We used to all make jokes about elevator music. You know you're old when "your song" is relegated to Muzak. How true, but these days, elevator music is the good stuff. Jay's noticed an unpleasant trend among the cheap restaurants he frequents - radio stations instead of even the lowly Muzak. Bad, bad, bad radio stations. Bad music, worse audio. Maybe if the audio were decent the music wouldn't be so nerve wracking.
In some places, they're playing solid Oldies, which in today's parlance means bad, bad music that grates on the ears. Real Oldies, maybe deserving of being called "classical" by now, would be no problem, but even the few places that play it are using horrid Corporate Radio to pipe the world's worst audio signal to bad store speakers. Pity poor ears. Pity the poor audiophile!
Actually, Jay's not one. An audiophile, that is. Mainly, Jay's wallet doesn't permit such indulgence, although his ears would surely relish a treat. There's a limit to how much lack of quality he can stand, however, and low-quality MP3s broadcast over FM radio stations littered with noisy DJs and stupid contests push Jay's limits to the max.
His long treasured FM receiver having bit the dust a couple of months ago, Jay's suffering along with computer driven audio till the microeconomy in Jay's immediate vicinity permits shopping for a replacement system - might be a while. He's converted a few dozen of his favorite CDs to computer audio (at maximum quality, uncompressed thank you very much), and sends the audio out through dinky but decent speakers at a few meager watts. Doesn't quite drown the drone of the computer and its external harddrives, but Jay has to make do till the "big" receiver can be replaced.
Don't even suggest repair. The thing is almost 20 years old. The company that made it has been bought out and re-bought out, and the likelihood of finding parts is low, much less someone capable of performing the repair at less than astronomical cost. It was good in its day. Not by any means an audipphile's dream, of course, but way decent, with all kinds of (revolutionary back then) video inputs and an on-board 10-band graphic equalizer. Now it's past its prime, clicking and popping, with dusty pots and sliders that squawk when operated. Its LCD display is long kaput, so there's no telling what the receiver's doing unless you've lived with it for over a decade, which Jay has, and can discern its "modes" from listening to its results.
Really, though, it's only Jay's fourth or fifth system for all his merry days. He tends to hang onto stuff that works until it doesn't. (It's beyond hot here, so that's why the refreshing pool picture, which has zip to do with audio.)