Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Listen to the sound of defeat in your voice. Might have something to do with the fact that I've been defeated.
My 13 year old Sony STR-D790's left channel bit the dust today. I don't know how or why, but it makes me really sad. I've had this amp since high school. I worked really hard and saved up my pennies to buy this amp and a set of speakers that I, customarily (as would be expected from a 16 year old), blew up.
This poor amp is well traveled. It started out in Corydon, In. Then it moved to Terre Haute, In, and back to Corydon. Then back to Terre Haute, then a move to Reston, Va, and back to Terre Haute. It then spent quite a bit of time in Middletown, Ct by itself, moved to Arcadia, In, then back to Terre Haute. The amp then made its way to Georgia where it spent time in Dawsonville, then on the north side of Atlanta near Sandy Springs, and met its end in Decatur. This amp was moved frequently, was heavily used, and often abused. It is a dear friend and will be missed.
As things go, about 20 minutes after I bought this amp in high school, I wanted something different. A friend has always owned Onkyo receivers and they sound great. I was always blowing tweeters and sometimes woofers with my Sony, but my friends never had the same tweeter crushing clipping issues with their Onkyo's as what I had with my Sony. But the Sony was what I could afford.
Sadly, on this random Wednesday, my Sony died at half volume. I wasn't even cranking it. I wish it were to have died in a blaze of glory, cranking out Tool, rather than in the whimper of dance/beat music at mid-level volume from an XM channel routed to us via DirecTV.
I've really wanted a new amp for about 12 years and 11 months, but things had become worse in the last year or so. I purchased an HDTV with tons of capabilities last year, my 7 year old DVD player has 5.1 surround sound, and now the DirecTV box supports 5.1, and I could use none of these features. But today ... today, with Palila's approval, I ordered an Onkyo TX-SR703. I swore I wouldn't buy a new amp unless it had 100w/ch. Now we'll have 100w/ch. It has all kinds of nice new features that will allow us to take advantage of some of the other equipment that uses component video, 5.1 surround, HDMI, and ... well ... 100w/ch.
STR-D790, you should never fear. You will go in a box and into basement storage. Someday, when I have money and a real job, I will pull you out of that box, send you to be repaired, and then use you in a basement or a garage. You will crank again my friend, you will crank again.
This poor amp is well traveled. It started out in Corydon, In. Then it moved to Terre Haute, In, and back to Corydon. Then back to Terre Haute, then a move to Reston, Va, and back to Terre Haute. It then spent quite a bit of time in Middletown, Ct by itself, moved to Arcadia, In, then back to Terre Haute. The amp then made its way to Georgia where it spent time in Dawsonville, then on the north side of Atlanta near Sandy Springs, and met its end in Decatur. This amp was moved frequently, was heavily used, and often abused. It is a dear friend and will be missed.
As things go, about 20 minutes after I bought this amp in high school, I wanted something different. A friend has always owned Onkyo receivers and they sound great. I was always blowing tweeters and sometimes woofers with my Sony, but my friends never had the same tweeter crushing clipping issues with their Onkyo's as what I had with my Sony. But the Sony was what I could afford.
Sadly, on this random Wednesday, my Sony died at half volume. I wasn't even cranking it. I wish it were to have died in a blaze of glory, cranking out Tool, rather than in the whimper of dance/beat music at mid-level volume from an XM channel routed to us via DirecTV.
I've really wanted a new amp for about 12 years and 11 months, but things had become worse in the last year or so. I purchased an HDTV with tons of capabilities last year, my 7 year old DVD player has 5.1 surround sound, and now the DirecTV box supports 5.1, and I could use none of these features. But today ... today, with Palila's approval, I ordered an Onkyo TX-SR703. I swore I wouldn't buy a new amp unless it had 100w/ch. Now we'll have 100w/ch. It has all kinds of nice new features that will allow us to take advantage of some of the other equipment that uses component video, 5.1 surround, HDMI, and ... well ... 100w/ch.
STR-D790, you should never fear. You will go in a box and into basement storage. Someday, when I have money and a real job, I will pull you out of that box, send you to be repaired, and then use you in a basement or a garage. You will crank again my friend, you will crank again.
# posted by chilort @ 6:47 PM 
