Robert Brook runs a blog called The Broken Record, with a subtitle explaining that the aim of his blog is to serve as:
A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE
We know of none better, outside of our own humble attempt to enlighten that portion of the audiophile community who love hearing music reproduced with the highest fidelity and are willing to go the extra mile to make that happen.
Here is Robert’s latest posting.
Nothing will bring you as much joy as when you manage — by whatever means, probably against all odds — to make significant audio progress. (Just ask our good friend Bill S. how he feels about his stereo sounding so much better.)
The more progress you make, the more enjoyment you will get from your favorite music.
At least that was my experience as I set about making drastic changes to my system, room, cleaning equipment and a great deal more. I may have been guided by blind faith, but that turned out to be enough.
Without all that effort, I never would have had the chance to experience the superb recordings we keep discovering year after year, mostly because my system from the early-2000s would not have been able to make them sound remotely as good as the system we have now.
These records come alive on big speakers at loud levels like nothing I have ever heard outside of the real thing.
Robert’s Approach
Robert has methodically and carefully — one might even say scientifically — approached the various problems he’s encountered in this hobby by doing the following:
- Improving his equipment,
- Teaching himself how to do a better job of dialing in his turntable setup.
- Learning how to do controlled shootouts for his favorite albums, and, most importantly,
- Being open to listening to someone who has been doing the above three for decades.
More on Robert’s system here. You may notice that it has a lot in common with the one we use. This is not an accident.
And it is also no accident that these two systems just happen to be very good at showing their owners the manifold shortcomings of the modern remastered LP, as well as the benefits to be gained by doing shootouts in order to find dramatically better sounding pressings to play.
Further Reading
- More turntable setup advice
- Obsession is the best predictor of audio evolution
- Tuning and tweaking are essential to improving your critical listening skills
