Champagne Wishes And Holiday Dreams
Article by Steven R. Rochlin
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  With the holiday season upon us, the early bird shoppers are in full swing. The forecast is a healthy increase of approximately 7% in spending in 2003 as compared to 2002. So what new toy are you hoping to receive? Perhaps a Rega 3 turntable or one of the new universal digital disc player would bring delight to your ears! Naturally a few stocking stuffers from various record labels are in order. Classic Records has new 200 gram vinyl reissues of Bob Dylan Rolling Thunder (three LP box set) or Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody On A theme of Paganini (Reiner, CSO). Chesky Records has their new Dr. Chesky's 5.1 Surround Show on both DVD-Audio and SACD. Reference Recordings has all new music with Sir John Tavener's Ikon of Eros and another new release is Organ Sensation with Felix Hell. Makes no difference what your audiophile desires and receives for the holiday, you can bet it will being a smile to their face.

If you are like me, there is just that something about opening up a new piece of gear and taking a long, deep smell. Call me sick or demented, though the smell of new audio gear is intoxicating. For many people it is the smell of a new car, still others enjoy mother natures aroma during the spring or fall. But an audiophile such as myself, it is that new gear smell. Have heard that videophiles get the same "high" off of new lamp bulb scent(!).

And as for tube heads, is it just me or do those Czech tubes and KT90s produce one heck of an enchanting scent? N.O.S. junkies take note as the mix of vintage tube and old cardboard mix to produce what may be considered the most pleasing fragrance of them all! If there was only a way to bottle that bouquet and market it. Imagine the possibilities!

Total Obsession by Bugle Boy of Holland (NOS tube scent), Musical Escape by Kevin Deal (new electronics scent), or a wonderful cologne called D.I.Y. Be from the genius of Doc Bottlehead (new loudspeaker scent). Put a screw cap on a globe tube and have it boxed in Mil Spec form. i can hear the orders coming in now for the holiday season. But like any new product you need good marketing.

 

<TV Commercial>

<Fade in to an artfully designed listening room. The TV Announcer says>

"For the audiophile who has everything. State-of-the-art digital, silver wire, and exotic loudspeakers.

<Fade to a picture of Doc B standing next to a pair of Climax loudspeakers. Then pan camera to an inverted globe Sylvania 50 ux250 tube next to N.O.S. box>

"Doc B brings you a cologne no audiophile should be without. D.I.Y. Be, for that just out of the box new loudspeaker aroma. Nothing can match the bouquet of crafted exotic Brazilian Teak wood and 1837™ Legacy premium wood stain with a touch Titebond wood glue."

<Fade to a woman seductively poised with D.I.Y. Be between her magnificently tantalizing breasts. She gently smiles and says in a voice ever so enticing>

"My man only wears D.I.Y Be... and nothing else. It drives me from Foreplay to Full Seduction. Are you a D.I.Y. Be man?"

 

Coming Back To Reality

Is it getting hot in here or is it just me? Let us get back to shopping... and marketing. The problem with high-end audio is the sheer lack of advertising dollars and the spreading of knowledge. Bose has Herbie Hancock selling out for some small gadget that many true audiophiles consider lackluster. We audiophiles need a one-two knockout punch like Shawn Connery and Halle Barry, or perhaps grab the youth market with Vin Diesel and Lora Croft. Ok, so perhaps the editor of an American audiophile magazine would be more knowledgeable, yet we need Xtreme eye candy folks!

If the high-end audio market is to thrive in this challenging market, we need not keep selling and reselling to the same people time and time again. We need fresh blood bringing in the dollars. Please considering supporting our industry this holiday season. No amount is too small, or too large for that matter. When your relatives and friends come by to celebrate the holidays, why not play their favorite music and allow the music to speak to them. Who knows, they might actually ask why the music sounds enthralling as compared to their Bose Wave Radio. As always, in the end what really matters is that you...

Enjoy the Music (Brenda Lee "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree" right now),

Steven R. Rochlin

 

"Rocking around the Christmas Tree 
At the Christmas party hop 
Mistletoe hung where you can see 
Ev'ry couple tries to stop

You will get a sentimental feeling
When you hear voices singing 
Let's be jolly
Deck the halls with boughs of holly

Rocking around the Christmas Tree 
Have a happy holiday 
Everyone's dancing merrily 
In a new old fashioned way..."