Listening to a one million dollar system (2023)

Don't get me wrong- this kind of post is porn for me. But I've really come full circle on the whole high fidelity concept.

When I was a tween, my parents divorced and as a sort of balm, my mom indulged my hifi and vinyl interests. I was allowed to get a decent Radio shack setup of receiver and turntable and headphones (no room for speakers). These were modest tools but a significant upgrade for me, and that simple, good system lasted me for a good long while. After I was old enough to work, I started investing in better gear, and did get to the point of having really good fidelity at my disposal. Along the way I've met some dyed-in-the-wool stereophiles. I've heard a couple of 10,000-dollar plus systems. Nothing close to a million. But once you get to a certain level the gear disappears and you're left with nothing but the music, which is of course the goal, right?

I always thought it was. I was given an assignment by my wife to assemble a modest "hands-on" system for a memory cafe program (folks who have elderly parents with dementia or alzheimers bring them, let them play with a record player and listen to some older records). Of course I took the challenge with gusto. I decided to find that same old first hand-me-down amplifier, in decent condition- if possible, because it had a rep for being built to last. I found one, the program was an success, etc.

So I brought the gear home and was thinking of selling or at the least storing the gear when I decided to play around with it a bit. there is just something really special about gear from the first decade of transistorized consumer stereo gear. This is a low-end Kenwood amp from 1970. It's sound signature is quiet, clear, but also with very slightly soft corners, a kind of rounded sound characteristic of the era. High-er fidelity than other choices but certainly not elevated hi-fi. You can guess the rest, it is now back at my adult bedside for dedicated vinyl listening in the evenings. And I love to immerse myself in its beautifully flawed reproduction.