Might be time for me to replace the ole’ Kenwood Stereo Amp. Since I have lived on my own, the Kenwood has powered my sonic journeys. God bless it but the time has come to find a new/old amp for my turntable. The Kenwood requires a lot of attention when I fire it up as its connections are wonky. I lose sound out of the right or left speaker and have to fiddle with the knobs to get it sound full and great. When it works out, it works out and it sounds wonderful. But I usually lose half a song fiddling.
I bought the Kenwood Amp some time ago when Paul and I first moved out to a basement suite together on Boundary Road on the Burnaby side of the Vancouver/Burnaby divide. We lived sorta near Moscrop School and an easy walk to the Joyce Skytrain Station.
A picture of my set up circa early 2007, Fernwood Apartment. Kenwood is on the right, second unit up above the DVD player.
I am sure I have blogged about my amp before. Paul and I headed out to a fair or flea market in Aldergrove or Cloverdale. I bought the amp for $20. Likely, the best $20 I ever spent.
The amp went with me when Alex and I moved to Commercial Drive. My old man bought me speakers that year for my birthday and I still have those. I’ve spilt some wax down the side.
When I got the job in Victoria, the amp made the sea voyage. It was around that time that I foraged in my Dad’s garage for his old Hitachi Record player.
As the seasons changed, I phased the CD player out, but the Amp, record player and speakers have endured, Fernwood to Yates to Esquimalt. I now run my DJ rig through the amp when I practice at home.
* I just want to stop for a moment to say that Jose Gonzalez‘ Veneer is amazing.
The time has come to think about replacing the Kenwood with something new, but part of me wonders if I should try and fix it? It is just the connections that are wonky? Maybe I could order or find the same model on the internet or maybe the answer is rolling the dice on a new/old amp at a garage sale?
The home stereo March 2009
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The Book of Negroes threw me off my path of John Jewitt’s account of being a slave on Vancouver Island. I’ll need to finish that book so I can begin my next step in creating my first radio documentary.
I’ll really need to get it done before I get some new books (fingers crossed) from Santa. I have a couple on my list but one that I am excited to track down (if it doesn’t come down the chimney) is Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music by Greg Milner.
Greg travels through history, Thomas Edison to Auto-tune. I can dig it. Might make a good subject for a future podcast. So many podcasting ideas. We’ll see how well Coral and I can correct our financial situation in the new year before I can think about anymore audio gear.
That’s all I got, tomorrow we’ll see how my day shapes up but i might try to tackle my top 10 records of 00s.
Go with yourself.
The Morning After 