First off, a couple of weeks ago, I received an “offer I couldn’t refuse” from Darrel Hawthorne and ended up with a pair of Silver Iris drivers, which are unquestionable the best speakers I’ve had in my home, ever. Then Friday I received an email from Darrel that asked if I’d be home Saturday. He said he had something for me but wouldn’t elaborate. Of course I’d be home! What little I could get out of him was that the surprise was not from him, but from an anonymous third party. Darrel was only the messenger. I was on pins and needles from there on until he arrived. I had no clue as to what was happening.

About 1:30 PM Darrel and his lovely wife Diana arrived. After we chatted for a while, Darrel brought the boxes in. One was obviously heavy. Darrel explained that these came form someone who I don’t know, who is a lurker on the forums but does not actively participate. Evidently, he seems to have received some enjoyment from my posting over the last five years. I’m glad someone did. Anyway, onto the boxes. Out of the first box came a brand new, on-opened Jolida JD 100A CD player complete with remote control and a pair of Yisheng OFC cable YSDZ . Out of the second box came a Lab-60 amplifier. I understand it has had the upgrades. A pair of Monster cable mk II and a pair of speaker cables that I don’t remember right off what they are, but I’ll find out from Darrel. They have a large braided cover over what appears to be a series of smaller wires. Heavy gold plated banana plugs on the ends.

This whole thing is a complete shock that I’m still not over the next day. I literally have a completely different stereo than I had a couple of weeks ago. Only my LP components are seriously compromised. I’ll get into talking about what I’m hearing later as I get used to it. I’m still working on hooking my subs up (need to get some good banana plugs to insert between the amp and speaker cables. Otherwise, I’m listening. A lot!

I wish to thank the anonymous person who sent these to me. I certainly have done nothing to deserve this, but I am eternally grateful. It’s like a lifelong dream come true.

There are a few others on this and a couple of other forums who have done nice for me things through the years, also. They include, in no particular order:

Randy (Decware Forum)
Ed Shilling
Eddie Vaughn
RTE
Terry
Wayne Parham
Dave (planet10)
Chrisby
Darrel Hawthorne

I’m sure there are others I just am not thinking of at the moment, but these guys have all spent a bit of extra time and effort helping me out with one project or another. They are truly good people. I wish I could do as much in return.

I wish everybody here could have had as good of fortune as I’ve had this last couple of weeks. The four forums I’m posting on all are full of great people who deserve the best.

I’ll try to be worthy of what I’ve been given.

Dave

Tad-60

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/cayinusa.html

Jolida JD 100A

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/jolida-jd100_e.html