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| The aluminum-bodied KEF's I recently replaced. |
Years later when I ventured to the San Fernando Valley to a stereo speaker factory outlet (near Rogers Sound Lab and Marantz) for a look at steep discounts, I happened upon two "left-side" speakers that were mammoth in size and sound and the price was in line with my budget. Sitting approximately 3 feet high with a 12-inch woofer and a handful of tweeters, this set was the ideal match for another of my dad's hand-me-downs, a monster Kenwood receiver that pumped 200-watts of fury. Because of my dad I know how to hook shit up. Strip the wires, twist them cleanly and cinch them in. These were the days when sound was based on power. There were no subwoofers or 5.1 or 7.1 or Dolby or a setting called "Concert Hall." It was two-channel madness with a turntable, a cassette and in some cases a reel-to-reel. It was post 8-track player and pre-CD. It was pure, raw, and violent. No remote or digital screens, just dials for volume, bass and treble. Rush, the Eagles, Van Halen and U2's "Boy" pushed through easily. It was instant gratification because you didn't have the option to mess with settings or distances of speakers– it was purity. These speakers followed me through college and though they were big and bulky in a tiny apartment in Chico, they were always assured of a spot in the corner, equal distance between the two and pointing out toward the peach couch.
Soon the advent of more complex stereo receivers, the CD (and the player), and smaller surround speakers came on to the market. They claimed to push the same air and sound as the old one's only refined because there were more. Slowly the hippies sold the gigantic JBL's and opted for the small, deceptive power of smaller and more. I went to five speakers from Cambridge Soundworks, a new receiver that could accommodate the volume, a Sony CD player (that I still have, but that has since been relegated to the garage), and an Infinity powered subwoofer hand-me-down from my dad. I assumed the sound was better though I found myself constantly comparing the Cambridge's to the big-daddies I sold at the garage sale. "They're great but I don't think they are as good," I remember thinking. There was something missing: maybe it was the speaker wire. Down I went to RadioShack in search of thicker wire. I may have fooled myself into thinking it was the solution, and to this day I am not certain thicker cable makes a difference, but at the time I was semi-convinced. The CD did bring a tighter sound, this is for certain. The clarity it brought compared to the cassette was, and likely is, the most monumental jump in sound that has ever occurred in music and the listening experience. I am convinced that even today the MP3-4/digital format doesn't compare to the CD. For me it loses a generation and subsequently (for me) loses quality.
I "lived" with the Cambridge speakers for several years until I happened upon some aluminum-bodied KEF's. Five to be exact and a powered subwoofer to match. My obsession with sound equals my obsession with research. For me, the value of the KEF's was right– and so I purchased them. Around the same time my obsession caused me to update the system that churned out the sound: the receiver and the CD (now DVD player). I was after both quality in sound for music and for movies. I wanted both in equal parts and felt like the system (through research) could distribute solid, clear and concise sound on both the music and movie platform.
However, research and the endless pages of the internet can play funny games with you. While it's helpful, it also creates what I call "Endless Research." This endlessness leads to insecurity in the choice or choices you may have made, whether one month or two-three years later. With this research I found a better system and better speakers were out there. First went the receiver for something miles ahead and then went the speakers for a set that dated back to the monster's I bought so long ago. They were RSL's and I recalled my father's set from so long ago. They were different than his, smaller in size but built in the San Fernando Valley and were as heavy as a truck and as robust as anything new and amazing. Two bookshelf's that I bought on eBay for next to nothing. Old-school construction and air-flow with a single robust woofer and a 2.5 inch tweeter, they were as pure as what I relegated to a box in the garage. They were power as I remembered and I was back in that space from so long ago. I cranked the Denon receiver to its limit and the RSL's seemed to whisper "Pssst, hey chump, is that all that piece of shit has to offer? My woofer barely has any 'scars.'" I used them for a while, but feared I was missing something transcendental in the ever-changing and evolution of speaker development.
Enter the modern KEF bookshelf speakers. According to my wife these were acquired under the darkness of night in some dark alley in some mysterious part of Los Angeles. They suddenly appeared on tall stands (because that's how they are supposed to be mounted, all wives!), bi-amped and full of hell-fire. A matching, unassuming subwoofer sat to the side out of site. It was the match I had been hoping for. Clarity and power, mated to the Denon receiver, the Onkyo DVD and the Mac Mini. I was now as modern as all get-up. In the moment. On the pulse. The point where I want to be. Giggling from me met rage from the wife. "She just doesn't understand" I told myself, tell myself, will always tell myself. I have a mildly obsessive obsession with sound.
"This is it" I tell her. She responds with a humph and a retort of "I don't believe it."
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