An audiophile once told me that records were superior to CD's because, "there's more music in them." Hmmm... If this is true, what does one have to do to bring that music out? Being an audiophile, his approach was to buy the most expensive equipment possible. But I think I've hit upon another solution.
My girlfriend and I recently moved into a two-bedroom place, and we made the exciting decision to devote the extra bedroom entirely to music and books. There's a sofa, bookshelves (full of my old SF and fantasy paperbacks), a couple of guitars and, most importantly, my stereo and collection of about 300 LP's. (That's a modest collection compared to what some people have, but I believe it's a good collection.) Now, people spend a lot of money on components to get great stereo sound, but I'm now convinced that what matters more than anything is the room. Simply put, this medium-sized room brings out the broadest, most immediate, most detailed and richest sound I've ever heard from my records.
The first thing we put on - a bootleg of a Pink Floyd concert from the Atom Heart Mother tour (Atom Heart Mother Goes on the Road [Oscar Records, 1971?]), a record I've owned since the mid-eighties - sounded more expansive and real than I'd ever heard it. After a brief drum fill from Nick Mason, David Gilmour's glassy guitar notes kicking off "Embryo" rang high, deep and hollow. The acoustics of the concert hall seemed to replace the acoustics of the room we were in. I could imagine Pink Floyd playing four feet in front of me. I realized that if this pirated mono LP sounded so refreshingly new, and so immediate, then a wealth of new discoveries lay before me. In an age of competing high-definition formats, my record albums have gotten a new lease on life, just by being played in the right room. What wonders await!
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