Steve Guttenberg Video: I Am An Audiophile

Jealousy, maybe?

He's made a living out of expressing opinions about hifi, which for most of us earns only dirty looks and rolled eyes.

Except on this forum, of course.

Actually I don't think many people earn their primary living writing about audio. I suspect there is another form of income stream that pays the mortgage and car payment. Especially to afford the gear he has on hand. Most companies don't give the stuff away for free.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
Actually they do. Michael Fremer and the rest do make quite a good salary from reviewing audio. If you saw Michael Fremer's system, you and I couldn't afford it - he has 275K Wilson Alexia XLF speakers (and looking at getting the new WAMMs which are 675K a pair), etc.

SG actually started reviewing computer stuff - he should stick to what he knows.

Please give us the documentation how you know this. Or is this conjecture? I am curious to know how you know how Fremer earns his money and how he pays for his gear..or if its on loan?

Regards
Mister Pig
 
I met him at a local Audio store where he was there for a Wilson Speaker event (they are the largest Wilson dealer in the US). He was spinning vinyl he thought was unique and important. It was very easy to talk to him. He writes for Analog Planet, Stereophile and a few others.

And he gave you his financial particulars?

Regards
Mister Pig
 
The Arthur Salvatore blog on Michael Fremer is a interesting read .As with all audio reviewers you have to take the politics into play and be able to read in between the lines . The one thing I can say about guys like Botrytis is he gets out and listens to gear something we all need to do. We all like different things and with the vast amount of gear available there is something for all of us .
 
They were playing the Alexandria XLF' and he said that those were his personal speakers and was thinking about buying the new WAMMs (which he said he could afford). When I was talking to him he was saying that he wrote for those.

Not the particulars but when they say that, what can you say?

Well there are a lot of possibilities arent there.

Did he inherit money?
Did he invest wisely in the stock market in the 80's and 90's?
Does his wife work for Big Pharma or something along those lines?

And yes perhaps he does earn his living as a professional writer or a technical writer. There are a few who do. But not at the same level as when magazines were in print I suspect.

Also Wilson has a very attractive industry accommodation plan for folks to obtain their products. What Fremer pays for those speakers is not the same financial investment as others pay.

I would say that you can infer what you want about his financial stature and how he earns his living. But you really don't know do you?

Regards
Mister Pig
 
I don't get the haters either.

One time I was with my dad and we saw Steve Guttenburg in an audio store in NYC doing what we were doing, talking to the staff and listening to gear just like a regular customer. I would never have known who he was if my dad hadn't pointed him out. We also saw him at the NYC Audio Show. I didn't get the same impression Botrytis got.

My dad went to the NYC unveiling of the new Technics line (I missed that one). He said it was a small gathering and that several of the audio reviewers were there, Kal Rubinson, Mike Trei, Steve Guttenburg and a few others I think. He said he went up to Steve to shake hands and meet. He said Steve is an unassuming, somewhat shy, down to earth guy that loves this stuff like we do. No airs about him.

Click on this to see pictures of the small NYC Technics event my dad went to. You'll see Steve and other reviewers in the shots. We laugh because my dad's in them too.

http://adkav.com/nyc/
 
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Thanks for the link; I, too, found it interesting. I was particularly intrigued by his differentiation between music lovers and audiophiles, with the former caring more about "melody and tempo" as opposed to "sound." He went on about "feeling," but I think he fails to recognize how the elements of music--melody, rhythm, harmony, tempo, dynamics--contribute to the feeling at least some of us get from listening to music. Perhaps he has spoken or written elsewhere giving more specifics about what he means by "sound" and "feeling."
 
The car horns honking in the background would bug me to death. Never was much for inner city living....nothing beats a quiet neighborhood with space between your neighbors an seeing the stars when you walk out at night in your back yard.

I walked out to put some stuff in the car in my underpants. Took a whiz, too.
I always got in trouble when I did that in downtown Charlotte.
 
There is no denying that the prices in the stratosphere of high-end audio have shot even further upward sharply in the last decade, to where the air gets mighty thin. I've said for a long time that it takes a lot more B.S. to sell cables for $5000 than it did to sell amplifiers for $5000 some years ago, and some customers (the ones who actually like audio and are not just having an an assistant "get them the best" with a blank check) need that B.S. to come from somewhere.

I've noticed that the term "influencer" has come into usage as a way to describe those with "followers" on Instagram, etc. If your business has million-dollar stereos to move, the influencer needs to be even more influential than, say, a pretty make-up gal, upon whom one can actually see the results. So in some sense, these reviewers earn their keep. Keep being the operative word.

He was trying to defend the term 'audiophile', which I would like defended. But he blew it by insisting that "it IS about the gear", which it may be for some, but not for those for whom the gear is but a means to an end. Whoever said "That's not audiophile music!" did more damage to the term 'audiophile' than they could comprehend.
 
I watched it, and enjoyed it. Don't quite get the hating on the guy that some of these posts have. He tells you how he goes about reviewing and why it matters to him, and why its worth the effort. This is not an easy process, and it takes a lot of effort. No one is getting rich doing this, but its a creative outlet. A great way to enjoy audio also. He brings some very unique life experiences to the table, and that makes reading his stuff worthwhile.

While it was not earth shattering revelations, it was interesting to watch.

Regards
Mister Pig



this reply makes more sense now...
 
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