Richard Austen

I became attracted to high-end audio through home theatre surround sound. I was around 15 years old when my dad’s friend had us over to hear his impressive surround sound system via a laserdisc player. He owned around 3,000 laserdiscs and of course, most were in the letterbox format. I was an avid Siskel and Ebert viewer and had intentions of becoming a film critic. However, given the ratio of quality movies versus how many bad ones I would have to sit through, I decided it wasn’t for me. Even Bose isn’t “I Spit on Your Grave” bad. While my friends were out buying their first car at 16, I purchased my first stereo equipment: A Pioneer surround sound receiver, laserdisc player, 6 pack CD changer, and a 3-head tape deck. At 18 I purchased my first main speaker in the Wharfedale E-70 (Vanguard Edition) and I still own these wonderful speakers today. I didn’t know it then but they have managed to last in my system due to my growing interest in low-powered tube amps and them being 95dB sensitive and sitting mostly in the 10ohm range. Music Preferences: I like virtually all musical genres to one degree or another. I tend to listen to music for the purpose it was created. I suppose my view is similar to my love for all genres of film and so I do not judge one art form over another or pit them against each other. A horror film has an objective that is very different from a comedy or drama. I enjoy classical music, rock, folk, jazz, and pop music in nearly even numbers. Current Room and System: I moved to Hong Kong in 2011 and apartments in Hong Kong are quite small by western standards although they have 9-foot ceilings. One advantage is that all the buildings are made of solid concrete so there are no vibrating floors or plaster walls that sing along with the music. Living spaces are typically long and narrow similar to an RV or motor home in shape. They living room, including the dining room, will be around 11-13 feet wide by 18 to 25 feet long depending on the layouts. My system is listed below. As but as a general guide, I prefer high efficiency and high sensitivity speakers such as horn, single driver, open baffle, and other easy-to-drive speakers which allow me to utilize lower-powered Single Ended Triode (SET) amplifiers. Sonic preferences: Due to my wide range of music preferences, I prefer systems able to reproduce each source disc with all of the colour, cohesiveness, tonality, attack, decay, micro, and macro-dynamics as is possible. Most audiophiles strive for these things but the harsh reality is that all systems no matter how expensive will favour certain aspects over others. A large multi-drive system may play very loud with a huge macrodynamic scale but on vocals loses some of the cohesiveness and texture. Because I listen to a wide array of music I tend to prefer systems that are more balanced than those that are State of the Art in certain areas but possess glaring weaknesses in other areas. An example would be the Quad 57 which is superb in the vocal band but atrocious with heavy metal. Ultimately, I prefer systems that don’t remind me that I am listening to a hi-fi system. This is supposed to be about enjoying music. The system should help you to relax and not create added stress in your life.