Phillip Holmes

My mother and father were both trombone players that met in college. Since my birth, I was surrounded by music, both live and recorded. My mother is a band director, and I'm sure that my love of wind ensemble music comes from before I was even born. In public school, I played horn (aka French Horn, though it's not really French) and sang in the choir. I chose horn because I didn't want to have my mother as a teacher. In college, I kept with both, until I decided to commit the bulk of my time to vocal performance (I gave up horn my junior year). I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in vocal performance. I'm a tenor. Being in music brought me into contact with great music and great musicians. If I were independently wealthy, I'd travel to places like Bayreuth. I was in the Dallas Symphony Chorus for a few recordings on Delos. The recording process was interesting, but stressful for everyone. I'm glad I don't make a living as a professional musician. I prefer to listen. As a child, I was also surrounded by nice stereo equipment (actually Quadraphonic--I was born in '72). My parents had a system consisting of a Garrard Zero 100, Pickering XV15 with Shibata stylus (I've been a fan of hyper ellipticals and line contacts since then), Marantz 4300 receiver, Quad Sony open reel, Quad 8 track, and four JBL Century L100 (they weren't bad for the '70s). In the 7th grade, I started reading about stereo equipment, back when Audio, Stereo Review and High Fidelity still existed (I miss those huge Audio "annual equipment directory" and their thorough testing and photography. By the time CD became firmly entrenched, I had decided that there was something very wrong with the sound and decided I'd try tubes and vinyl. My first foray into tube audio was some nasty tube integrated amp with cathode biased P-P 6L6 that had a habit of oscillating. I got an AR-XA, cut the arm board, added an Infinity Black Widow with a Stanton 881mk2s, which I still consider a nice cartridge. Speakers were some transmission lines. Because I spent most of my disposable income on vinyl, I got into DIY, modifying my tube equipment for better sound. My choice was music or equipment, so I had to learn about making the most of what I had. Perhaps that's why, even now, I very slowly change things in my system. It's hard for me to "give up" on something before I've investigated all the possible adjustments. Since then, it's been more tubes, turntables and cartridges (and a fair amount of other equipment) Today, I'm still a vinyl nut and consider myself more of a record collector than audiophile or DIY-er. My "day job" is building houses. It's a love-hate relationship and I don't recommend it to others (very frustrating). In my spare time, I work on equipment for friends, sell some of it on eBay on consignment and try to find time for visiting other audiophiles and live orchestral music. My listening room is large. It measures 17' by 23' with 9' ceilings that step up to 10' ceilings. It is the living room and has two entryways. One opening is directly to the side of the right speaker and enters the kitchen/dining area. The second doorway is on the opposite end of the room from the speakers and is the hallway access. Both entryways are 4' by 6'8" and are trimmed out, but they do not have doors. The wall to the left of the speakers has three arched windows that are covered with plantation shutters and heavy muslin drapes from Ikea (highly recommended). The floor is carpeted. I have no problem with slap echo due to the drapes and shutters on the windows, the two open entryways, carpet and the many linear feet of books and records (40% of the walls are covered by records and books). I'd like to add that the room is not overly damped. The walls behind the speakers are untreated. The walls opposite the speakers are almost entirely covered with records except the entryway. The ceiling is regular sheetrock with "orange peel" finish. Areas of the two side walls have untreated areas. The untreated areas are opposite areas that have books/records or drapes or doorways, so no slap echoes are possible. Filling the room with sound can be difficult. I have three dedicated 15 amp circuits for audio. I would prefer more circuits, but getting power to one wall proved too difficult. Ideally, I'd like 6 dedicated circuits. I have a system in the office, but I don't use it for serious listening. I prefer large rooms, even if it can cause issues with power. The sound is less confusing than small rooms with early reflections that cause smearing. I may be moving in the next 6-8 months to a house closer to work. If so, finding a house with a good listening room will be a top priority. A definite possibility is buying a smaller house with a large back yard where I could build a detached listening room. If I do run into listening room adventures or build one from scratch, I will be sure to share the fun with Dagogo readers. My preference is large line source speakers and powerful tube amps. I wish I had two reference quality systems: one with large line sources and one with either ESL 57 or something like the MaxxHorn. System number one would be for power listening. System number two would be for piano, chamber music, jazz vocals, etc... I'm forgetting stuff, but this gives you a general idea of what goes on in my house.