Brett Gideon: The Wonder Years or “How I Became a HiFi Junkie”

Despite having zero musical aptitude and even less of a singing voice as a child, I still picked up a major love of music from somewhere. Growing up with a nice HiFi system probably went a long way to making me the music nut that I am today (and it’s still all about the music by the way, the equipment is just a means to an end or at least that’s what I keep telling myself) – anyway, in the grand scheme of things, that system wasn’t high end or even ultra exotic, just a direct drive turntable and later a few basic CD players running into a particularly sweet Technics integrated amp complete with a multitude of toggle switches and a couple of VU meters. Nothing special that’s for sure but the magic ingredient had to be the full range Lowther speakers.

These squat horn loaded floorstanders with their single full range drivers had a smooth, lush and oh so big sound that could easily fill our imposing lounge and while they probably weren’t the last word in analytical crispness or treble extension, I spent hours listening to them and the sound was never even remotely fatiguing, even when the source was harsh 1980′s CD.

I’ve still got that Technics amp (sans one channel – my fault), it was my main system amp for years and the Lowthers are safe and warm at my Mom’s place in South Africa, being used as stands for porcelain statues of big cats (no comment). I suppose that I’ll eventually get them boxed up and sent over, whip in some new drivers and see if they sound as good as I remember.

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree – my father and I both love music but in certain areas, we definitely went in different directions. He’s a total cable atheist who’s proud of the fact that his Lowthers were hooked up with long runs of thin electrical wire and he’d no more consider silver or oxygen free copper cable than he’d listen to Thrash Metal. I on the other hand spend far too much time reading through the Nordost cable catalogue.

He’s not entirely convinced that high end HiFi makes any sense, often challenging me to blind test the expensive kit we cover in TONE against the $5 amps and speakers that he sees in local second hand shops. Oh well, everyone’s entitled to an opinion, even when they’re wrong.

Music was a big part of my teenage years but there was one system that turned my world upside down and sent me down the long road towards the promise of HiFi nirvana. Part 2 coming up soon……