A story about Barns, 1 Chair, Boy's Toy's and Friends

I have come to think that the audio über alles types get restless after awhile with any component. Once they either get used to its sound or can identify its failings, they require a change of sonic scenery in order to get their “fix.” It’s not the music that counts, it’s the sensation evoked by its sonic architecture.” (TAS 119 1999 HP)

Gentlemen! (As there seem to be not that many ladies, surprise surprise).

Time has come to discuss the concept of "the one chair affair".

I for one had always thought that enjoying music in the broadest sense was a multiple affair not a solitary thing.

With amazement I have been reviewing correspondence between people that seem to hide away in barns and basements in order to get their daily “fix” of discussing the toy’s of the boy’s and fiddling with cables all night. All I read is about pieces of equipment, cables and hardware. Every month a new speaker or a new amp, not even one word about the software except data of the quantity.

Where did you guys go wrong?

If it’s about your toys then you are only Hi-Fi nerds and the nerds are killing, in my opinion, the industry. It should be about the music and the emotion music can deliver. It is not a solitary thing it is a thing you should experience with multiple. The hardware is in my view only the means.

I played in bands and orchestra’s for years and “the magic” happens where there is emotional interaction. Not interaction between apparatus but between people.

These “one chair barn and basement rooms” are the perfect example of boys with their toy’s and the ONE CHAIR affair. No signs of the together. I can imagine the dance around the ONE CHAIR that will give you the utter “sweet-spot” experience.

Look at the aesthetics and atmosphere of the “one chair barn and basement rooms”. We can differ about taste and things are subjective but most “barn and basement rooms” have not one single element that would attract a music loving person ready to share the experience of communicating music.

For me this fits the discussion starting slowly in TAS about what the absolute sound is all about. Should a High-End system communicate the emotional expression as intended and recorded by the musicians or should a system be able to retrieve every little

detail and be so analytical that you can tell what is the make of the car passing outside the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

Gentlemen, it’s all about the transfer of emotion. Remove your ONE CHAIR and invite 50 people in you barn or basement rooms. Put on some ass-kicking music and have a party. You’ll love it. (And go to work fully revamped the next morning)

Ps: Do not forget to invite your family since without them your barn or basement is not a home right?

(But then one Mr. Zappa had a different opinion about home: Home is where the heart is )

The Eames Lounge Chair:

An Icon of Modern Design

May 18 – September 3, 2006

The culmination of Charles and Ray Eames’s experimentation in molded plywood, the 1955 Eames Lounge Chair represents the epitome of both modernist style and luxurious comfort. The exhibition examines this icon of modern design through a dynamic installation including prototype models, drawings, advertisements, and an “exploded” version of the chair that breaks down its components. Through these materials, the Eames Lounge Chair will be fully explored in terms of its technical design, production, and promotion. Examples of other Eames designs will provide a context for the profound impact of this classic chair on subsequent furniture and its lasting legacy fifty years later.

In an advertisement from 1961, Herman Miller Furniture Company, the manufacturer of the Eames Lounge Chair, posed the question, “Why so much fuss over a chair?” This is precisely the question that The Eames Lounge Chair: An Icon of Modern Design will answer by examining how this construction in molded-plywood, leather, and metal has come to take on iconic status in the world of modern design.