“Good music is essential to a rich life. High quality stereo provides opportunity to enrich ones life with a small or large budget.” – Bob Siudzinski
“I love listening to music. I also enjoy high fidelity sound. However, this passion required a lot of demands. High quality components, room conditioning, quality sources, which are getting more difficult to find. On the other side, it’s quite easy to listen to music, for free, over the internet. If we are to have a successful Save The Stereo Project, we need to start with one word, simplicity. Simplify all the things about building a high fidelity stereo system.” – Gustaf Rantung
“Music has always been a part of my life. I was very into sports growing up, but would still spend a few nights a week playing records or just listening to the radio. All of my great memories as a child, and growing up, had music associated with it.
When I had kids, I tried to pass this on to them. The stereo was always in the main room for everyone to enjoy. Any time my kids wanted to hear something, I would play it for them. They were taught from the beginning to respect the equipment and records. I introduced my kids to all types of music. I wanted them to know and appreciate more than just the newest pop star or fad.
My daughter is now 25 and co-owns her own business. She has music playing the entire time. Because she’s an artist she cannot get up frequently to change records or CDs so she listens to XM and Pandora. She plays it through a traditional stereo as she has learned to appreciate the quality of the sound. She is always willing to share with her clients when they ask about the music.
My son is 21. He was raised the same as my daughter. He was more into the latest things, a bit of a technology junkie. He was more into iPods with cheap ear buds. He was no longer listening to music. It was just something he used to filter out other noises. A few years ago, I bought him a very basic turntable and a few records for Christmas. The day he got it, I pulled out an old receiver with a built in phono stage and a pair of my old bookshelf speakers. We installed the system in his room and his mom and I sat with him while he played one of his records. He wore out that basic turntable that year.
The key was starting him with something basic and simple to use. Over the last couple of years we have slowly upgraded his system. Nothing fancy, just items of better quality and sound. He goes to the record store regularly to buy new music. He has played music for his friends and encouraged them to get a basic system. His long time girlfriend now has a simple system with a turntable at her house and her father is now getting back into music.
Music has to be shared with family and friends and then it will spread. Too many audio enthusiasts keep it off limits to others. I read TAS and Stereophile magazines. When I’m done with them, I take them to work for others to flip through. I also take several different music/equipment catalogs to work to share. A few co-workers have inquired about them and I have had a couple come by my house for a drink and to listen to music. My system is very basic and they still can hear the difference from their usual earbud fare. Share the music and Save the Stereo.” – Steven Seals
“I was introduced to stereo high fidelity at an early age when my father and both his brothers were audiophiles. I saved to buy my own stereo system by the age of 19. 34 years later, ”stereo audiophilia” has remained my first passion and I’m so happy and privileged to have been able to see and hear my system improve over all these years.” – Gil Pregent
“Music is one of the great joys in life, and high fidelity reproduction brings you closer to the artist and the performance. Save the Stereo should focus on enhancing and promoting ‘audibly’ superior formats. Proprietary, overly complex, or questionably ‘improved’ formats should be discouraged, and industry standards should be supported.” – Bruce McLeod, Independent Music Lover and Audio Enthusiast
Enjoying music through high quality audio components make the experience so much more pleasurable and engaging. It would be a travesty not to listen to one’s favorite music through high-end audio equipment at least once in a lifetime to see how good the sound reproduced can be! – Carl Lohmann, Carl Grove Studios
“It would be sad to see the future generations live in an MP3 world and never experience the thrill of great sound at home. Music is the universal language and hearing it as thought you were there is the goal. We need “audio tastings” like the wine industry used to educate the next generation for listening ‘live’ at home.” – Fred Bettridge
“High Fidelity Audio! Let’s ensure that the work of musicians, music producers and audio engineers in the studios can be fully communicated to all music enthusiasts.” – Theodoros Papanikolaou, Audio Engineer
“It’s always been about the music and finding the best way to tap into what it brings. Don’t forget the builder community. The builders are the ones that took over when Heathkit, Dynakit, Radio Shack, etc. all gave up on audiophiles.” – Jason Agee, Senior Client Architect, KBS LP
“I support this project because good music and good sound depend on it.” – Bill Blank
“I strongly support the Save The Stereo Project. Many more people need to know that good quality sound does not have to be complicated, does not require rack and racks of equipment, and it can be affordable too!” – Per Sjofors, CEO, Atenga, Inc.
“Lossless music is a reasonable starting point for audio quality appreciation. I know I have high end audio when I can hear the spit coming out of the trumpet.” – Allen Carter, EE Carter’s Sound & Sight
“A perennial question about high fidelity is fidelity to what? Live music experiences with good sound have become as scarce as component Hi-Fi systems. We need to find a way for high school students to experience un-amplified or at least well amplified live music. Otherwise, they haven’t a clue about what we are even talking about. We also need to get decent component systems into schools, especially music departments.” – Bob Olhsson
“Good music is essential to a rich life. High quality stereo provides opportunity to enrich ones life with a small or large budget.” – Bob Sludzinski
“Since my early teens I’ve been building, making, and buying component-based high-fidelity stereo equipment. And I’ve spent 44 years in related industries.” – Roger Cox
“There is one thing that has given me endless hours of relaxation and enjoyment for over fifty years and that is my stereo system. Who needs medication or therapy when investing in, and listening to a good music system will cure most of your worries and concerns – or at least make them go away for a while. It is not only cheaper than medication or therapy, it will improve your health; mentally, spiritually and physically.” – Felix Lillie
“This is a great idea! I know music keeps me sane many days, and I wish that for everyone. In my mind, the biggest challenge to high-performance audio is cost. The others are important, but if people knew that a high quality system could be had for less than $1,000, it might help the entry level take rate.” – Jim Stephens
“Music is the pathway to the soul. The accurate recording and reproduction of music will lift the soul to another dimension. Every generation should have the opportunity to experience this. High end manufacturers are driving customers away with ornate and over priced equipment. It’s all about the circuit and the sound, not the cosmetics and marketing hype. Seems to me that they are trying to make their monthly profit on one or two buyers. They need to learn that it’s easier to make $50,000 on 500 customers than on one customer.” – Jim Romanello
“I think that all generations should experience high-fidelity audio at some point in life.” – Chris Hamby, Freelance Filmmaker/Blog Writer
“Thank you from the core of who I am for the work that you are doing. I believe in this movement with my whole heart. I was born with audiophile DNA. I started working in the high end audio industry as an apprentice at twelve years old and have been ever since. Audio is my life and always will be.” – Will Smith, Technical Director Calvary Creative at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa
“After always wanting to listen to my dad’s Sony amp, TEAC cassette deck, and Technics turntable, he finally bought me my own little system. I received my first stereo in forth grade for Christmas and it will always be the best one. I was amazed I was able to tape songs and even baseball games to listen to later. That little Montgomery Ward system played LPs, cassettes, and had a decent tuner that pulled in all stations. Along with that system, the used record store became a weekend event.
To this day I always need some type of home stereo in the house. Not an iPod dock, but an amp and component system with wired speakers. My daughter is learning this is the best way to enjoy music because our Bose iPod dock broke after four years and it was done. In a home stereo system, you have the benefit of replacing component parts or full components. I hope this endeavor works and I’m right there with you.” – Mike Chaney
“I’ve been involved with stereo systems and listening to the same for the last fifty years. That activity has given my children a wide background in music for which I’m most proud.” – Frank Boron
“I hope this project brings the newer generation of music lovers to go for quality over loudness and for the industry to use technology to bring to market affordable quality to ease stepping up.” – JC Lajeunesse
“Stereo is for humans!” – Sami Pesonen
“Promote good sounding equipment.” – Neil
“I was first bitten by the true hi-fi bug when I visited an audio store in Fort Collins, Colorado where there was a pair of Wilson Maxx 3 speakers being driven by some Audio Research amps. What a glorious sound!
My main issue with hi-fi is the extreme cost to get into it. I think that is the main thing that is holding it back. I have done my best to do what I can with the budget I have by building kits and buying internet-direct speakers. However, after the stuff that I have there is a very large price gap as the next upgrade would cost me thousands.
There needs to also be more advertisment and budget minded articles on WhatHifi, Stereophile, and Sound&Vision.” – Bryan
“I am sixty-six years old and heard Hi-Fi for the first time at the age of eleven. That experience put me on the road to the enjoyment of listening to quality sound that I am still traveling today.” – Kevin Ball
“Listening to good music in my home environment is one of my favorite pastimes. I applaud Save The Stereo Project for working to keep the hobby alive.” – Paul Mayer
“I fully support the mission of the Save The Stereo project. It is very important to educate the public at large about the joy and enrichment that is available through high quality music reproduction in the home.” – Clayton Cowan
“I have loved playing music since I was ten years old, when I bought my first radio. I had an uncle who owned a stereo system that was my first introduction to HiFi and inspired me to dream of being able to play music of that quality myself someday. Today, I am almost fifty-five, and own a better system than anyone I personally know. I love bringing people down to my dedicated music room and having them experience real audiophile music, many of them for the first time. They never fail to say how much they enjoy it!” – Nick Cook
“It’s very important to save the hi end of our hobby!” – William Talbot III
“Of all the hobbies or activity pursuits one has available today (in my view), one of the most valuable is listening to music. That pursuit has been undercut and devalued by the rise of audio fast food with little or no mental nutrition. A mental meal from decent component electronics has been challenged by iPods and related delivery systems that fail to fulfill.” – Dean Singh
“Sounds like a good idea. As meetings chairman of my local audio society, the New Jersey Audio Society, I try to program meetings that are appealing to both audiophiles and music lovers, including those who spend a lot on audio and those who do not. I am proud that our society welcomes everyone whether hardened audiophile or those just curious about music reproduced on quality stereo systems.” – Phillip Slepian
“Thank you. True music reproduction is a necessity. It’s a must!” – Costa Kiskiras
“I hope that the passion of the music and the passion for the hardware side of the business can come forth in the promotional efforts. There has been a long standing, but positive, riff between between the gang that says “it’s all about the music” and the gang that says “it’s all about the reproduction of the music”. Both are so right, it’s a great point. Right now I just heard Needle and the Damage Done on my horrible TV sound, thinking of the release of that album and how it sounded and the emotions felt back then, this is what drives me to go listen again on the real stereo to connect with that deeper authenticity.” – Bill Griftner
“I hope Save the Stereo is not just about the promotion of higher quality delivery via lower prices and technologies to a younger generation, but also music education. The very reason for better delivery is to offer real music, made by people, without tons of gadgets and effects. The young don’t realize there were actually people at one time who could play their instruments.” – Mark La Penta
“I don’t think the stereo is dead or dying, but it can certainly be improved.” – Marcus Aurelius Latour
“If you are truly a music lover, put away the earbuds and invest in a pair of good quality speakers, an A/V receiver, and a CD player. You will be amazed at what you have been missing listening to compressed files from iTunes or other mp3 file sources.” – Greg Farrell
“I just bought a turntable to play my 500 albums that were sitting in my basement and now am in the market for more audio components to get the most out of my vinyl.” – Chuck Amidon
“Fantastic idea. There are so many music enthusiasts who haven’t got any idea what they are missing about Hifi audio.” – Tim Redden
