From something I wrote for American Wired in May ’06
Turns out, the hi-fi hobby needs a lifestyle injection. It needs its music. Without music, hi-fi has no soul. It’s lost its special purpose. By focusing on the hobbyists, the hi-fi image has lost its edge. It’s gotten round and soft with a receding hairline. It smells funny. It’s a shut in. Soon enough you’ll see men hiding their Stereophiles inside Maxim on the checkout line.
Once again, temptation has been offered up in the form of an Apple. The male-dominated world of hi-fi hobbyists has been offered some zip. Some zing. Some marketing from a marketing machine. Lifestyle. Dancing. Some birds and bees. And what is the hi-fi hobbyist reaction? Well thankfully mixed. Some embrace this enthusiasm for lifestyle and music for what it’s worth; and its worth a lot. Listening to music as a lifestyle. What a novel idea. And it’s fun too? Get out. It’s youthful and fit enough to be offered up in silhouette? In Times Square? Get out! Of course some of our stodgier hobbyists and especially the aficionados amongst us, won’t bite. Poison they say. Flawed sonics. No relation to the high-end. Besides, we don’t want their kind in our club.
I say let’s get passionate about passionate things like Art and culture. And let’s not forget that listening to music is above all else a sensual experience. It’s filtered through the same mechanism as a whisper and a scream. If you want to objectify listening to music, I say you’ve taken your eye off the ball. Sure, we want our manufacturer’s to use as much of the lab as their passion can bear when making the stuff we buy. But once it leaves the shop, it’s time for the music and our passion for it to take over.
I’m sure sometimes on the sly you do it
Maybe even you and I might do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
Let’s do it. Let’s fall in love with our music played through our hi-fi.
