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In Reply to: RE: CJ do deserve partial credit, for bringing me in posted by AbeCollins on January 04, 2025 at 14:51:08
In the summer of 1992, my family, as always, went to Hawaii, but I stayed home in San Francisco. Likewise, many of my old S.F. friends were back home from their respective colleges. So, although I didn't get to go to Honolulu's Audio Directions Ltd., I would go with a friend, to S.F. and East Bay audio stores. They did not have a whole lot of square footage, so they were limited, in the number of brands and demos they could carry.
Speaking of the summer of 1992, the July 1992 Stereophile had Jack English's review of the CAL Ikon Mk. 2.
Also in that edition was Corey Greenberg's review of the ProAc Response 2, which he said was not an audiophile speaker. That had an enormous impact on me, and influenced how I auditioned, shopped for, and judged audio products.
Given that I was used to tiny audio stores, you can see why the March 1993 Stereophile Show made such an impression on me. Although hotel rooms were small, how was that any different from most of San Francisco's tiny living rooms? But all in one place was a wide variety of brands, importers, stores, reps, and even musicians.
During Spring Break 1993, the April Stereophile arrived. As if on purpose, Larry Greenhill's review of the B&W Matrix 805 and Totem Model 1 appeared. I had previously heard the 805 at San Francisco Stereo Plus. And to me, the Totem Model 1, despite being one of the smallest speakers at the Show, did a credible job on pop/rock music.
In the mid-1990s, San Jose's Bay Area Audio carried CAL, Classe', and Thiel. When my girlfriend ACS had martial arts events in the South Bay, I'd visit Bay Area Audio. One time, they had a Classe' and Thiel system, lashed up with special-made MIT cabling. Were you still here, when Bay Area Audio existed?
Follow Ups:
I couldn't remember the name but I'm sure Bay Area Audio in San Jose is where I bought my Classe gear.
There was another audio store on El Camino Real I believe that seemed to be 'higher-end' with nicer showrooms. I visited them a couple times to window shop. They were more up toward Palo Alto, maybe Menlo Park. I don't remember.
...an audiophile will reach out to me, and adamantly insist that he had crossed paths with me. When you press him, he'll state that the photos, time frames, and music positively identify me and my friends.
And when it comes to crossing paths in audio stores, the guy will state that it was unequivocally Lummy, his music, and a girl or young woman depicted in my posts.
Alas, most of these audiophiles are no longer in the Bay Area, and can't just roll out of bed, and meet up with me.
When I was working at Stanford (above) and the mid-Peninsula, the only audiophiles I met in person were those who dropped off (and picked up) cables, which went on my Cable Cooker. Again, I don't know what a drug deal is like, but I got that vibe, when these South Bay audiophiles handed over the $$$$ and $$$$$ cables.
I had one stint, working for Stanford Student Housing. One morning, an electric cart had been dragged (undoubtedly by students) into Lake Lagunita, above. When we got closer, we saw that it belonged to us, and that we had no idea, where it normally was supposed to be parked/stored.
On the El Camino Real side of Stanford was an store called The Audible Difference. It was a flagship Mark Levinson dealer. I have never gone to that store, so whenever an audiophile claims that he saw me there, he is mistaken. Good heavens, we don't need more of me!
I did, however, go to another audio store, just up El Camino Real, in Menlo Park. It was called Sound Perfection, and carried, among others, Conrad-Johnson and ProAc. See, Sound Perfection and San Francisco's Ultimate Sound were friends. So when I went to Ultimate Sound (which was frequent), David always said that, if I needed any of the brands which SP carried, he could get them. And that's exactly how I, while living in S.F, was able to try CJ and ProAc. I did take advantage of this, and go through Ultimate Sound, to get a CJ EV-1 phonostage and ProAc Response One SC.
So perhaps you had visited The Audible Difference and/or Sound Perfection :-)
Up in Burlingame was an audio store, whose name escapes me, which carried Martin-Logan. San Francisco's Audio Excellence was tiny, and never had the room, to show off speakers, including Martin-Logan, in a good light. But the Burlingame store did have a little more square footage.
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