"Once the dust settles" after AXPONA

I've been doing shows all my life, once upon a time professionally on tour, and followed by the behind the scenes as an audio system designer and engineer. Well maybe not so behind the scenes but I'm finding my quiet time more and more. Is that a part of aging, or may I suggest being able to live a life in my favorite position, in the room alone with my system.



Shows are an amazing event. On tour I've had as many as 5 concerts a day (Mexico & Guatemala gospel concerts). In rock it was between 1-5 concerts a week, and in classical 1-3 a week. Guest appearance shows (touring with a celebrity) would be several a day, TV shows everyday and in studio work 24/7 as long as the 'on call' goes. There's no rest for the serious music guy, but that's why they call us music guys, right.

Audio trade shows were always a natural event for me, because you have that prep mentality built into your DNA already from concert touring and studio production. Doing what I did specifically (in the pro world) maybe even took a little more effort and attention cause I was the engineer in the house who was on sound call. Sound call comes down to the guy who rarely gets mentioned but is the real Johnny on the spot when it came to the sound. I can hear guys laughing right now because they know exactly what I'm talking about. We're the listeners in the trenches who never leave the hall, control room, mastering (and for me) plus the live room. I was always called on to be the acoustical specialist, which pretty much means, when the other guys leave I fix it (the whole system) or if they get stuck and can't produce the tune, I'm in there voicing things.  This is how I know what I'm talking about when I speak of the audio code, recorded code and specifics about the audio chain. It's easy to step in, midstream, and make an adjustment but very few listeners actually 'create' the real sound or even know how it works or sadly what it is.

In your listening life no matter how advanced in the hobby you think you might be, be it your a reviewer, engineer, designer or end user, if you don't understand and practice the playing of the 'variables' of audio your at least a few steps away from "your" perfection and absolutes. I've watched the industry both home and pro dance around the variables like it was a leper colony. Well, I've spent every waking hour for the past 40 years learning & showing the truth about audio. It's not a truth of hype, theory, myths, price tags and inexperience, but more something you always stay a student of if you desire to know. High end audio has adopted certain, get away from the truth, truths than perhaps any other high end industry. It's gotten to the place where confusion, based on theorism fiction, has over run the thinking of what once was and should be rational wisdom. Shoot this industry is so far off the track that it has created myth busters who can't even 'do' for themselves before saying something can't happen when that something happens every day in real life. For a quick example: name me two studios in the world that sound the same in playback mode on the same recording. For you home listeners name two homes that do the same sound, or two systems, or even the same system taken to two different homes. It never has happened and never will happen, unless one principle is applied. It's the same principle that has been used since the beginning of concerts in order for musical instruments to be able to play in multiple settings and with multiple instruments. Still, that being such a beginner's statement we have a chapter of this industry/hobby that can't even follow it's tying your shoes basics of tuning.

This last trade show of mine (well partially mine) was different from any other trade show room I have ever been a part of. Of course I have had 100's of shows using and representing my product but this show was one that was suppose to be a Michael Green Audio room like shows in the past billed as such. The one ingredient that was not at this Michael Green Audio show room was Michael Green. Yep, I wasn't there and didn't setup this show. You gasp, don't worry the story gets better.

The brave souls who took on the tasks of this show probably had no idea what they were getting themselves into, and I must say they have all my sympathies. From the outside these shows look fairly easy. You get there the day before the show, setup a system and have fun entertaining people for the next three days. Well I have one expression for this, NOT! When I was in the heat of show setup battle most everyone left, or stood, at the side of the room cause I was like that white tornado who never rested and never slowed down. The second I could grab that showroom key, I was possessed with the rare gift, or curse, of going setup crazy. I usually stayed in that room till a couple minutes before the show opened, and ran to my room (located in the same hotel) and got ready, then appeared an hour or so after the show was on it's way. Oh, did I leave something out? Oh yeah, I had a staff there who took orders from this madman anytime I needed something. That's right, these guys and gals had to know when to come and go based on my every command. Now that I think about, some of them probably could have brought up charges on me for cruelty to humans.

They say "you live and learn". Well I bet, now, those audio heroes and heroines of room 630 are looking back wondering how they ever survived.




The show must go on, and certainly did. All the lessons learned from what led up to this show are now mute, it's showtime and there's no escaping. Wishing you would have is no comfort, this is real time.

So people start coming in and at first you see a display to your right of Audolici electronics. For some it's their first taste, for others they've been hearing the ripples from my love affair with the A25-M integrated amplifier or seen the product on Sound Consultant's website www.soundconsultant.com or saw a review like the one just before the show in TONEAudio http://www.tonepublications.com/review/the-audolici-avp-01/ . Whatever brought them here, for listeners, it's like going from black & white to color in the Wizard of Oz. They've entered room 630.





After the meet & greet with US distributor Harold Cooper (also my partner in audio crime), the eyes turn toward something quite different from anything at the show. As one show attendee put it "wow, a listening oasis". Yep, right smack dab in the middle of the AXPONA 2017 high end audio show Harold Cooper and Andrew Staub created a listening zone using my RoomTune products. An act of brilliance, stroke of genius. Now, what never happens at a show, is happening right in front of audiophile's eyes and ears, a tunable listening zone.




Folks were a little more than shocked. "Do you mean you can tune in the sound I want?", yes, that's exactly what we are saying. See all these tuning screws, bolts, blocks, platforms, cones, spikes, cable grounds and other toys, they are all designed to control the vibratory audio code that exist in every recording. Some give the look of disbelief, others the skeptic rolling of eyes, musicians saying "of course that makes sense" and even more picking up literature and visiting the TuneLand forum to check this out. How can this be? Listener's eyes grew huge as they looked at the AUDOLICI A25-M mated to a Magnavox DVD Player. "how is this possible"?



I'm told, even after listening you could see the minds spinning, with many saying they were trying to get their brain around this. Some saying "if it sounds that great with the Magnavox how much better will it sound with a high end CDP". Harold, Andy and the girls then had to break the news that the way audio works is different from the high end plug & play stories.



These types of comments gave me flashbacks to the days of Audio Magazine telling me they had no idea how to review my tunable speakers. They were mystified by the thought that audio was more than a bunch of components plugged together for people to listen to as is. There was a big fear of the laws of mechanics then, and a fight that continues in the brains of those who have a hard time bringing the artist factor into high end audio. I have many pictures of the 2017 show yet to post, but as time goes on I can look at them and see the expressions. Some, the look of the greatest experience they have had at a show, and others who couldn't let their minds get out of that engineering training. I imagine maybe that look of the weird teaching that the audio signal is not traveling through the audio chain, look. You have to wonder who is responsible for not telling audiophiles what audio is. But at this show the tunable offer was there, and even though some listeners were too shy or afraid to ask for that variability to be demo for most of the show, the seed was planted and will stay on the minds of those who sit at their system pondering why they are not getting the sound they wish. Certain they had the right products only to have their hopes shattered and their audio closets full of disregarded equipment.

I often call this hobby a sport, the sport of listening, I call it. And why not, I know that every recording made is different in it's particular recorded code. I know that the audio code has to travel through the audio chain to get from one place to the next. I know that equipment performance is conditional. I pretty much know what every hobbyist realizes somewhere along the way if paying attention and has the ability to tune, plus the tools. I also know that great designers like Valeriy Kuchkovskky (Audolici) have this insight to the audio amplification process that gives him the knowledge to not just see sound, but make music. I don't just say this as someone grooving on high end audio products but as someone who digs in deeper than most listeners out there. The A25-M is a true audiophile masterpiece. Those of you who ordered your Audolici I'm happy to help you with your sound, because this is no Me-Too product line and Valeriy is no Me-Too designer.

No matter what your components, room 630 gave you a gift. Not a man of bells and whistles Harold Cooper loves this hobby from the angle of collecting music, going to live concerts as often as he can get a ticket, exploring the best of the best, and the earnest wish for everyone to get and find that golden sound that they desire and deserve. Not only did Harold, Andy, Saturn and Chupy bring you a display, they brought you a method (the method of tuning). The method that I have been producing from the very beginning till now. I could not be more proud of them and Valeriy and honored with their love of music, that they share with me and now you.

joy to me is summed up right here....



....and the continuing of new Tunees as a result of their room. Man I want to tell you what a thrill it is for me, an old man of music, to see people catching on to tuning. Your hobby of serious listening only just begins when you discover how to play your audio system. You can have a million purchases and get in the hobby's revolving door of marketing and never know your listening hobby's potential. As the dust settles and the show becomes a memory for some, others have become awaken to a hobby, inside of a hobby, that they never knew about before. It's a method of listening that has it's deepest roots in what has always been. Getting the audiophile brain to wake and smell the music is, and always has been, an interesting trip for me. Sometimes the audio egos get so dug into their plug & play lives they miss out on the true adventure of exploring each recording as a masterpiece. What Harold, Valeriy and the rest of the gang brought to you this show was a glimpse, a barely crack of the door look into the next step you can take. No we're not pushing a product, we're demonstrating a lifestyle of the extreme audiophile.

As always my friends, stay in tune.