Story and Introduction

Everything Else
1

Hi all,
My name is Jim and I live in on Grand Cayman where for years I have been into my home theater. Much like Pauls if I can determine by his video from a while back.

4 years ago (24 April 2016) I was diagnosed with stage 4 Follicular Lymphoma and was told to get my butt to a facility that might help me as the Island does not have the hospital that could. I ended up at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) where I endured 18 months of progressively more difficult chemo and clinical trials that finally got me to where a Bone Marrow Transplant could rid me of the cancer. On Aug 2 2017, the day after Jerry Garcia’s birthday! I got the transplant. I have been dealing with GVHD (Graft Versus Host Disease) ever since which requires me to wear a mask and gloves when I go out due to immunodeficiency. Unable to fly, go out much, or be away from MSKCC I bought a house in Amityville NY (around the block from the Horror House!) where I live and miss my home and home theater.

OK Sad story over.

The last few weeks I have, with the help of an old friend by the name of Frank Doris (Copper Magazine), gotten back into 2 channel home audio. I put a Sprout 100 with the Elac B6.2’s in the office my wife uses when she’s here (she comes back today and I can’t wait for her to see/hear it) and I put the Stellar Gain Cell PreAmp/DAC and a pair of M700 monoblocks driving a borrowed pair of Klipsch RP-8000F’s. I use a Macbook pro with bitstream/apple Music (used to be iTunes), and Qobuz for music as my CD’s and stuff are 4000km away
The great fun of buying the stuff and setting it up, bingeing 3 years of Pauls wonderful videos and other online audiophiles (Steve Guttenberg deserves a hat tip) has made me virtually forget the negatives in my life and given me the kind of joy I can’t adequately describe.

If you haven’t heard the Sprout, holy smoke, I can’t imagine a better value for the money. Sitting at my wifes desk or slightly behind it the speakers disappear. Even using Bluetooth and iTunes on my phone the sound is terrific, with the computer and usb it’s astounding. I cannot wait for her to hear it!

I just hooked up the other stuff and haven’t even turned it on but I needed to take a break and wanted the folks here and the folks at PS Audio to know how much they have already meant to me. Especially Paul for his Videos and Kevin Jackson for helping me through the buying process.

Thanks for listening and if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know even if it’s STFU and stop the whining!

As we say in Cayman, much love.

Jim

11 Likes
2

Welcome Jim!
Very inspiring story! You are the epitome of what it means to fight on! I am happy to hear that you are beating the odds and have the time, energy, and general wherewithal to come onto this forum and share with us your journey, both medically and audio-related. Great stuff!

At the end, you asked if any of us have any suggestions. Question for you, what areas/items are you interested in getting feedback on? Great community here at PS Audio with so many eager to assist.

Cheers,
Jeff

2 Likes
3

Thanks for the kind words,
First is speakers, I have a budget of $3-4k and the Klipsch’s are a stand in until I can get a set that is matched as best as possible to the system. I don’t go out much but was going to be in Manhattan on the 14th for treatment and am staying overnight so I thought I’d go to Lyric Hifi to listen to some if they let me. I have 2 Kef Kube 10b Subs that I had extra back home and sent up so don’t need subs and probably can’t afford to upgrade those for the time being.
Second is Cables, I have some very old Monster and some Mark Levinson (they used to make cables) but they are RCA and I need 2 Balanced interconnects.
Third might be tweaks, isolation stuff, etc.

4

Fighting the good fight myself, I wish you only the best. Good luck with the recapitalization of your system. Can’t beat Klipsch IMHO for that live sound, although they may not be as delicate as some other options.

2 Likes
5

Thanks my friend, back atcha with best wishes in your fight. I have to say I am impressed with the Klipsch’s, will take a pretty big leap up for me to shell out the cash for something else. Hard part is getting to listen to things, I am still wearing a mask and gloves when I go out in public so I don’t go out much. Still, gonna man up and go to Lyric Hifi next Saturday and hopefully they will let me hear stuff with similar amping etc

6

It has to be tough; I’m hoping you get out and stay healthy. Be strong and listen to everything you can. You’ll find the right thing and know it when you do. You’re in my prayers.

Mike D in Dayton.

1 Like