(a pair of Don Garber of Fi’s listening chairs)
I penned my first Road Tour for 6moons back in 2005. Here’s the opening paragraph from that first Tour where I explain my reasoning for hitting the road:
This will be the first in a planned mini-series of home audio visitations. With gasoline approaching $3.00 per gallon, you may very well wonder why I would want to drive around NJ to listen to other people’s gear? The answer is simple—this is the end result of all this thinking, writing, talking, listening, haggling and haranguing over audio. How people actually live with their systems; how this becomes a personal experience once this stuff leaves the dealer or manufacturer (or previous owner). Whether or not I care for the sound is of very little relevance to the subject at hand. The fact that the people I’ll meet have put together a system they want to share is what counts. And what does this actually mean to them? How does owning and enjoying a HiFi fit into their lives?
My interest and the value I find in the Road Tours hasn’t changed one bit in the intervening years. It’s only after we choose what to live with and listen through that the value of hifi comes into focus. Of course this a deeply personal value as is revealed in the 19 or so Road Tours I wrote for 6moons.
the late Don Garber and Komuro
One of my favorite experiences was visiting Don Garber of Fi back in 2010, which I wrote about right here on Twittering Machines.
If you live in the NY-Metro area and would like be considered for a visit, just send me an email. The more the merrier.