As we all experience, it does cost time and therefore money to grow up in stereo land.

I m interested in music since I was very young and that passion has never gone since.

If I ever had to make choices, and I had to, I went for the music first then for the equipment. I’d rather listen to a good performance through a Ghetto Blaster that muck stuff on a High-End rig.

Over the past 20 years I lost interest in the reproduction tools more than once due to High-End nerd’s, nerdo talk, High-End attitude and Everest (the mountain you know) pricing related to returns, but I never lost interest in the music.

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As I matured in the science of Hi-End the importance of the acoustics of the listening room became obvious to me. Unfortunately, as you can see in almost all of the rooms shown on Audiogon, nobody seems to care about their listening environment. I hardly see any aesthetically and acoustically pleasing solutions. Too many big and ugly absorbers. Even the Rives designed spaces, as good as they might be from the acoustics point of view, are in my opinion non to aesthetically pleasing .downright ugly and unattractive and you start to wonder why the family are no part of the music experience! WAF? Did you notice that many have only one chair! ONE CHAIR for god sake!! They must all be singles these audio-nuts and without friends or do they sit on the floor? ONE CHAIR. And we all wonder why thing are so-so in High-End audio land business.

Fortunately there is an alternative to all this. As an architect I designed numerous private homes for clients that are serious music lovers. Before investing a lot in equipment, you should get the most out of your listening room first. Unfortunately, when it comes to home audio, most people don't. After researching and purchasing very good and often state of the art equipment the room is ignored. This is very unfortunate, because the room is often the most important factor in achieving good quality sound and a happy family life, the WAF factor remember! For the final adjustment of the acoustics I use the room tuning system of Acoustic System from France, developed by Frank Tchang.

According to Mr. Tchang,

“The resonators made by Acoustic System are one of the most high fidelity products on the market. They consist of minute metal sound bodies that rest on wooden bases and, positioned correctly at particular points in the room, they improve the sound quality of every system, lifting a system’s sound distinctly. Acoustic System manufactures in five different resonators, in five different materials. Every music system can be improved by using one or more of them in six easy steps.

The resonators are activated by sound waves in the room and produce overtones – subtle overtones, which also define the sound colour. This coloring is often lost during the recording process, and when replaced always improves, and never worsens, the sound experience. Every listening room affects the music with its own specific audio characteristics, and from this point of view it can be said that the resonators by Acoustic System simply modify the acoustic properties of the listening room. In a very sophisticated way, of course.

Also of importance is the well-seasoned wood employed in the manufacture of the pedestals. As in the case of musical instruments it is the skilled combination of materials which leads to perfection, and depending on the type of resonator metal, a harder or softer variety of maple is used for the base.

The resonator elements are fixed to walls or furniture using a permanently elastic material, which allows residue-free removal from practically all surfaces. Bases can also be finished to customer specifications.

All details of the Acoustic System products were enhanced through experimental means. In the case of resonators, scientific explanations are very complex, as they have to define the relationship between low-level overtones, diffusion effects, and psycho-acoustic perception; luckily, the quality of these products is easy to appreciate without knowledge of the background theory”.

Hard to believe, easy to hear.

For Dutch and European readers: As an additional service to our clients, we www.Loxodrome.nl specialize in small room acoustics, listening rooms, media rooms, home theatre room design, including home theatre sound proofing, and have a vast amount of experience in acoustical engineering and design. We've designed rooms for private and professional end-users and can improve the sound of virtually any listening room. In fact, our designs will make a more dramatic change in your system than any upgrade at a similar and often much higher price. We design rooms for home theatres as well as 2-channel audio on both a domestic and international basis. As of 2006 we provide this service in cooperation with O.L.S. Audiotechnology, the parent company of the upper end Kharma loudspeaker line. www.kharma.com. A first result of this co-operation is a class A Kharma 150/Matrix music system and a proper acoustics design for an advanced Grammar school in Roosendaal, The Netherlands.

If you are truly interested in a superb musical environment, Loxodrome and O.L.S. Audiotechnologie can provide you with the ultimate.

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A second conclusion is the importance of items, by many disregarded or considered to be wizardry: electrical power and connecting tools.

While we were re-designing my 1927 family home in 2004, I decided to re-do the entire power distribution system of the house. Separate dedicated power lines were installed for the front-end and amplifier of my system with astounding results. The same for power cables.

And the music? Come and have a listen. Enjoy!!!!