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- Created on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 00:00
- Written by Hans Wetzel
I like to drink. It’s one of those things that casually represses my inner introvert, allowing my more obnoxious tendencies to shine through for all around me to see. Sometimes it’s a night of beers, preferably of the British variety. This allows me to drink for a long period of time without doing too much damage to me, my close relationships, or my immediate surroundings. When I’m trying to facilitate the process of rediscovering a less imperfect “me,” I’ll resort to a bottle of wine to get the job done. Pinot noir, my loyal, red-blooded friend, we meet again. In increasingly frequent moments of laziness, I’ll turn to scotch whisky, the beverage that seems to yield me the most cerebral feelings of intoxication. I find that modest amounts of the amber, oak-aged liquid offer a direct path to the highest clarity of thought.
But despite my deep respect and affection for alcohol, I’ve never developed a dependency on it. When I imbibe too much, my body kindly informs me that I’d be making a galactically poor choice if I tried to have any more. I then swear off the good stuff until I’m once again ready to renew our acquaintance. I’m fortunate for not having a very addictive personality. I’m too cautious to dabble in other substances, too stingy to gamble, and my relationship with food has never been too problematic, despite my penchant for Sour Patch Kids.
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- Created on Monday, 01 April 2013 00:00
- Written by Hans Wetzel
I am not obsessed with high-end audio equipment. Reading some audio reviews out there, one would get the impression that reviewers get a hard-on for big, brutish amplifiers and tall, elegantly designed loudspeakers. Listening rooms become shrines to equipment, rows of CDs, and framed pictures of Miles Davis. And the act of reviewing becomes a deeply ritualized evaluation period in which legal pads are filled with listening notes, and grave expressions are highlighted by a markedly furrowed brow.
To which I say -- eff that. While I find much stereo equipment cool, conceptually and aesthetically, at the end of the workday I just want to turn on my stereo, have a beer, and relax. Eighty percent of the time my stereo is playing, I’m doing something else -- and seeing as my cable box, Apple TV, and Sony PlayStation 3 are all routed through my integrated amplifier, it’s easy to see why my stereo is almost always on.
This is out of necessity. I don’t yet own my own place, with a room dedicated to manly pursuits like blasting awful music, drinking too much alcohol, or screaming at my TV in hopes that my beloved FC Arsenal will hear me telling them to stop sucking so hard. One day. As senior editor of GoodSound!, I envision such a room as being used primarily for reviewing audio equipment, with all sorts of gear haphazardly strewn about. And it most certainly would be strewn -- right now I’m staring at eight reviews’ worth of gear, a number that will probably increase if I can manage to make the time for it.
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- Created on Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00
- Written by Hans Wetzel
My return from providing coverage for my first Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on my first trip to Las Vegas leaves me reflecting on a number of points. First is the utter depravity of a town whose unofficial motto is “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Walking down the famous mile-long main strip leaves one aurally and visually bombarded: flashing lights that must be hell for epileptics, flyers advertising busty young women who promise to challenge the visitor’s moral purity, music blaring from casinos and retail outlets -- after almost a week in the barren state of Nevada, it all grated. Were I still 21, I might have found the skin-deep, alcohol-infused atmosphere more enticing. Instead, the nicotine-laden air left me in perpetual need of a shower. Different strokes, I suppose.
I found the high-end audio corner of CES far more appealing, though even there I had reason to feel jaded. Diminutive $48,000/pair loudspeakers that sounded more like $1500/pair? Check. A $38,000 CD player? Yep. Worst of all were two giant yellow monstrosities peddled by a young man who could offer little in the way of compelling detail about why his speakers, with their off-the-shelf drivers, cost $160,000/pair. Much of what I saw was unfettered bullshit, with “manufacturers” who slap on products arbitrary price tags that are in no way commensurate with those products’ build quality or performance. Yes, I did see some higher-end companies that are undoubtedly exploring the state of the art of audio design, and for whom an argument can be made for asking premium prices. But at CES, you have to wade through the garbage to find the good stuff.
Read more: CES 2013: Degeneracy, Absurdity, and a Few High-Value Audio Products
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- Created on Friday, 01 March 2013 00:00
- Written by Hans Wetzel
People are idiots. How else to explain the enormous amount of money invested in sales and marketing efforts across the global economy? A lack of knowledge about a specific subject -- or, rather, the presence of an infinitesimally small understanding of anything -- makes most people easy targets for master gamesmen. The river of digital information that is the Internet has helped close the chasm of ignorance that separates those in the know from those without. This, in turn, has made the task of the salesperson more challenging, for potential buyers are but a Google search away from debunking the hokum so often spewing from peddlers’ mouths. Even in the golden age of information, however, salespeople can still convince folks to part with their time, money, and -- inadvertently -- their dignity, by knowing what to say. Offering a quality product or service certainly helps the initial pitch, but the hallmark of a true winner is the ability to, in the wise words of Jay-Z, sell water to a well.
There are certain champions of the pitch. Steve Jobs, of Apple, was a believer that people didn’t know what they wanted until you showed it to them. The iPhone was seminal when introduced in 2007, and despite the protestations of Samsung, it’s arguable that the iPhone remains the standard-bearer for telephonic industrial design. Apple’s retail stores are the envy of pretty much everyone, with a profit per square foot of retail space of an industry-leading $6050. Second-placed Tiffany & Co., with their signature robin’s-egg-blue color scheme, earns $3017 per square foot.
Read more: Dear Audio Industry: It's All in the Presentation
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- Created on Tuesday, 01 January 2013 00:00
- Written by Hans Wetzel
I wasn’t looking to sell the omnidirectional Mirage OMD-28 loudspeakers that, less than two years ago, became my references. In fact, I’d bought them before I began writing for the SoundStage! Network, with the intention that they would last me a decade or more. So much for that. My reviews for GoodSound! and the other sites under the SoundStage! banner have exposed me to a wide range of audio products, while my show coverage has allowed me to hear more gear than I could ever hope to at a local dealer. While it’s all been a gratifying experience, it has also highlighted the rapidity with which speaker design has improved since the Mirages were released in early 2007. With the OMD-28s no longer available for sale, I decided to move them on to a new home and start anew.
I knew what I wanted in a new reference speaker. I wanted something that looked distinctive but not obnoxious. I wanted to retain as much as possible of the Mirage’s bass: pounding, if slightly loose. More than anything, I wanted to hear as much detail as I could from my music collection. Finding a model that met these criteria wasn’t difficult -- my problem was how to choose one from the crowd.
