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New member in Canada

bogart

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Joined
Sep 10, 2019
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Greetings all, I'm a new member based in Toronto! I haven't searched through the forum for my neighbours just yet, but I'd imagine I'm not the only one. I'm trained as an Industrial Engineer and have pursued a career in data analytics and operations research. My professional career is probably best described as applied analytics and data science - I've definitely seen I'm not the only one of those on the forum.

I've been a lifelong enthusiast of all kinds of music, and got switched on to audio gear when I was headed to college. I wanted to have good set of computer speakers and went to my local hi-fi shop to see whether a stereo could be a better answer. I ended up with a set of Acoustic Energy Aegis 1 bookshelves and a Pioneer receiver, and I've been on this path ever since. I eventually turned those bookshelves into rear speakers by adding Aegis 3 front and centers and a sub to have a full 5.1 setup, and replaced the Pioneer with an Arcam AVR-100. Along the way, I picked up more and more gear until I ended up with an Integra HT receiver with Martin Logan Front+Center, and some B&W LM1 speakers for rears. Most of that is gone now, which brings me to my current setups!

Home Theater - Totem Sttaf L+R, Totem Mite Center, B&W LM1 rear; Marantz 1605 compact HT receiver + HTPC... mostly used for movies and some rare music
Living/Dining Room - B&W LM1's paired with a subwoofer, hooked up to Arcam AVR-100 HT receiver fed by a raspberry pi for casual listening
Everywhere else - Sonos 1's and 5, and sadly these get the most hours of anything!
Headphones - Grado 325e's that collect dust due to lack of comfort and frustrating sound quality without EQ, Custom IEM shells for UE900 for regular use at the office and in transit - with EQ, these have ended up being incredibly satisfying!

Sitting idle and desperately in need of use: Project Debut turntable, Era Design 5 bookshelf speakers, some Outlaw audio monoblock amps, a vintage Marantz 2215 receiver

These days, I'm working on how to change up my living room system, and what to do about my headphone situation (shameless request for advice post found here). I've really enjoyed seeing the effects of using parametric EQ on headphones - it really is incredible the redemption it can provide to headphones. My HT setup has Audyssey and I've been pleased with its use as well. ASR has convinced me that room correction and EQ is the way to go, and is not the Devil's Work :)

I've also had a long-simmering interest in DIY projects... there's just something fun about the process of building something that really appeals to me. I've met up with a guy near Toronto who makes beautiful stuff that I'm considering taking on as a project. He's really focused on measurement-driven design, which I really appreciate. I stopped by his workshop a few weeks ago and was really impressed with the sound his speakers delivered, particularly the small horns that he's designed to integrate into regular people's houses :) If you're interested, his instagram page gives a cool cross-section of his work (Joseph Crowe Audio)
edit: @Joseph Crowe is now a member here - welcome!

I'm very glad to be here and look forward to many great conversations.
 
Last edited:

BDWoody

Chief Cat Herder
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Joined
Jan 9, 2019
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Mid-Atlantic, USA. (Maryland)
Greetings all, I'm a new member based in Toronto! I haven't searched through the forum for my neighbours just yet, but I'd imagine I'm not the only one. I'm trained as an Industrial Engineer and have pursued a career in data analytics and operations research. My professional career is probably best described as applied analytics and data science - I've definitely seen I'm not the only one of those on the forum.

I've been a lifelong enthusiast of all kinds of music, and got switched on to audio gear when I was headed to college. I wanted to have good set of computer speakers and went to my local hi-fi shop to see whether a stereo could be a better answer. I ended up with a set of Acoustic Energy Aegis 1 bookshelves and a Pioneer receiver, and I've been on this path ever since. I eventually turned those bookshelves into rear speakers by adding Aegis 3 front and centers and a sub to have a full 5.1 setup, and replaced the Pioneer with an Arcam AVR-100. Along the way, I picked up more and more gear until I ended up with an Integra HT receiver with Martin Logan Front+Center, and some B&W LM1 speakers for rears. Most of that is gone now, which brings me to my current setups!

Home Theater - Totem Sttaf L+R, Totem Mite Center, B&W LM1 rear; Marantz 1605 compact HT receiver + HTPC... mostly used for movies and some rare music
Living/Dining Room - B&W LM1's paired with a subwoofer, hooked up to Arcam AVR-100 HT receiver fed by a raspberry pi for casual listening
Everywhere else - Sonos 1's and 5, and sadly these get the most hours of anything!
Headphones - Grado 325e's that collect dust due to lack of comfort and frustrating sound quality without EQ, Custom IEM shells for UE900 for regular use at the office and in transit - with EQ, these have ended up being incredibly satisfying!

Sitting idle and desperately in need of use: Project Debut turntable, Era Design 5 bookshelf speakers, some Outlaw audio monoblock amps, a vintage Marantz 2215 receiver

These days, I'm working on how to change up my living room system, and what to do about my headphone situation. I've really enjoyed seeing the effects of using parametric EQ on headphones - it really is incredible the redemption it can provide to headphones. My HT setup has Audyssey and I've been pleased with its use as well. ASR has convinced me that room correction and EQ is the way to go, and is not the Devil's Work :)

I've also had a long-simmering interest in DIY projects... there's just something fun about the process of building something that really appeals to me. I've met up with a guy near Toronto who makes beautiful stuff that I'm considering taking on as a project. He's really focused on measurement-driven design, which I really appreciate. I stopped by his workshop a few weeks ago and was really impressed with the sound his speakers delivered, particularly the small horns that he's designed to integrate into regular people's houses :) If you're interested, his instagram page gives a cool cross-section of his work (Joseph Crowe Audio)

I'm very glad to be here and look forward to many great conversations.

Great introduction! Nice collection of 'stuff' you've put together. Welcome to the site.
 
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