Hi folks. New member here, my name is Paul and I've been lurking a bit lately, figured it's time to sign up and introduce myself a bit.
I'm not in any way an audio/engineering professional.
I'm a chemist by training, now more of a computer programmer working in scientific information systems - databases of chemicals and their biological activities. I live in Baltimore and work for a US govt agency (National Institutes of Health).
So, my interest in audio... Long story, I'll try to condense but I do tend to run on (and on and on) sometimes, so bear with me. I grew up on classical music; I play classical piano, and while I've never done it professionally (unless you count playing for a wedding or two in my hometown when I was in high school), I've had probably ~30 years' worth of piano lessons, still taking now actually. Anyway, this is how my musical ear developed.
Maybe ~10 years or so ago, I got involved with another audio/visual forum group (that I'm still part of, but not gonna mention details here because I don't want you to think I'm just trolling for new members
) when I wanted to upgrade my audio system with my first multi-channel a/v setup. I'm still more interested in music than video, but I do like surround sound when it's done well, and I watch the occasional movie. Anyway, I got something of an education on speakers, acoustics, current audio tech, etc. I went through a variety of speakers; nothing expensive as I'm not wealthy by any means. But what I am running now is an active crossover system with speakers designed and built by one member of the previously mentioned forum, and a crossover I assembled myself from a raw circuit board designed by another member. (I'm not an electrical engineer but I can solder a bit.
) I have some basic acoustic treatments in my room - primary reflection point absorbers. But my room is not well designed for audio, being a converted den in a small house, with even-multiple dimensions exactly wrong for acoustics. It's still pretty good though, IMHO, and I get a lot of enjoyment out of it, which is the important part.
I also dabble in headphones, currently using Beyer T1 with a Woo WA6 tube amp (I love tubes with headphones) for most listening, often while I'm working, as I work mostly from home.
But perhaps more importantly, my involvement in this other group expanded my musical horizons, as most of them weren't into classical. I started delving into jazz and blues especially, and also classic/prog rock, bluegrass... basically looking for "interesting" music where it's more about the composition and performance, than about fandom (e.g. I hate almost everything about modern pop
). The interesting thing is, though, this broad and careful listening to many other styles of music has really deepened my experience of my own classical playing. I think a lot of it has to do with developing a skill for listening - hearing individual musical lines and instruments in a jazz performance, that sort of thing. I'm a very detail-oriented person in general, and this fits right in.
Music is my main creative outlet in an otherwise very technical, scientific daily life. Audio tech, for me, serves that goal, rather than being an end in itself.
Oh, and I'm also an amateur photographer as well.
Anyway, this seems like an interesting group of folks, and I like the fact that it's a smaller crowd, not a huge zoo like AVSforum or something.
Be seein' y'all around...