In search of the lost chord....

   For most of my adult life, I have been fascinated with the art of music reproduction. Concepts of music like detail, dynamics, harmonics, frequency range and tone keep me continually searching for the next level closer to perfection.

   Music has been essential to human life throughout history. It can convey emotions words can not describe and transport the listener to the limits of their imagination.

   Until the invention of the gramophone in the early 20th century, all the music was by live performers. The quality of the music depended on the skill of the musician, the quality of their instruments and the acoustics of the environment they perform in. To hear truly great music usually required a high level of social standing.  The gramophone changed everything. It brought the wonderful music of the worlds best symphonies and musicians to the general public's home, whenever and however many times they want to hear it! This introduced a world of great music to people who would not of had the social standing or geographical location to enjoy it performed live.
   
The modern world listens to music on a daily basis with little regard to the quality of the sound they hear. It surrounds us so often that what was once only a privilege of the rich is now taken for granted. We have grown up hearing music being played through boomboxes, car radios, TV's, and other cheaply made sound reproducers. This flood of compressed and mutated sound is what most of us think music should sound like. This is because most of us have no idea what real music sounds like.