Nostalgia and memories.

My nostalgia for audio equipment is very much linked to the people who sold them to me. I go back 35 years to Warren Frank in Syracuse New York (Stereo World) who introduced me to KLH speakers: first the bookshelf 17s and then the floor standing Sixes. Henry Kloss, the designer (the "K" in KLH), had previously worked for AR on their groundbreaking acoustic suspension models 2 and 3. Kloss moved on, forming different companies, such as Advent, who had an amazing audio engineer, Tom Holman, who designed the circuitry for the diminuative "300" receiver with its round radio frequency dial that followed in style from the original KLH radio. The 300 was a low-power-output affair, and so I choose a pair of large, highly-efficient Yamaha speakers for my Fire Island summer home.

I toyed with some Dynaco equipment to power other speaker configurations but then I moved to New York City where I met Michael Kaye of Lyric Hi-Fi. A man of few words, it was more with a wink or nod that Michael let you know which piece of equipment to buy. When I wanted to add some bottom to my first pair of bass-shy Maggies, he frowned, but I did it anyway. Michael was pushing Audio Research equipment in those days, but while KLH, Advent and Magneplanar all seemed like "sensible" choices, Audio Research equipment did not. So I drove out about 50 miles on Long Island to find buy an APT/Holman preamp which had an excellent head amp built-in. There was Tom Holman again--first working for Henry Kloss and now on his own. He also built a rock-solid power amp, which today is being used to power the M&K sub Michael reluctantly sold me to shore up my MGIIs.

I've pretty much stayed with Michael Kaye for my primary system buying newer Maggies, a Sunfire sub-woofer, a Classe power amp, and a Rega Planet CD player whose performance defies its low cost. Oh, I've shopped elsewhere, once buying a Linn turntable used, and an Audio Research preamp from Stereo Exchange (during a period when Mike wasn't handling Audio Research). Lyric always lends me whatever equipment I wanted to try out. I auditioned a Classe amp once and returned it, only to buy one three years later.

I have stayed away from surround in my main music listening system. But I do have a small surround system--Sony SACD/DVD, Marrantz receiver and AR speaker complement--in my office. It's great for movies and pleasant for some SACD multi-channel music recordings, but I still prefer sitting in front of the Maggies with both ears facing the stage.

Without store owners like Warren Frank and Michael Kaye, and audio innovators like Henry Kloss, Tom Holman, and Joseph Grado (great headphones), I might be listening to a rack system. As much as I have nostalgia for my great past equipment, I have memories of them.