Defining moments

Mike Cole

Active Member
As I was sitting here listening to Norah Jones on a pair of homemade TQWTs that I dug out of the back of the closet, I started ruminating on some of the defining moments in my stereo listening career. I have been listening to stereo ever since I was about 6 years old blasting Musical Mother Goose out of my Dad's Ampex console. During these last 40+ years I can count maybe 4 times that a stereo system really and truly impressed me in some way.

The first time was in Colarado Springs at a store called Listen Up. There was an integrated tube amp hooked up to a small pair of Infinity speakers. I don't know the brand of amp, but I think they said it was made by some engineer in Virginia. The sound coming from that system was so physically seductive that I could not leave the room until the Mozart piece that was playing had finished. I had never known that music could hold me so transfixed.

The second time was when one of the Listen Up sales people invited me over to his house to listen to his setup, none of which was sold by the store he worked at. The system consisted of Exposure Electronics hooked up to a pair of Linn Kan speakers and fronted by an LP12 TT. After listening to the first song from one of his LPs, I realized I had brought over many of the wrong LPs to listen to. This system was not about tone and air and imaging. it was about the pace, rhythm and timing inherent in any music that has a beat. While the first system I talked about was physically seductive, this one was all mental. It actually tickled my brain - like releasing a ton of endorphins. The way that each instrumental line worked with and played off of every other instrumental line was sheer joy. I mean, even the rata-tat-tat of a cymbal made *perfect* musical sense. When I listened any of the classic rock albums that I had brought, it was just totally captivating - no matter how badly they were recorded.

The third time was in a store in Munich, Germany. There were a small pair of mini-monitors made by AR (Acoustic Reseach?) hooked up to a Levinson system (I think). The image was absolutely astonishing. It was like it I could actually "see" each instrumental line in space. I am not talking about seeing the instrument itself, but the music it was playing. I did not have to strain to follow any particular instrumental line, I could just reach out and grab it.

The 4th time was in Dallas. I was listening to an all Krell (!?) system attached to a set of JM Labs something or other. This was the first time I heard a system that did not sound like a reproduction of the music. Janis Ian's Breaking Silence was playing. it was not like listening to a stereo, it was almost real sounding. I cannot describe it any other way because, like I said, it did not sound like a reproduction of the music.

The ideal system would have all of the qualities of the above 4 systems. Unfortunately, there is no such thing and I am forced to choose something that has pieces of each. But in doing so, I have never gotten the thrill that I experienced at the above four moments in time. However, I have a Fisher 400-X attached to my Dad's Ampex console which he gave me and fronted by my LP12 and a cheap NAD CD player. No goosebumps here, but it still gives me music. Which brings me to one last point. I think it probably doesn't matter what system you have, you get used to it and accept it over time (at least I do) and in the end, it is your state of mind that provides the real muiscal experience.

Mike
 
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