Confessions of an audiophile equipment junkie

I must confess. I’m a heavy audiophile equipment junkie. You know: Krell, MacIntosh, B&W, Quad, Infinity. Stuff that are extremely powerful and unreasonably priced. I turn on especially on speakers. In my youth I designed a hybrid 6/12db crossover network filter for Audiotronic CM3. Big Swedish transmission line boxes using Kef B210’ as bass drivers and a Gamma VLD 13ribbon tweeter. At that time, around 1980, I thought they sounded fantastic.

Now they are deported to the garage and replaced with Audiopro Black Diamond. I hate to admit, but they are much cheaper and sound better. Technology does make progress. Today, I cannot stand reading hifi magazines, as they mostly are full of subjective nonsense. I switched over to be a computer nerd instead and have been happy ever since.

Anyway, JVC have launched a speakers kit:
http://www.audiocubes.com/product/JVC-Victor_SX-WD1KT_Wood_Cone_Speaker_Kit.html

Dissed by many:
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/11/14/buildaspeaker-kit-fr.html
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/11/jvc-diy-speaker.html

Wired and other magazines miss the point. With a do-it-yourself kit you can modify it. You'd be surprised how good such speakers can sound for a lot of music. It'll unquestionably beat any plastic box. But if you want any real bass at all you must add a subwoofer/boom box.

(Did you know that the JBL 075 tweeter was introduced in 1956? Incredible. It was the high end tweeter until mid 1980’s. Now Bose have taken all the market share.)

Hey, people actually pay for music!

AP Telegram: “Throughout his career, Colombian rocker Juanes has insisted he doesn't need to sing in English. Hefty pre-launch online sales from his latest CD, ‘La Vida es un Ratico’ (Life is Just a Moment) prove him right. Universal Music says he has sold more than 6 million digital songs – from legal Internet vendors and mobile phone downloads - from the CD before its Tuesday release.”

Hear, hear. People actually paid for music.

It’s interesting to note that the music publishers have never used anticopyright rhetoric. It’s the record companies that whine. No wonder, they own the distribution chain.

Instead of the useless lawyer gymnastics with consumers, why not get smart and change you business model? But, as I have said before, the record companies are guided by lawyers and accountants. No wonder most of them are losing money. What’s needed is success stories like this one, to persuade them to buy into the digital marketplace.