Stereo Stereo Winter Update: New Record Store, Espresso & Thoughts About the Hobby

The new Record Room at Stereo Stereo, a place to purchase new records.

Hello, Stereo Stereo friends! It’s the end of another year and we hope you’re well. This year has been a great one, with the introduction of new brands like Atoll Electronique and WADAX, plus an exciting innovation at the showroom: a place to purchase brand-new vinyl records. That’s right: Stereo Stereo is Pittsburgh’s best new record store/vinyl shop. This beautiful space, which Michael calls The Record Room at Stereo Stereo, is pictured above. Come in now to enjoy the beauty of the space, browse records to give as gifts for the holidays—maybe even have an espresso made by our brand-new machine.

In the meantime, Michael invited his friend and client, George Libby, to share his thoughts on why he loves the audiophile hobby so much. It’s a heartfelt portrait of what motivates people like us to chase the perfect sound. Read George’s article below.

“WHY DO WE DO THIS?

(an article prepared by George Libby for Michel Klein, my dear friend for over 40 years

and the proprietor of the finest Pennsylvania audio shop west of Philadelphia)

Before I dive into the depths of this article, I want to express my deepest appreciation to Michael for providing me the honor of preparing this article of my musings on all things audio (well, some things audio as I only have so much space to fill) for his inaugural newsletter. Michael has been more than simply my audio dealer for these 40+ years – he has been a wonderful friend, a confidant, and a fellow philosopher of life and I am blessed to know him. So, now on with my musings.

I titled this article “WHY DO WE DO THIS?” because, if we’re honest with ourselves, it’s a question that must be asked (or will be asked by our better halves) considering that most of us have limited financial resources available to allocate towards home music reproduction. (Incidentally, this question could apply to just about every pursuit, endeavor, or passion we devote our time, talent, and treasure to). Why do some of us self-proclaimed audiophiles expend a significant amount of our resources in pursuit of the elusive “absolute sound”, reproduced in the privacy of our personal listening spaces? My own experience offers at least a partial, if incomplete, answer to the question.

I arrived home several hours ago from an exhilarating (and exhausting) two-and-a-half-hour dress rehearsal with my 80-member Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, preparing for this weekend’s pair of performances of Richard Einhorn’s majestic Voices of Light score in accompaniment to Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film masterpiece “The Passion of Joan of Arc.” And, just last month, my wife and I were enraptured by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s extraordinary performance of Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique.

Now, I think it’s fair to say that both of these experiences well encompass this “absolute sound” as defined decades ago by tas’ late, great Harry Pearson (“the sound of actual acoustic instruments playing in a real space”). My wife and I have been PSO subscribers for over three decades and I’ve been a member of numerous church and civic choirs for the past 25 years so I think I understand this concept of the “absolute sound” fairly well.

But, what is one to do when the curtain closes, when the lights go down, when the musicians pack their bags and head out into the evening? For me (and I suspect most audiophiles), this is where our passion for home music reproduction comes in. (Incidentally, I acknowledge that many of our cars have superb audio systems, many exceeding the quality of most “chain store stereos”, but I digress.)

No, I cannot take my beloved PSO or BCP into my living room to perform for me. But, I can listen to a pretty decent facsimile of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 or Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring or Jimi Hendrix’ Red House or Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds of Fire through my pretty shiny silver metal and red Italian walnut boxes. Anytime I want to! And, when I do, am I fooled into thinking there are real musicians performing in my living room? Sometimes, yes, pretty close but, generally, no cigar. And, it doesn’t matter! Quoting the esteemed HP again, “… all components are imperfect and the real subjective choice in assembling good high-fidelity systems comes with the choice of which imperfections you can bear over the long run.”

My earliest exposure to better-than-average home music reproduction was when I was a young teen in the early ‘60s, listening to my father’s 30 watt, Williamson type, monaural, Heathkit tube amplifier with an accompanying Heathkit monaural tube preamplifier and FM tuner fed by a Garrard ‘table and into an enormous 15-inch Jensen coax loudspeaker. Oh, the glorious bass and smooth midrange and highs! My own personal 55-year foray into hi-fi began in my late teens with a $25 10 wpc Westinghouse receiver (yes, that Westinghouse!) feeding God-only-knows-what cheap loudspeakers, progressing through better integrated stereo components (all SS and analog back then) onto my first separates system [handbuilt Dynaco tube amp and preamp feeding Hegeman Model One loudspeakers (look ‘em up) with a Thorens ‘table, Stanton MM cartridge, and Tandberg cassette recorder/player as sources]. From there onto ever-better components until I’ve reached my current pinnacle (for now anyway) tube-/analog-/hi-rez streaming-based system (contact me for details). Through it all, was I ever disappointed in the sound? Did my system-du-jour ever fail to convey some semblance of actual music, with all of its emotion and soul satisfaction, to me? Did any of my systems, with their sometimes gross imperfections, cause me to want to give up in my pursuit of better home music reproduction? NEVER! Even the chincy AM radio in my first car brought me hours of on-the-road musical entertainment.

SO, WHY DO WE DO THIS? Because, more often than not, the brilliant designers and manufacturers of these electro-mechanical devices which make up our hi-fi systems continue to improve their products all across the board. Technology really does work! And, each successive improvement in our systems, whether component-by-component or wholesale, if carefully and properly researched and executed (cue up Michael Klein), should and will draw us progressively closer to that elusive “absolute sound” that HP referenced some 50 years ago. Oh, it so good. Although there is for sure some deception and hype in our industry (a discussion for another time), through most of our purchases (again with the guidance of an honest and patient audio salesperson), we’re able to tailor our systems, no matter how much or how little we can afford to spend, to bring us ever greater levels of satisfaction and joy in our listening. IMHO, if this isn’t our goal; if, rather, our goal is to have the newest, the prettiest, the most expensive shiny objects to impress our friends and feed our egos, then we’re wasting money. A proper dealer will not permit this. No dealer who’s walked alongside of me on my hi-fi journey ever has. I’ve been fortunate. And, it’s paid off.

One final note and then I’m off to bed. I was the de facto audio “consultant” at the completely unrelated engineering research lab where I worked for 43 years. Not because I knew everything audio-wise but because I was transparent in my ignorance while, at the same time, desirous for my friends to experience the same joy that I’ve experienced through my hi-fi journey (I’ve had numerous “living room concerts” over the years through which my system “spoke for itself” to all of my listeners). So, when an interested individual would step into my office for some audio guidance, my first question was always “How much do you care to spend?” just to get past that hurdle. I think I convinced many that there’s equipment out there that will bring them 10, 20, 30 years of listening enjoyment regardless of if they’re able to spend $5K, $20K, $50K, or “the sky’s the limit”. No one left my office dissatisfied or disillusioned.

This article outlines my audio experience over the past 55 years and “why I do this”. I hope every reader of this article concludes that my audio experience has been and continues to be very rewarding. Further, I hope the same for every reader. For every music lover out there, this is very much a worthwhile pursuit. Enjoy the journey!