It is not so
important where one starts out in life but where one
finishes. Starting to get heavily addicted to the Hi-Fi
lifestyle from a toddler what possible hope did I have
at being a 'normal' Sony Mini-System type guy...? NONE.
Constantly being
encouraged by my enthusiastic Hi-Fi obsessed father to
experiment with different equipment configurations and
being trained to isolate the differences in each
component with regard to major changes in soundstage,
sound coloration and frequency separation at every
waking moment.
I continually look
back on my younger days spent with my father, listening
together to his extensive vinyl collection till the
small hours of each morning in my early childhood with
total awe and amazement. As young children go I was no
exception, and was always full of questions about what
things did and how they worked. Never once do I recall
him turning to me to say that he was too busy or he
didn't have the time to explain things to me. When he
was busy he found the time, when he was tired he found
the energy and when he was distracted he found the
patience.
Nothing mattered except
the music, time & space stood still when we we totally
consumed with the fantastic sound of those great albums.
Each and everyday learning more and more about electronics
and being continually challenged with the latest
technological developments of the day. Looking back upon
everything it is staggering to see how far have we all
progressed.
I highly recommend this
approach to all parents out there that are looking for a healthy and
educational activity that both parents and children can actively
participate in together. Involving young children in this fantastic
quest of sonic perfection has many more rewards both sonically and
emotionally then you may first ever think possible.
Taking over my father's Hi-Fi
business (Dr Hi-Fi House Calls) in 1995, I have been immersed and
committed to this delightful industry for as long as I can remember;
from childhood through to today.
In my later years I was heavily
influenced by a close friend who I have known since I could crawl
and who is an eccentric Electronic Engineer and as luck would have
it is extremely experienced with vacuum tube based audio products. I
first remember my father taking me into his Hi-Fi shop when I was a
young boy to say hello and have a chat on a Saturday morning (life
moved more slowly back then) and apart from being scared out of my
pants by his freaky personality I was totally floored with all the
equipment he had on hand. It was the world's best toy store for me
as a young kid to explore and look through.
Years latter this same fellow
felt sorry for me and my system. He gave me a good quality valve
amplifier to take home and play with for the weekend with the words,
"Do you want to hear some real music now James...?". Needless to say
I never gave it back to him and I'm sure he knew that well before he
lent it to me. He's one smart guy. This man had long ago mastered
the essential art of public relations down to a tee. He knew he
could have told me the 'Facts' 1000 times over but things have a
much stronger impact when you discover them yourself. No man likes
to feel that he is being sold something or told to do something,
myself included. We all much prefer to feel that we are buying of
our own accord or acting on our own free will.
Knowing what I do today, I
remember being so upset with myself at the time from when I first
heard an old valve amplifier (my jaw dropped to the floor, I was
stunned) from wasting so many years which can never be recovered at
any price from listening to such inferior rubbish I wished
heaven & earth someone had shown me a higher path earlier. It was a
bitter sweet lesson learned at 'The School of Hard Knocks' which I
will remember all my life. Often the lessons hardest learned in life
are the ones least forgotten.
