I have been an audiophile since 1967. I was in a University at the time, working part-time as a music librarian, even though I was studying Accounting and business for my bachelor's degree. I was unhappy with the sound reproduction in the music library's listening room. Eventually my complaints reached the ears of other audio enthusiasts and off I went.

My exact moment of revelation: Comparing my Kenwood receiver to the guy down the hall's Dynaco PAS-3/Stereo 70/AR-4x system. The immediate result: Goodbye Julian Hirsch, Stereo Review and High Fidelity, and hello J. Gordon Holt and Stereophile.

I lived in Canada from 1970 until 2002. At first, times were very tough for me, but eventually I put enough money together to buy, and sell, a large selection of used equipment. I didn't do this to make money (I had another business at the time), but I couldn't resist hearing and comparing different components and systems. By 1981, there was very little in serious components that I hadn't heard. Then I started a retail store, High-End Audio Ltd.. I was fortunate of have a 1,000 sq. ft. basement store that was empty in a building I owned, and it had almost 10 ft. high ceiling. I figured that I was spending half the day talking and reading about audio anyway.

I ran High-End Audio Ltd. from 1981 till early 1991. That year I "sold" the business and semi-retired. In the 10 years I operated the store, I heard, and compared, more models of components than I could ever remember. Buying, selling, trading etc. Always trying out everything I could get my hands on, just to find out which of them were truly exceptional. I attended the annual spring CES show, and every local audio show, religiously. I also visited the homes of countless audiophiles and heard their systems in depth, while often switching components. These types of direct experiences are the only true methodology to ever really learn about "music reproduction". (Not reading "underground" magazines, listening to self-proclaimed "gurus", or even making the odd change in your own system.)

In 1996, I took back the store High-End Audio. The high-end audio business had changed profoundly in those 5 years. Actually, the changes had started earlier, in the late 1980s, which is the reason I had "retired" in the first place. Unfortunately, the changes were mainly, though not exclusively, for the worse. I ran High-End Audio for another 5+ years, but the Canadian Winters eventually proved too difficult for me to live through, so I closed my successful business and I have since moved to Florida, where I am now semi-retired.

The creation of this website was the result of:

1. The desire to document and share my (and my friends and customers) many experiences of the last 50+ years, and...

2. The disappointment and frustration I feel with the current status of our hobby/passion/business and the events and changes that brought us to this point.

No contemporary audio magazine would ever consider printing what you will read on this website, and that in and of itself is a big part of the problem. We should all be grateful that a new medium exists that bypasses the traditional and expensive forms of communication. Even with all the misinformation and nonsense on the Internet, there is still enough provocative and informative data and insights to make it impossible to describe it as anything other than incredibly positive.

I listen primarily to Classical Music, from before 1000 A.D. to the present. However, I do enjoy many other forms of music, though I am ultra-selective.
Some:

Rock, from the 1950s to now
Jazz/Blues
Soundtracks
Pop
Folk
Ethnic/World

The music I don't like, now or in the past:

Rap/Hip-Hop
Most New Age
Minimalism
Middle of the Road
so-called "Christian"
Country (except Hank Williams Sr., Patsy Cline, and Eddy Arnold's "Cattle Call" (the simple 1963 version is my favorite), a song which has moved and haunted me since I was a child)

It's 50 Years Ago Now...

This month, September 2017, is an important anniversary for me. If it is possible to be precise in such matters, then it was this month, 50 years ago, that I became an "audiophile".

In September 1967, I matriculated to the State University of New York at Albany (SUNYA) as a Junior (I had graduated from Rockland Community College the previous spring). As it happened, in only that first month, I would meet three people who would change the entire perspective and course of my life. Two of them were fellow students who lived in my dormitory. The third person was the head Librarian for the Humanities (which included the entire 2nd floor of their huge library at the time).

The first person was Larry, who after a discussion about finding a better "Victrola", gave me an Allied Electronics Catalog as a gift. I was overwhelmed by all the different audio components and brands I was unfamiliar with, plus all the choices available. An entire new world had opened up to me. The second person was Ken, who had no interest in audio, but had considerable experience with Classical music, which I knew virtually nothing about at the time. He enthusiastically introduced to me all the great composers and a beginner's list of compositions for me to listen to.

I then went to the Music Listening Room on the library's Humanities floor, only to discover that it was closed. When I complained, the elderly librarian, Dr. Streuer, apologized. She informed me that she was searching for someone to look after the room, since headphones were required for listening and they had to be signed out. So, I had the music room job that very afternoon and for the next two years as well. I took complete advantage of my new position, even having private listening sessions with the rarely used speakers (Acoustic Research AR-2ax) and borrowing records, which wasn't allowed for ordinary students.

I could never have imagined, back then, the long and complex journey inspired by this early beginning. I would end up buying and selling numerous components, almost all used, always trying to discover a higher level of performance. I eventually owned and operated an audio store for more than 20 years, which provided countless experiences with components, systems, rooms, audio shows and the opinions and reactions of fellow audiophiles. Now, long retired from the audio business, I operate my own website, where I can communicate with fellow audiophiles from all around the world.

Living in Florida, I no longer have the incredibly wide access to components and able assistants that I once had when I owned my audio store in Toronto, and I'm no longer young as well. However, I, and my associates, have a considerable amount of experience in discovering those special components which stand out from the rest, in either price/performance, design and/or implementation.

This website has offered a unique combination of a system oriented and proven methodology of testing; a strategic and consistent perspective, philosophy and approach; experienced listening skills; and no inhibiting conflicts, of any type, to compromise the reporting, which is of especially critical importance these days. Taken together, these cumulative advantages will continue to make this website relevant to serious audiophiles, even though the new output will inevitably diminish.

COPYRIGHT 1999-2023 ARTHUR SALVATORE AND HIGH-END AUDIO LTD.