(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)
Vinyl is back, big time, but the fact is most folks, probably close to 99 percent of the under 40-set, haven't heard records.
For them, music is about portability and vinyl is a stay-at-home deal. Vinyl has more of a hands-on work ethic: you've got to cue the tonearm, lower the "needle," and when the side's over, turn it over or play another LP. Digital requires almost nothing from you; no wonder it's dominated the music scene for the last couple of decades.
Me, I'm having something of a vinyl fling right now. I've always owned a turntable, but there were times I played only CDs for months on end. I guess I didn't want to deal with the extra work of playing vinyl. Sad, but true.
As for LP vs. CD comparisons, I didn't do any. Trust me, you don't have to be a golden-eared audiophile to notice the two formats sound very different. Records are "warmer" and sound more like the sound of real instruments and voices; CDs almost always make them more detailed and brighter-sounding than they are in real life.
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Margery just wants to have fun.
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)Women sometimes buy quality audio, but that doesn't make them audiophiles.
With rare exceptions, all the audiophiles I've known are men. The unifying mantra for audiophiles is that there's always something, maybe an amplifier or speaker just out a reach that might get them a little closer to the music. Audiophiles are gear junkies. They want to have Aretha Franklin or the New York Philharmonic or their favorite music sound like it's in the house. Audiophiles crave an emotional, visceral connection with their music.
That pretty much sums up Margery Budoff's audiophile urges. Like most audiophiles I know, Margery had an unusually strong affinity for music at a young age. She described herself as "A child musician with an industrial design fetish." Even as a little kid she loved the look of stuff, especially older, big and clunky 1950s and 1960s record players.
The first record Margery bought was "Telstar," then Dionne Warwick, then the Rolling Stones. The record player was the thing that could "Decipher the secret code encrypted in the records. I wanted to hear the sound in all its glory. That's how I became an audiophile."
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America may not make world-class cars anymore, we don't build plasma TVs, or iPods, cameras, or all that much technology of any sort, but in high-end audio, we rule!
Come 2009 I'd love to see the best of the best American audio installed at the White House. The sort of system that the President could, after a hard day's work solving the world's problems, use to kick out the jams with a few James Brown or Parliament-Funkadelic tunes.
I'll volunteer my services to assemble such a system (donated by the manufacturers), with the following components:
The X-2, in all its glory.
(Credit: Wilson Audio)For CDs I love Wadia's 781i player, its state of the art technology will shine with all kinds of music (I have a review coming up real soon in Home Entertainment magazine). It's built in Saline, Michigan. And when the President wants to spin some vinyl, he'll get groovin' with a VPI HRX turntable hand crafted in Cliffwood, New Jersey.
The 300 Series amplifier
(Credit: Jeff Rowland Design Group)
New Jersey's best turntable
(Credit: VPI)Based in Boulder, Colorado Jeff Rowland Design Group builds stunningly beautiful electronics. I like their Criterion Preamplifier and Model 300 Series Amplifiers. A lot.
Coming out of Provo, Utah Wilson Audio may very well be the most successful high-end speaker manufacturer in the world. Its Alexandria X-2 Series 2 speaker absolutely deserves a place of honor in the White House.
Just say the word Mr. President and I'll get it done.
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