SIGNALS & NOISE (Letters to Editor) (Feb. 1988)

Worth Every Penny

Dear Editor:

In regard to several of the letters that have appeared in recent issues, I would just like to say: Keep the reviews of high-end equipment coming. I like to read all reviews, and it does not matter to me if an amplifier costs $200 or $6,000; I still like to read about it. I don't have the money to buy $6,000 equipment, but believe me, if I did, I would go out and spend it. As long as the equipment gives pure, clean sound, it's worth it to me. Besides, I would much rather spend the extra money to get metal and copper parts and oxygen-free copper wire than to buy an item that uses plastic parts and that probably would wear out in a couple of years.

I figured out how much money it would cost me to buy a complete audio/video system, and it came to about $30,000. I'd spend that much money with no regrets. Even though I'd be in debt, I'd be happy.

-John Gordon South; Lake Tahoe, Cal.

Editor's Note: Thanks for your kind words. I should also discuss one line of reasoning I use, which no one seems aware of, when I choose, say, a specific receiver to review. Most makers of such gear have lines rather than individual examples, e.g. Model 100, Model 200, Model 300, etc. My guiding thought here is that, even if the stuffing in my wallet limits me to the middle-of-the-line Model 200, I want to know what and how much I'm giving up by not going for the Model 300. I think you readers do too. Further, it has been our experience that what is pulled out of the Model 300, to make it a Model 200, is not quality but features. What we are doing, then, by reviewing the Model 300 is checking out everything that's in the Model 200-and then some. Besides, high-end gear's more fun-like blondes named Ferrari. -E.P.

A Cheer for New Orleans

Dear Editor:

This is fan mail. I loved your November 1987 issue, especially the Toussaint interview. It's great to see such a story in such a prestigious magazine.

In my many travels north of the Mason Dixon line, I've seldom found anyone who isn't surprised to learn of the many musical contributions of the Crescent City and its artists. The Toussaint article can only help develop an awareness of New Orleans music and en courage artists there to maintain their unique sound.

I've seen Allen Toussaint in concert, and he delivers something special. I've also seen Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, The Meters, and The Neville Brothers. Too bad I wasn't aware of the New Orleans sound in time to catch a James Booker or Professor Longhair show. They're in R&B heaven now, but judging from their LPs, they were truly something to behold.

I go to New Orleans as much for the music as for the food. It may sound strange, but I think the music and food cultures there are definitely intertwined. Take, for example, the term that has come into widespread use to describe the funkiest of New Orleans R&B--it's called "fish head."

-Jim Clemons; Little Rock, Ark.

Leave the Luxuries Alone

Dear Editor:

I have been a subscriber for some 15 years now, and I felt compelled to write you. You see, I feel I match up to the average consumer in my age range. I spent two grand on a stereo system back in 1979, when didn't have a mortgage, a car, or baby-sitting expenses. Now I no longer can afford the luxury of spending three months' income on an amplifier that can double as an arc welder.

Don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that you have to ignore the up per upper-end equipment as if it did not exist, just that you should concentrate your efforts on equipment that the average audiophile can purchase.

Audio is in the perfect position for this. Leave the mass-produced, lower end equipment to High Fidelity and Stereo Review, and the $4,000 preamplifiers to publications that charge $4 an issue and talk about "the inability to recapture in full the hard kernel of resonance surrounding instrumental and vocal sound propagation." Wow. Any way, fill the void! I've cancelled my subscription to the rest.

-Dan Zimmett; St. Marys, Pa.

(Source: Audio magazine, Feb. 1988)

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