The Audio Research Reference 150 ($12,995) is a member of the venerable Minnesota company's new Reference line. So when Audio Research Corporation introduced, as part of their new Reference line, the Reference 150 balanced tube amplifier, designed specifically for my favorite output tube, the KT120, I knew I wanted to hear if it could come close to re-creating my own reference: real live music.
My reference gear, therefore, has always been equipment that simultaneously sounds as close to the real thing as possible and makes possible in me the strongest emotional connection to my music. I want gear that is accurate, but when accuracy is not possible, I want a component that can overcome its shortcomings with soul. My ultimate goal is that of most audiophiles: to hear my favorite music and performances with as little as possible coming between me and the recorded event.īut because technical perfection in reproduced audio is, in my opinion, impossible, I want my stereo to also serve as an emotional conduit between me and my music. I find the quest of being an audiophile thrilling, challenging, and fun, and the journey toward audio excellence often more rewarding than the destination itself. I think it comes down to the fact that there are so many recordings I love, of so many musical moments that will never again occur, that I want to have as deep a relationship with this music as possible. Fortunately or unfortunately, my reference standard of musical reality is too high, too strong, too real to allow me to be fooled into thinking a recording is actually live music.Īnd yet, I find myself constantly inspired to make reproduced music sound as good as it possibly can. Not only do audio systems impose on music colorations, grain, and an unnatural electromechanical feel, they also omit the dynamic nuances, spatial cues, and sense of scale that make music come alive. To my ear, all recordings and all audio systems sound fake. No audio system I've heard has been able to create the sound of 120 voices singing Beethoven's Symphony 9, or the physical sensation I feel through my entire body during a performance of Orff's Carmina burana, or the total envelopment I sense when I listen toor singrenaissance motets in an acoustically lush space. Clearly, for me, my musical reference is not the sound of my audio system, but the sound of live music created in various venues and acoustics.Īnd the more time I spend making real music, the less I'm impressed with home audio reproduction. Right now, I average over 20 hours a week of rehearsals and performances of various ensembles, and four to five hours of listening to recorded music on my hi-fi. For many hours of every day, I'm lucky to enjoy the reference of live, unamplified music. No matter the endeavor, references help guide us and set standards for all we do.
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