Making Friends With Symbol

I saw her first in the Clue room. She exited at the same time as random bald man #72. Were they together? I’m not sure, but the dangerously punchy sound in the Clue room was not helping my listening fatigue. I left. She walked into the Audio Doctor’s KEF Blade display. Should I follow her? No, that would be weird.

A gentleman from Music First Audio began talking to me and pointing at my camera: “We have a colorful preamp for you to take pictures of.” I was too tired for this. I needed an out.

“No thanks man. I think I’m just going to go talk to the pretty girl who just walked in the other room.”

I glanced inside the darkened Audio Doctor room. There she was, wide-eyed and listening, sitting alone. This didn’t make sense. My brain ragged me: Are you seriously not going to talk to her? C’mon dude.

I tapped her on the shoulder, “Hi, could I ask you a question for Stereophile.com?”

She shook her head no.

Brain: Totally weak dude. She’s smarter than that. You could already tell.

After pausing and recollecting myself, I tapped her shoulder again: “What brings you to the audio show?”

She lit up: “I came to see this awesome turntable! Do you want to come check it out?”

Yes. I did.

She took me downstairs to the Symbol room: home of the lifestyle-oriented Modern Record Console furniture piece. It was a console with the following elements built in: a 15 watt integrated tube amp, a pair of 6.5" loudspeakers + 8" down-firing sub, a turntable, a phono preamplifier, and built-in wireless streaming. The audiophile in me screamed, “RUN!”. A built in record console?? Yuck! You need separates! You need isolation! The vibrations must be crazy on that thing! Don’t you understand? But I stopped myself. I would not become another stereotype.

“Wow! It’s interesting.” I stood from afar.

“I love it,” she pined, “but it’s $26,500.”

“Say what?”

I paused. It was nice to see her in the light: coarse black hair reaching down her back and sun-freckles dotting her slightly pointed nose. Her eyes were as pure as ponds: glistening blue rain water with hints of grass floating in the ripples. But that wasn’t what did it for me: it was the loose fitting jeans, her black fleece, and torn up converse sneakers. She just looked so comfortable.

I tried to avoid conversation about the record console, which actually included a rather fine turntable (a Pro-Ject 5.1 with a Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 cartridge), and instead, veered the conversation to music. I showed her my records, and she told me about her love of Van Morrison. We drew to a silence. I didn’t know enough about Van Morrison.

“I know you’re only in town for two more weeks," (she was moving to Seattle), "but could I get your number?”

“I’m not coming back into the city,” she said. My hopes sank. Think fast said Heart and Brain.

“Well then what are you doing right now?”

“Right now?”

“Yes, at this very moment. Do you want to get out of here?”

“Don’t you have to work?”

“This is work.”

The most crucial lesson in being audiophile I’ve learned so far is that in order to get the best sound from your system, you have to take an involved role with your gear. By making changes, whether it be speaker placement, turntable leveling, or listening chair position, your sound and music listening experiences can get better.

Do you want change? Do you seek excitement? Do you want something better? All it takes is a little involvement, to get out of that listening chair, and tinker with the options presented to you. Go to a hi-fi show. Try out some gear, but most importantly, talk to the person next to you. You just might find what you’re looking for, even if it’s hidden beneath $26,500 Modern Record Console.

Source : stereophile[dot]com