Toby Tingskog

I grew up with analog media from LP’s to open reel and cassette players. When CD’s came along it was a great relief – finally the tape hiss and the clicks and pops of dirty records were gone. I put my LP’s and turntable away “permanently”. With the equipment of the ‘80ies – the lousy bandwidth of a CD was OK. I was an early adopter of SACD and DVD-Audio. What a difference! It finally paid off to spend the extra bucks on a good HiFi. However, the revolution was cut short by the relative lack of content - but probably more by the lack of support from the audiophile media. I primarily listen to Classical music and Jazz. The key is acoustic instruments. I think a stereo should reproduce a real sound – which would not include amplified or electronic music. I go to the Opera but my real love is symphonic music. Nothing sounds like a live orchestra with its textures, harmonies and wide sound stage. For digital content I play exclusively SACD. It’s a bad day when I have to listen to a CD. There’s a very good selection of Classic music in the SACD format and I also have a decent Jazz collection on my shelf. The very few rock albums that are available sound fantastic – provided they are mixed well. My latest effort is to get back to Analog. This is more to get access to the great library of music on LPs than to find a format superior to SACD. However, for symphonic music it's clear that staying in the analog domain preserves the complexities of the music. I have to admit I enjoy the complexity of an analog system – as you’d expect of a Mechanical Engineer. I live in a 1980 California Craftsman house with an open floor plan. Listening room is 17” x 17” with a hardwood floor largely covered by an oriental carpet. The ceiling is soft wood with some large beams. Height is 9’ on the left sloping up to 15’ on the right. Room is open on the right to a high ceiling area.