What a fun year that was. Perhaps people have a highlight, one musical, one not musical.
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My not-musical highlight was the fact that my job was only marginally affected by the pandemic, and never to the point that I needed to worry about employment or income. And that led to my musical highlight, which was the purchase of a pair of M700s.
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My non music highlight was getting back in touch with the love of my life that I’ve never quite gotten over, we hadn’t seen each other since 2002 and it ended in pretty painful circumstances due to relapse in addiction. She got back in touch with me towards the end of last year and I went and met her for a few cups of tea and a walk down in Somerset in March just a few days before lockdown came into effect. We just talked non-stop for 5 hours. We’ve been in regular contact since then on the phone and by email. I was always worried I’d romanticised my memories of her, but no, she really is a wonderful woman and just as I remember her.
My music highlight was without doubt managing to secure an ex-demo PrimaLuna Evo 100 Integrated amplifier. They’d unboxed it at the beginning of march as a demo unit, and went into lockdown 2 weeks later, so it literally had about 10 hours use on the tubes. Other than that, it’s quite literally pristine. What a sound!
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This year has seen my system evolve by leaps and bounds !!!
From a P5 to P12 and now P15…every step a major improvement
in my system’s sound quality.
Had been desiring to upgrade from my Class A/AB Parasound A21,
to another Parasound; the JC5 which has the distilled essence of
of the JC1+
Today the JC5 is my sweet reality come true…
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Luckily, most of my work life can be conducted remotely so I was impacted financially by the pandemic. Musically speaking, adding a Luxman D-08u to my setup greatly enhanced my appreciation for digital music delivery. When all is said and done, my opinion about 2020 is best summed up by my friend the artist Robyn O’Neil:
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Personal: My wife of 34 years completed her cancer treatment in 2019 / 2020. Fear of a relapse will always be there, but boy, am I glad she’s back!
Work: In 2020, my employment contract was amended to reflect 30% salary cut. Fortunately, the children are all independent save the youngest one who is in her last year of environmental planning degree.
HiFi: Despite having a PSA account for a while, only n 2020 did I pay attention to the forum. I have learnt a lot and virtually met many decent people who were willing to offer time and advice. Thank you all. Merry Christmas and may 2021 be a good year for you and your loved ones.
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Oh, heartiest congratulations for you both, that’s wonderful news for your wife!
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Glad to hear your wife is back, love her and cherish her…
A 30% pay cut is not easy and hard to deal with…
My heart goes out to you.
May you have a blessed Christmas in the midst of this
Blessings Serhan
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Congrats to those happy events in 2020 above.
I am afraid that this year has had no real outstanding great non-musical event that I can relate. Instead it’s been awful due to the death of my mother-in-law and then with a brother, sister-in-law and even worse father contracting the virus, and my father recovering only to break an ankle in two places so that he has been away from his “home” for a whole month so far, and not happy. And a series of weather related home repairs that is impacting me financially in a painful way. Luckily my wife and I are very fond of each other and have weathered the hurdles and the “quarantining” well.
But there were two big pluses musically: a P15 to help me get further obsessed with the possibilities of sound in my main system. And that also allowed me to move the P10 into a bedroom headphone only system I was able to build that expands my listening possibilities with great sound. Luckily I was able to do these two expenditure events before the house swallowed all my mad money!
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Please accept my sincere condolences for the loss family members who passed away. May they Rest In Peace. Also, sorry about the weather events and your dad’s health. I hope you all recover from that fairly quickly, especially your father.
Well done re P15. I found it to be a game changer in my system. Merry Christmas and may God give us all a blessed 2021.
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Thanks Serhan. Same wishes right back your way.
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Many non-musical blessings. My job is considered essential and I haven’t missed a single day of work. Work at home was a transition I didn’t really have to adjust to since I’ve been working nearly full time remotely for a decade, with occasional travel to the plant as needed. Has to do with the nature of my job, systems engineering which is mostly paper. I’m healthy. I’m prosperous. I’ve heard from old friends I haven’t seen in years. Ironically the pandemic has brought me closer to my dearest friends. My family (I have siblings in CA) is thankfully well. Music in my home has never sounded better with various upgrades to my vinyl front end. There are things about 2020 I want to put in the rear view mirror, but on a personal level I have zero complaints.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!
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The loss of loved ones with the ensuing grief compounded
with father’s condition…again very hard…
Myself having lost my only family member left a huge
vacuum, except for the Kindness of my Saviour Jesus
who has seen me through…
Lonson may Christ both comfort, strengthen and
establish you with His redeeming Grace…!!!
He loves you!!
God Bless you Lonson!!
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Thank you David. I didn’t mean to derail the thread with my “bad year”. . . . I’ve had a few and weathered them all. I lost my first wife, then my Mom and I’m hoping for some more years with my Dad, we’ll see. He’s been a good servant of the Lord and the finest man I know. My mother-in-law went rather happily with the 8 surviving of her 10 children around the final week. She firmly believed she was bound for heaven and happily so.
Carry on now guys with the HAPPY stories.
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David,
Thank you for your kind and supportive words.
Merry Christmas and may your 2021 be filled with good health and happy times.
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I am glad you shared your year, dreadful though it was. You have many supporters here.
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musical -
lianna de havas - weird fishes
(though This is the Kit’s “Off Off On” has been a late entry that has been wonderful too).
non musical -
accidentally retiring 
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No mention of the filters. Bah Humbug. 
It’s noted down. You probably thought it was all in a dream!!
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I know, and thank you sir.
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