I believe being an audiophile is an individual journey. However you want to go through your journey is your personal experience and who is anyone to criticize your journey. I don’t care if someone waste hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions. If you love it that much and can afford it, go for it. Can a $10,000 system beat $100,000 system? You bet, I have heard it. Any individual with $5k or $100k system that are happy with it, who am I to criticize their personal taste.
I started my journey in 1974 with a Realistic(Radio Shack) turntable and a Realistic tuner. I was only 6, but I loved it! When I was 16 I put Bose speakers in my Cherokee. I then went on to build outlandish car audio systems. Rebuilding dashes, door panels, rear dashes, and trunks all in the effort to obtain great sound. After I was married a couple years I bought a house and sold my last car audio system and started on home audio(1992). I then started building my own home speakers and started on my first home system. The drivers were from Dynaudio and I bought Quicksilver 8417 monoblocs. I used a Marantz CD player to start out and Tara Labs speaker cable that was 1" in diameter(that was crazy big in those days) that I bought from Audition Audio. My listening room was in the basement and I had a wood shop 50 feet away.
I must thank John Giolas at Audition Audio(he is now with Wilson) for his store and introduction into high end audio. It was an experience that I will always remember and I can still picture that day. He had Wilson Watt 3/Puppy 2’s hooked up to a pair of Jadis amplifiers. I was hooked! I then have to give a shoutout to Dick Diamond who is now with YG Acoustics. He worked at Audio Design which competed with Audition. They had great sound going on there as well. From there I started my full on audio addiction. I tried Krell, Rowland, Wadia, Levinson, Theta, Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Thiel, Magnepan, Martin Logan, Revel, plus more. I have fond memories of everything I put through my system. I was making good money in my family business and had the ability to spend(more than I should) money on audio gear.
The next part of my journey was being introduced to Tierry Budge who was formally employed with Wilson Audio. After about a year after meeting Tierry, I left my family business and started Talon Audio(December 1998). I then proceeded to try all sorts of equipment and cable. In fact, I ended up hiring one of Ray Kimber’s(Kimber Kable) employees, Sean Casey. Things didn’t work out with Sean, but he has continued on with Zu Audio. I am really happy that he pursued his audio dream. I continued to try out different equipment including Bryston, Jeff Rowland, Pass Labs, Kimber Kable, Cardas, Analysis Plus, Electraglide, Elrod, Electrocompaniet, Audio Research, Sim Audio, Levinson, Halcro, and Shunyata Research. Caelin Gabriel of Shunyata was of great help and he gave me solid advice to help improve my business. Tierry and I then had a parting of ways around 2002. I then became the new designer for Talon. With my experience with Tierry, and help from industry consultants I was able to introduce the Firebirds. I did have to make quite a few changes to the crossover circuit and the cabinet due to my inexperience. Clement Perry, Jason Serinus, Anthony Cordesman and Doug Schneider(as well as other industry professionals) pointed me in the right direction as far as better sound and what I needed to work on.
With the Firebirds came new equipment for me to experience. Burmester, Boulder, Wavac, Tenor Audio, Halo, JC-1, EMM Labs, Edge Electronics and more of the other brands I mentioned and more. I also enjoyed Kharma, JM Labs, Sonus Faber, and Wilson loudspeakers among others. I also found power cords, and cables to be an integral part of the audio system even more than I supposed.
Circa 2004 I was introduced to HRS racks which changed the way I thought about racks. They were crazy expensive in my opinion, but I couldn’t live without that rack in my system. I then discovered Gryphon Audio. Very few products have changed my thinking on high end audio, Gryphon was a pivot point for me. Wow! I remember receiving the Mikado CD player, Sonato Allegro preamp, and the amazing Antileon Signature Class A amplifier. That was the next highlight in my audiophile journey, listening to the Firebirds with Synergistic Research Cables, HRS racks, and Gryphon Audio components right before CES at my house. Aaron Neville’s album "Warm Your Heart" was so captivating, it was like I never heard the album before. Just like the precious moment at Audition Audio, this was my next one.
The next year at CES was my introduction to Walker Audio and I discovered more from Elrod. At this point in time my marriage was failing and divorce was eminent. I sold my company to Richard Rives Bird of Rives Audio. Then came the dark ages as an audiophile for me. I sold my gear to pay for my divorce and had to use all my spare money for alimony and child support. I still produced a few designs for Talon Audio including the ThunderHawks and Phoenix speakers. I still had a Gryphon Callisto 2200, but it was not the same setup I used to have. So from 2006-2016 I didn’t have a high end system setup. I had my Talon Firehawks speakers setup in a home theater system, but I had pretty much given up on high end.
Last year my drum teacher discovered I was the former owner of Talon Audio. He ended up purchasing a pair of Raven’s from me and I helped him set up his first high end system. I pulled my Callisto out of storage so my drum teacher could get a good taste of high end audio. His enthusiasm lit a spark in me that had laid dormant for 10 years. At this point in time, alimony had recently ended and child support was ending soon. I called up Joe Kubala(whose ears I trust) who is one of the few industry professionals I kept in touch with for advice on putting together a high end audio system. He gave me advice and referred me to Bill Parish to fulfill my electronics needs. I purchased the Mola-Mola monoblocs and preamp with phono stage and dac. I also purchased the PS Audio DS Player along with a full ensemble of Kubala-Sosna Elation cables. Joe and Bill were helpful in telling me the attributes of vinyl records. I have owned turntables in the past, but they are really a hassle when you are designing speakers. Or maybe I was just too much of a spaz to appreciate the wonderment of vinyl. My system was rocking and they were leading me the right direction, so I bought a Kronos Sparta with and Air Tight Supreme cartridge. My move to vinyl was monumental. I love the PS Audio DSP, but vinyl on the Sparta blew my mind. It did take a minute to get past the pops, hisses, and aberrations of vinyl pressings. Now it is less noticeable to me(how’s that possible?).
I went to CES and Axpona this year. I ran into some industry friends including Bill Parish, Joe Kubala, and Dick Diamond at CES. I was impressed by more brands such as YG Acoustics, Audionet, Lamm Audio, Raidho Acoustics, Constellation, Nagra and more. The YG Acoustics and Raidho Acoustics demos were impressive in their demonstrations. I also caught up with Mike Latvis of HRS to see his new VRX rack which I ended up purchasing. I also have upgraded all but 3 power cords from Elation to Realization with an amazing difference. When I replaced my long interconnect run, it sounded like I added room treatment and cleaned up my already dedicated power lines. Each upgraded Realization cable yeilded the same results.
This long story has purpose and some points. During this time I have had my drum teacher come over as well as many other listeners. What I found was that we all are going through our own personal audiophile journey. He has come over to my house after major upgrades and I have to point out the differences in the system. I have had trained audiophiles come over and the differences are unmistakable. It reminded me of a child eating Filet Mignon for the first time. Just give the kid a McDonald’s hamburger and he will be happy. Why are you throwing so many tastes and textures to someone who can’t appreciate it? I’m not saying a sub $50k is like a McDonald’s hamaburger, so chill out. What I am saying is that we all are at different parts of our journey and flavor pallets change as we evolve.
The above situation is similar to driving a Subaru and a Lexus and not noticing much of a difference. This happened to my brother this year. His new Subaru was totaled from another driver and I convinced him to try the Lexus again this time. He thought the Lexus was ostentatious and that he was paying twice as much for just a little difference. Frankly, if you don’t care that much, then it isn’t worth it. My brother after 2 weeks of purchasing and driving his Lexus now knows that snobbery is not the sole reason to purchase a Lexus. He loves his car! I’m not a Lexus fan, but good for him!
The reason I decided to write this long post is to impart my thoughts and hopefully wisdom about a hobby and journey that is my own that I’m extremely passionate about. I have shown vulnerability and exposed my journey to solidify my reasoning. Yes, I have made many mistakes along the way in purchasing expensive equipment. I regret some of my purchases, but I also cherish the lessons learned. I think Williamj makes some valid points in the ROI on high end components. I have not been judicious with my dollars spent on audio. If my budget was leaner, I would have tried to maximize each dollar spent. I most likely would have built my own cables and modify all of my electronics(I have done many mods). Since my budget enabled my behavior to purchase otherwise, I have had many wonderful and less wonderful experiences in audio. I would definitely say there have been more good(95%) than bad purchases. I can still enjoy music from less expensive systems. I just get annoyed with the deficiencies after about 20 minutes. A well balanced $100k+ will captivate me enough for a longer listening session. I have not heard a sub $100k system that I feel is properly balanced to my taste. My drum teacher is a pig in mud with his relatively diminutive system. Is he wrong in his assumption? HELL NO! If you have built your system to your liking and musical preferences, it is farbeit for me to criticize your personal preferences.
In conclusion as I’m in the midst of upgrading my amplification to what I feel is a new reference for me, I meditate and appreciate every aspect and event of my journey. I want every audiophile out there to enjoy their journey as well. Please don’t let others tell you what is right or wrong or how much money you should spend. I will recommend that you broaden your music interest to maximize your listening experience. This is your journey and you should be able to explore it the way you want.
Mike
