Finding your groove: getting into vinyl with Audio-Technica
I’d like to think that I could’ve been friends with the late Hideo Matsushita, founder of Japanese Hi-Fi powerhouse Audio-Technica. If I could, I’d travel back in time to 1960’s Tokyo, where a young Matsushita curated “vinyl listening sessions” at the Bridgestone Museum of Arts, exposing visitors to the sounds and possibilities of high end audio and the warmth of vinyl records. I imagine sitting with him in a mod coffee shop, listening to the stories of what he witnessed in those sessions, the conversations he had with visitors, and what ultimately motivated him to head back to his small apartment above a ramen restaurant and start an audio company of his own. In the histories I’ve read regarding AT’s humble beginnings, Matsushita’s motives seem clear. Produce high end audio at affordable prices, bringing audio excellence into spaces and to customers that simply didn’t have access to it before. His first two products, the AT-1 and AT-3 phono cartridges did exactly that, and...
Dec 6, 2023
My early days in headfi saw me "invest" money into two sets of $200 headphones. With these, I power traded through a LOT of headphones. At least that's what I tell myself. In truth, I was not-so-secretly adding more and more money into the hobby. After a couple years, Pokémon syndrome had taken over and I was a full fledged collector/hoarder.
I managed to pull off a big downsizing and after some crap in my life took a plunge on a used HE-6. Surely stepping up into the big leagues would slow me down! Nope, because now I was buying bigger gear and still using the asset/equity excuse to justify it. I had built up my rig to usb filter, dac, pre, monoblocks, HE-6... and it was getting ridiculous.
So I've managed to downsize again, but I've been busy in one of my other hobbies setting up PA systems for local dance events that have been growing. I started off with some modest powered speakers years ago, but now I'm up to 4000W, 600 lb rig that takes two cars to transport. It would be so much easier to rent what I need, but nah all this stuff I'm buying is an investment.
I need help =P