is KISS ever possible for sufferers of Audiophilia & Videophilia?, posted on November 27, 2015 at 18:37:22
painter27
Audiophile

Posts: 5057
Location: wi.
Joined: January 7, 2003
 Screw KISS & screw the remote.

 

No, nor even conveying why KISS can't be, obviously... , posted on November 27, 2015 at 20:06:08
musetap
Audiophile

Posts: 31871
Location: San Francisco
Joined: July 8, 2003
Contributor
  Since: January 28, 2004
 It's a tangled web we weave, watch over and live in to get where we need to be.

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

KISS = The Beginning Of My Path To Becoming An Audiophile, posted on November 27, 2015 at 21:58:34
Luminator
Audiophile

Posts: 7330
Location: Bay Area
Joined: December 11, 2000



Mid-December 1979. The last day of school, before Winter Break. I was a third grader at San Francisco's Redding Elementary. My mom and her friend Caroline picked me up. I proudly wanted to show them my baked animal Xmas decoration, but they had other things in mind.

I vaguely recall going by Galileo High, on Bay Street, stopped at a red light, most likely between Polk and Larkin. Next to us was a black Thunderbird, blaring some rock music. Caroline cooed, "Ooooo, that's KISS!"

Look, when you are 7-years-old, and some black car blares KISS, you are permanently and mightily impressed. It was only a matter of time, before I got into KISS, and, by extension, audio.

I only recall passing (but not stopping at or entering) the Tower Records on Columbus & Jones. I cannot tell you where we went that late afternoon/early evening, or what we did. My guess is that we went to North Point shopping center, but I'm not even 50% confident in that. That whole day, evening, and night, I could not shake the image of the black T-bird blasting KISS.

Fast forward 9 years to the Fall '88 semester. By then, I was a high school senior. Because heavy metal was peaking, KISS, left for dead a few years earlier, capitalized, by adding two new songs, "Let's Put The X In Sex" and "(You Make Me) Rock Hard," on their best-of compilation, Smashes, Thrashes & Hits. I was really close with a bunch of sophomore and freshmen girls. For Xmas, one of them bought me the cassette of Smashes, Thrashes & Hits.

Yep, while my friends and I played sports at various San Francisco playgrounds, this was one of the cassettes we played in a boombox. Said boombox had a whopping -- wait for it -- 6 or 7 watts per channel. And it played plenty loud. So we educated kids knew that, for domestic situations, you could get by, as far as loudness (but not necessarily control, dynamics, power, bass, and other qualitative measures) with 6-7 wpc tube amps.

Many years later, I would date one of those kick-ass sophomore girls, KJ. In the late-90s, while I was depressed by the disappointing Kimber Select signal cables, KJ tried to cheer me up, by replacing my Smashes, Thrashes & Hits cassette with the CD, above.

I'm not alone. If you were a teenager in the 70s or 80s, glam rock such as KISS got you hooked on music. And in that thirst for getting deeper into the music, you took an interest in audio. Now, is your audio an all-in-one simplistic device? Or is it the octopus which now has 100 arms?

-Lummy The Loch Monster

 

You can start by eliminating the DVD player., posted on November 28, 2015 at 05:56:26
MannyE
Audiophile

Posts: 2088
Location: Miami Beach
Joined: March 4, 2001
 Panasonic Blu-Ray can play both ya know. :)

 

Read my post - the BD option does not work, posted on November 28, 2015 at 12:26:52
John C. - Aussie
Audiophile

Posts: 5146
Location: Northern Tasmania
Joined: November 9, 1999
 As I posted, it was sent for repair but no parts are available!


What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.

 

Kiss Is Indeed Possible....., posted on November 28, 2015 at 15:10:53
Todd Krieger
Audiophile

Posts: 37333
Location: SW United States
Joined: November 2, 2000
 I just prefer Van Halen......

 

KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid nt, posted on November 28, 2015 at 15:20:01
John C. - Aussie
Audiophile

Posts: 5146
Location: Northern Tasmania
Joined: November 9, 1999
 **
What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.

 

Well, now you didn't...N/T, posted on November 28, 2015 at 20:31:27
musetap
Audiophile

Posts: 31871
Location: San Francisco
Joined: July 8, 2003
Contributor
  Since: January 28, 2004
 N/T
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

Misbehaving cats, posted on November 28, 2015 at 21:17:31
John C. - Aussie
Audiophile

Posts: 5146
Location: Northern Tasmania
Joined: November 9, 1999



We have a cat like that only v. dark brown + green eyes. He has been shooed off the top of the sub speakers several times.

The other cat climbed up the top of the electrotats twice(illustrated) when younger but has mended his ways since.


What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.

 

How Do I Know When It's Love, posted on November 28, 2015 at 22:31:58
Luminator
Audiophile

Posts: 7330
Location: Bay Area
Joined: December 11, 2000
 I can't tell you but it lasts forever.

Sigh, summer '88. I was 16, about to enter my senior year of high school. But first, I had to go to Honolulu, to stay with relatives. While I was in Honolulu, I missed the Monsters Of Rock [Kingdom Come, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica, and Van Halen] tour, which came to my hometown of San Francisco.

In late summer, just days before I was to return to San Francisco, I was at a party. The hosts' kids went to Punahou. I was sitting on a sofa, happily eating snacks from Wholesale Unlimited, and sipping Hawaiian Sun drinks. Two really cute and friendly girls sat on either side of me. They said they had gone to Punahou most of their lives, and were going to be freshmen. On a TV, the videos for Lita Ford's "Kiss Me Deadly," Yngwie Malmsteen's "Heaven Tonight," and Van Halen's "When It's Love" came on. Really impressive, those two girls knew and liked all three songs.

All three of us got up and danced, and I was the luckiest guy on the planet.

Damn, damn, damn, why couldn't I just stay behind, go to Punahou (where I had gone to summer school over the years), and be with friendly, fun, and good-looking girls like these two?

When I did get back to San Francisco, through friends, I got to meet more and more sophomore girls, as well as some of the incoming freshmen. And what was one of the glues which held us together? Music! The girls liked pop and dance. The guys would get amped up to thrash. So lite metal, such as Kiss and Van Halen, was the middle ground. All of us, both boys and girls, liked (and hooked up to) Van Halen's "When It's Love."

Many years later, I would marry one of those former sophomore girls. Had my wedding banquet lasted maybe half an hour longer, Van Halen's "When It's Love" would have been played.

 

RE: Read my post - the BD option does not work, posted on November 28, 2015 at 22:36:30
MannyE
Audiophile

Posts: 2088
Location: Miami Beach
Joined: March 4, 2001
 Ahhhhh don't drink and post (of course if I followed that advice I would never post!)

Yes we are indeed a throwaway society. Luckily, refurb BD players can be had for $40-50 on Amazon.

 

And that is exactly what I did!, posted on November 29, 2015 at 03:37:46
John C. - Aussie
Audiophile

Posts: 5146
Location: Northern Tasmania
Joined: November 9, 1999
 Purchased a refurbished LG on the net. But (again read my post) it was not region free which the Panasonic was -> it had to be brought back into use for DVDs.



What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.

 

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