Sonic Defender
Headphoneus Supremus
I'll admit it, I have been watching my post count climb toward 11000 for a while now. I hope it doesn't seem like a vanity thing to notice, I just find it personally meaningful. So because of that I decided to tell a little story about some rather old and rather new audio gear suddenly put together in a system with really wonderful results, but there is a twist. This story also has a really strong recycling message, or so I hope.
Back in 2016 I was working for a local non-profit that was located in a very busy part of the city. One of my roles (which I loved for many reasons) was running a pretty busy consumer electronic waste depot. The amount of e-waste is of course astounding and I suspect that up to 85%, depending on the jurisdiction, is actually not recycled and primarily finds it way into landfill. I could not believe the amount of wonderful, fully functioning audio gear that went through my depot.
Sometimes I just had to divert some special things that I knew were just too precious to see either get smashed for scrap, or landfilled. One day an older man came in with a young contractor that was renovating his home for him. He had something for the e-waste depot if we took it. His contractor goes out and comes back in with something that literally made my heart flutter, I kid you not. He carried in a 1990s classic Bang & Oulfsen Beosound 2000. The Beosound 2000 produced between 1993 - 2004 was a slim (but heavy due to the generous amount of metal used in the solid construction) all in one component system with cassette, compact disc, and with the detachable antennae, radio functionality. It had that lovely sliding glass door that ended up working (mostly) and the unit was in almost showroom shape, really spectacular. To finish it off, he also brought in the remote control unit in perfect working and cosmetic order.
He told me he had enjoyed it, but rarely used it as it was an auxiliary system for him and in an area of the home that just didn't get that much use so here it was probably 25 years old and in perfect working and cosmetic condition. As a young man I had always admired these systems and remember seeing advertisements for them (and their predecessors) in some of the audio magazines I read (yes actual paper magazines back then). I asked the man if he would allow me to keep it and not send it in for recycling as it was likely to be barely recycled anyway and that I could use it for years yet before it needed recycling when it finally stopped functioning. He was beyond happy to hear that not only would I save and use the system, he was thrilled that I was somebody who would love using it.
Within the first few hours having it at home and of course cleaning it up, I had to give it a listen and in no time it made lugging the very heavy and hard to carry unit onto public transit and home, just off rush-hour at that. Believe me, I earned this little gem. It sounded nice and warm, with a tasteful treble roll-off, not very different than the Oppo PM3. Vocals were just so tactile and the sound field and separation was also pretty impressive considering the fixed position the speakers were held in. The advantage of this speaker arrangement as while you could do nothing to position them, they were well engineered already and of course, mirror images so the sound image was very coherent and stable. People who respond to vinyl rigs would very much enjoy this classic solid state gem.
I could review the sound, but I am already far off track as is. I right away ordered an $80 Auxiliary input cable made specifically for this system and only by one company in Britain if I remember correctly and that is how I will tie the old with the new. At the time I was using my phone, which had good sound, an LG G4 and or an iPod Video. Fast-forward to today and I have discovered another wonderful use for my FiiO Q5. Yes for anybody who has come across my posts I am unapologetically a huge and public fan of the Q5. I think the Q5 speaks for itself so all I can say is that I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I find the Q5 to be a wonderful device. Ok so that is out in the open, great, I am a fan, but not a fan-boy which is an important distinction to make.
I was sitting listening to some great music being played from my five year old Lenovo T440 (I upgraded it to SSD) connected to the Q5 via USB which was in turn connected by the line out to the Beosound 2000. I then completed what I thought was the trifecta of new meets old and ran JRiver with the Gizmo remote on my phone. I turned the lights off, closed the laptop lid and listened for a few hours and what a great few hours it was. Absolutely perfect and so glad that I took the time to re-appreciate the craftmanship that went into the Q5 and the Beosound 2000. I tried taking shots in the dark, but as good as my phone's camera is, low light it does struggle with so please forgive the lost detail. Maybe I will come back at a later time with better pictures, maybe using the new Q5s in fact.
Well, here is a night shot that I managed with Photoshop to bring out a little detail. I will update with new and better pictures very soon. Thanks to whomever has read my 11000 post. I hope the backstory was helpful in setting the scene.
Back in 2016 I was working for a local non-profit that was located in a very busy part of the city. One of my roles (which I loved for many reasons) was running a pretty busy consumer electronic waste depot. The amount of e-waste is of course astounding and I suspect that up to 85%, depending on the jurisdiction, is actually not recycled and primarily finds it way into landfill. I could not believe the amount of wonderful, fully functioning audio gear that went through my depot.
Sometimes I just had to divert some special things that I knew were just too precious to see either get smashed for scrap, or landfilled. One day an older man came in with a young contractor that was renovating his home for him. He had something for the e-waste depot if we took it. His contractor goes out and comes back in with something that literally made my heart flutter, I kid you not. He carried in a 1990s classic Bang & Oulfsen Beosound 2000. The Beosound 2000 produced between 1993 - 2004 was a slim (but heavy due to the generous amount of metal used in the solid construction) all in one component system with cassette, compact disc, and with the detachable antennae, radio functionality. It had that lovely sliding glass door that ended up working (mostly) and the unit was in almost showroom shape, really spectacular. To finish it off, he also brought in the remote control unit in perfect working and cosmetic order.
He told me he had enjoyed it, but rarely used it as it was an auxiliary system for him and in an area of the home that just didn't get that much use so here it was probably 25 years old and in perfect working and cosmetic condition. As a young man I had always admired these systems and remember seeing advertisements for them (and their predecessors) in some of the audio magazines I read (yes actual paper magazines back then). I asked the man if he would allow me to keep it and not send it in for recycling as it was likely to be barely recycled anyway and that I could use it for years yet before it needed recycling when it finally stopped functioning. He was beyond happy to hear that not only would I save and use the system, he was thrilled that I was somebody who would love using it.
Within the first few hours having it at home and of course cleaning it up, I had to give it a listen and in no time it made lugging the very heavy and hard to carry unit onto public transit and home, just off rush-hour at that. Believe me, I earned this little gem. It sounded nice and warm, with a tasteful treble roll-off, not very different than the Oppo PM3. Vocals were just so tactile and the sound field and separation was also pretty impressive considering the fixed position the speakers were held in. The advantage of this speaker arrangement as while you could do nothing to position them, they were well engineered already and of course, mirror images so the sound image was very coherent and stable. People who respond to vinyl rigs would very much enjoy this classic solid state gem.
I could review the sound, but I am already far off track as is. I right away ordered an $80 Auxiliary input cable made specifically for this system and only by one company in Britain if I remember correctly and that is how I will tie the old with the new. At the time I was using my phone, which had good sound, an LG G4 and or an iPod Video. Fast-forward to today and I have discovered another wonderful use for my FiiO Q5. Yes for anybody who has come across my posts I am unapologetically a huge and public fan of the Q5. I think the Q5 speaks for itself so all I can say is that I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I find the Q5 to be a wonderful device. Ok so that is out in the open, great, I am a fan, but not a fan-boy which is an important distinction to make.
I was sitting listening to some great music being played from my five year old Lenovo T440 (I upgraded it to SSD) connected to the Q5 via USB which was in turn connected by the line out to the Beosound 2000. I then completed what I thought was the trifecta of new meets old and ran JRiver with the Gizmo remote on my phone. I turned the lights off, closed the laptop lid and listened for a few hours and what a great few hours it was. Absolutely perfect and so glad that I took the time to re-appreciate the craftmanship that went into the Q5 and the Beosound 2000. I tried taking shots in the dark, but as good as my phone's camera is, low light it does struggle with so please forgive the lost detail. Maybe I will come back at a later time with better pictures, maybe using the new Q5s in fact.
Well, here is a night shot that I managed with Photoshop to bring out a little detail. I will update with new and better pictures very soon. Thanks to whomever has read my 11000 post. I hope the backstory was helpful in setting the scene.
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