I remember laying down in the perfect position with my head in front of a large Packard Bell Console with a brand-new vinyl Jimi Hendrix album to take in all the audio subtleties. The position was a bit awkward, but the audio was superb. I also noticed a slight degradation of audio quality with vinyl after only three plays. I was so lucky to see Hendrix “live” a few times including his Rainbow Maui visit with 300 other people. I also saw performances by the Beatles, Stones, Grateful Dead and a few other lesser known, groups but equally good. It is interesting these groups have a smaller but clear following of a younger audience too. Edward Bulwer Lytton once said, “Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies.”

To me a musical reproduction goal is to sound like the original live performance. Audio systems can run well past $100,000 but this does not guarantee you will like the results. Quality is important but some of my chosen music was never recorded in high quality, like Cat Stevens. Normal differences in recordings means you could adjust the audio settings for each song . . . the song itself is more important. I prefer diverse and well-crafted music by talented musicians. For example, the CC WiFi 3 Internet Radio makes it easy to search for African classic music compared to your cell phone.