Welcome to the Holiday Season 2003 newsletter from Sonic Spirits!

I – Sonic Spirits News

This holiday season has been very busy for Sonic Spirits! In addition to hosting a growing number of interested audiophiles for demonstrations (and purchases!), we’ve been the beneficiaries of visits from Gilbert Yeung (of Blue Circle Audio) as well as other manufacturers’ reps pitching their wares to us. In addition, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting a number of professional audio reviewers, including Wes Philips (of Onhifi.com and Stereophile) and Greg Petan (of StereoTimes.com).

Gilbert was kind enough to bring some of his new Mark II versions of the BC3 Galatea preamp and BC26 stereo amp. As those who have heard this combination can testify to, the sonic results are tremendous. Unfortunately, the BC26 will be shipping out to Las Vegas for CES soon, but the BC3 Galatea is here to stay until Gilbert calls for it.

We were able to meet Wes as a result of his recent review of the Focus Audio FS-888. Focus Audio called me to ask if I could retrieve the FS-888’s from Wes (who lives in Brooklyn) and keep them here until further notice. My response? “Of course!” So if you are interested in demoing any of the Focus Audio Signature Series speakers, please contact us for an appointment!

Other news from Sonic Spirits:

-We’ve started placing small classified advertisements in Stereophile Magazine. See if you can find it!

-Phil was interviewed by a new magazine called Tracks (www.tracksmusic.com) for a piece they are writing about high end audio equipment. The piece is scheduled to come out in the February issue (this is a quarterly magazine for now; the premiere issue is on sale now).

Phil will be attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 8-11. If you are planning on attending, let us know! We would love to get together while we’re there!

II – Manufacturers’ News

The full review will be online at Focus Audio’s website soon. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the review, please contact us and we can get you one. Suffice it to say, the review is extremely positive!

Focus Audio also recently acquired a high quality speaker stand/rack company called Foundation Stands. Details of their product line are not yet available online, but we have brochures and samples available at Sonic Spirits.

III - Notes

This month's feature is by "tmij" (screen name of an AudioCircle.com member), a jazz/rock fusion guitarist. For over 10 years in the Philippines, tmij had played with various amateur and professional bands. Currently based in NYC, this musician turned audiophile is waiting for his long-running lazy spell to wear off before he starts playing again.

Confessions of an Audiophile Passerby

by tmij

In the foreword to the book, The Complete Guide to High End Audio, jazz pianist Keith Jarrett suggests "musicians have to be audiophiles." Having been a musician for years, I've since taken that advice and these past several months have opened my eyes, ears and mind and become an audiophile.

In the course of my conversion, I've noted changes in the ways by which I interact with, and appreciate, music. I won't claim to speak on behalf of most musicians, instead I'll share this personal "confession," having been on both sides of the fence, so to speak.

But first, I have a few suggestions of my own. No offense to Keith, but since becoming an audiophile I find his moans and grunts more irritating. I wasn't as distracted when I was listening as a musician with my cheap audio gear, but now, it sounds like my ribbon speakers have a tear somewhere. I don't think Keith's gonna change, but since I respect him too much, I'd like it if his recording engineers took care of this, quietly please, as much as possible.

For that matter, Herbie Hancock, in his concert DVD "Future2Future Live" started with this spiel amidst lush keyboard textures and other sonic effects: "Simply put... Knowledge... is the Past. It is... Technology. Wisdom is the Future. It is... Philosophy. It is people's hearts that move the age... While Knowledge may provide a useful point of reference, it cannot be forced to guide the future. By contrast, Wisdom captivates people's hearts. It has the power to open the new age... Wisdom is the key to understanding the Age and creating the Time."

Aw, c'mon Herbie!

Bad Habits. Mine was finger snapping. On the bandstand, it was quite natural to snap fingers, groovin' through the solos. Nowadays, I have to make a conscious effort. I have learned to become more sensitive towards other co-listeners, so no more finger snapping, no humming, whistling or other bodily noises. Although I must admit, once in a while, I'll look over my shoulder to see if nobody's watching, then grab the nearest beer bottle and tap a choro pattern with a fork. Pass the chorizo, por favor.

The Music is the Message and, I believe, that's how musicians listen. For ensemble jazz or similarly complex music, a musician might listen to parts more than the whole, picking up on technique, riffs or the central idea conveyed by an expressed sequence of notes. A musician might argue it's not about the quality of sound, it's about the musical experience.

In Bertrand Tavernier's movie, "Round Midnight", there's a scene where the protagonist, Francis, doesn't have enough cash to pay entrance at the Blue Note, so he listens outside, squatting beside the basement window, in the freezing rain.

My musical epiphany came by accident some 20 odd years ago. I had bought a new, mono cassette player and was vacationing on a tropical island beach. That night, I played a tape I picked because of its dubious title, "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever" and... the first notes where Bird solos on Perdido, I thought the cassette player had eaten the tape! After a brief moment of panic, I realized they were playing a new musical form, something alien yet vaguely familiar. Each night, I'd find a remote spot (there was no electricity on the island), lie on the sand and gaze at the stars, Bird, Dizzy, Max, Bud and Mingus playing over and over.

"For the Money..." is an expression I've never heard among musicians, except maybe to denote a noticeably less than normal amount of weed. Even as an audiophile, I truly dislike this expression. If audiophilia were cosmetic surgery, imagine saying to your wife, "for the money... your nosejob looks darn good!"

I try to avoid buying gear that's good "for the money." I want to buy gear that's just good, period.

Over the course of some months I've accumulated, in no particular order, a tube amp, speakers, a turntable, cartridge, phono stage, cables and more cables, and an outboard DAC. On another corner of my studio, I have yet another pair of (near field) monitors, a workstation rig, mixer, keyboard, guitar amp, effects, guitar synth, multi-input soundcard and a notebook-based digital audio workstation. An optical cable runs thirty feet from my soundcard to either my CD recorder which plays through the audiophile rig or my home theater receiver beside it. All in all, I'm surrounded by eleven speakers, thirteen if you count the transducers I've attached to my futon. I can pretty much route anything anywhere, including my notebook's display to a 42" TV, where I can sequence using wireless input devices.

The changing face of music. Most audiophiles aren't aware of the thousands of people changing the face of music, everyday. It has to do with computers, of course, and I'm not talking mp3s. Harmony Central, Home Recording BBS and several sequencer-specific or plugin forums all serve as breeding grounds for the next generation musician.

And I don't like it one bit. The more obsolete we audiophiles become, the higher priced our gear shall be!

My biggest confession is up until the "recommended components" issue a couple months ago, I had never read an issue of Stereophile. Please tell me, did I really miss anything all those years?

Audio: VPI Scout Turntable, JMW-9 tonearm, Ortofon Kontrapunkt B cartridge, Lehmann Black Cube with PWX phono stage; Aronov LS-960i integrated amp; VMPS 626R monitors; Ack! dAck; DH Labs Q-10, Air Matrix and Homegrown Audio ICs; Target stands; Apollo turntable wall shelf; Blue Circle Noise Hound.

Video: Pioneer 433cmx with Aurora Multimedia A303, Panasonic RP-82 DVD, Bravo D1 DVD, Panasonic SAHE70 receiver; Scientific Atlanta 3100HD; KLH 5.1 speakers; Sony VHS; Parts Express subwoofer amp driving Aura Bass shakers.

Recording: Yamaha P80 keyboard; Event Tria monitors; Sony CDRW-33 recorder; Sony MDR-7506; Sony MDMX-4 minidisc recorder; Boss JS-5 Jamstation; Ultimate Support HS26-BP; Roland GR-1 guitar synth; Trace Acoustic TA100R guitar amplifier; Midiman Midisport; Ebtech Hum Eliminator; Nuendo Multiset (RME Multiface) with PCI card; Dell Inspiron 8100 running Cubase SX, Cakewalk Sonar with various softsynths, VST and DXi plugins; Propellerhead Reason; Sound Forge; Surcode CD Pro (DTS encoder) and Soft Encode (AC3 encoder); Godin Multiac Classical guitar.