Pick a theme and shape your year

| Mac

2020 was like no other… At the macro scale we had Covid-19, the horrendous death of George Floyd, and other unarmed people at the hands of law enforcement, and the world’s most powerful democracy in a state of unbelievable dysfunction with a people divided seemingly beyond reconciliation. On a micro level a death of a close colleague, a tragic accident befalling another… in a multitude of ways 2020 has been a shocking year. 

Focusing on the USA and those injustices may seem hypocritical from the north, as Canada has its own historical and current injustices relating to Indigenous people and First Nations. I can only say that both collective struggles are real and totally unacceptable. Our species collective treatment of “other” is shameful. Though there were certainly stories in Canada’s press illustrating our ongoing and tragic fumbling of this critical issue, the headlines from the States seemed an unprecedented and relentless torrent. A tragedy, a tempest and a teapot. 

And yet on macro and micro levels there are things to be grateful for. There are lessons, reasons for continued hope, and things we can bundle together to forge a better year in 2021. In an effort to be intentional with respect to the year ahead, this post reflects on personal, admittedly insignificant, things that I am grateful for from 2020, and articulates my theme and areas of focus for 2021. I encourage readers to consider their own theme and areas of focus for a better new year. 

Before we move on I would like to briefly celebrate each individual who;  showed up or mailed in, (totalling record numbers), to vote in the American Federal election, participated in peaceful protest in support of Black Lives Matter, and/or donated to the same, or similar. While the work is far from done, it’s a relief that there will be a change of leadership in the USA. And while this is not a silver bullet in addressing what ails us as a species, it’s a step in the right direction.

With recognition of the global current affairs out of the way, let’s get on with it.

What am I grateful for on the micro? 

  • Covid has strengthened my key relationships, and I’m thankful. My marriage has been one of the lucky ones. The challenges and sadness of not being able to see my parents, brother, close friends… illustrates which relationships are most important. It hurts, but it also helps. 
  • My friend of 30 years, who I’ve been sharing a renaissance of computer, turn based, gaming with – because neither of us are as busy socially and it doesn’t require us to be physically together. 
  • My e-sports community. 
  • Technology despite its challenges, in 2020, was pretty grand. 
  • Thank you Apple, Taylor Swift for your two albums, Conway, Sony, Dell and yes you, Wings and Horns for giving me comfy threads that I feel great in and can wear everyday… even workdays. 
  • “Marie Kondo-ing” my closet. 
  • Thank you Dolphins Resort for hosting my smaller than expected 40th birthday, socially distanced, each guest with their own bathroom, during the relatively quiet Covid period in the summer, on our relatively isolated island. 
  • I’m starting 2021 more than 12 pounds lighter than I started 2020. My average blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic were on average down 11 points in 2020 compared to 2019. Working from home, in comfy clothes, has allowed me and my wife to get out during the lunch hour, if there were no meetings booked, to get in an aerobic walk… a replacement and improvement on the steps we’d typically get moving between meeting rooms and various stakeholder locations. The data suggests my health is improving and I am grateful; however, there is more work to do. 

A theme for 2021

If shocking was the theme of 2020, then my theme for 2021 is resilience. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we must be stronger, we must have the ability to more firmly affix our own masks first, such that we can better manifest Dr. Bonnie Henry’s call to be kind, be calm and be safe. And if we could do that, to quote Louis Armstrong, “What a wonderful world it would be…” My strategy in support of building personal resilience in 2021 is to focus on three things; health, savings and self-care. 

I’ve got some leads on these areas of focus and maybe I’ll write more about them in future posts. Happy New Year! What’s your theme for 2021? 

Hello Vinyl (Part II)

| Mac

I initially left the turntable in the trunk of my car. Upon returning to SoundHounds, I didn’t see the gentleman who helped me on my previous trip. Nevertheless, I got talking to one of the guys about my interest in the Rotel A12 and a pair of ELAC-UNIFI bookshelf speakers, primarily for listening to music including vinyl. He said that’s a good setup, but for a similar price I might prefer pairing the Rotel with a pair of Bowers and Wilkins S685 R2s. I should give ‘em both a listen and see which set I prefer. I asked if he would mind if I got my turntable and some records out of my car? No problem at all, he’d get the rest of the kit together.

Set up in one of the listening rooms, we switched back and forth between the sets of speakers. During this process, he uncovered an issue with the way I had configured the balance weight on the turntable as well as my lack of sufficient pressure while applying the head / phono cartridge to the tone arm. After successfully troubleshooting the setup, we got busy switching between speakers and testing between the ELACs and Bowers and Wilkins across a few of the records. In the end my take on the speakers were the the ELACs were more “responsive” and “punchy” but the Bowers and Wilkins were “warmer” and “fuller”, which I preferred. Having come to agreeable pricing including some custom speaker cables, which I had no interest in doing myself with 4 banana plugs on one end, we had a deal. 

The speakers were on-order, the cables had to be fabricated; though not instant gratification, the timeliness of everything was reasonable – a week? All went to schedule. In the meantime, I ordered an in-wall rated optical cable from Amazon to connect the TV. Now to set all this up and get to listening to records – comparing that sound to the sound of Apple Music via an AppleTV 4K and a Sony XBR65X930D.

My verdict, with this setup, was that whether the record or the digital sounded better depended on the record. Of my four records only one sounded noticeably better on vinyl than digital. The Zhu, GenerationWhy, Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl was noticeably better sounding than the Apple Music Version. The horns seemed fuller, or further forward in the mix than the digital variant. The nostalgic love was real; but I was perplexed as to why the other records fell flat…

Hello Vinyl (Part I)

| Mac

As much as vinyl may be a superior way to listen to music, the internet is a fabulous medium for initial research. My web research, on modern hi-fi, was buoyed by the Audiophiliac on Cnet. I found his articles entertaining and full of genuine voice as well as a passion for his subject matter. This article, in particular, was my jumping off point.

From that article the Pro-Ject Carbon Debut caught my attention; of course, I knew NAD amplifiers, but I didn’t like the idea of preamps, one for digital and another for analogue records cluttering up my already cluttered media centre. The Magnepan speakers weren’t going to work in my space as I needed something that could be close to the wall but not mounted on the wall and thereby competing with the TV for wall space. Bookshelf speakers were the thing. Though I have a lot of respect for Klipsch components, I would be replacing a set of powered Klipsch 2.1 computer speakers after 15+ years – I was looking for something different.

I learned about ELAC and their newer higher end Uni-fi series. I was enamoured with the story of Andrew Jones, a Robin Hood / Johnny Ives of speaker design taking his high end experience and making affordable hi-fi speakers. 

To address my clutter conundrum, Rotel seemed to be my knight in shining armour, yet another hi-fi brand I hadn’t heard of, with only one authorized dealer in my sleepy hometown – SoundHounds.

SoundHounds has been around longer than me. My parents bought their Harmon Kardon and Boston Acoustics hi-fi system there more than 30 years ago. I headed down to the spot they’d been situated at for the shop’s whole existence and looked around. ELAC – check, Rotel – check, Pro-Ject check… no prices on anything but I had an idea of MSRP and as I talked to one of the gentlemen working there, the prices seemed in line. The service was friendly, encouraging a try before you buy, listen to various components, bring your own pieces if you like mentality. However, nervous of the mounting price of my bundle I started to wonder if there might not be a more affordable turntable with a staged roll-out, rather than a big bang. I left the store without making any purchases or having them hook anything up for me to listen to.

Back home and online, after looking at more reviews, I settled on the Audio Technica LP3. I could get that as a first purchase, use the built-in phono amp to use it with my powered speakers, as an interim setup, and get to listening to my brother’s records sooner rather than later, or at least with a smaller initial price tag. 

Ordered from Amazon the turnable arrived super quick, and as I went about setting it up and connecting to my powered speakers, all sorts of static and issues ensued while trying to get it working. It was time to open up the wallet and re-visit SoundHounds, and this time I would bring the turntable and records with me…