My passion dates back at the age of eleven when my interest for music, which comes before the passion for the means of audio reproduction, made me bought at the newsstand two records: the third symphony of Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor. I ground them to powder with my grandma’s old Lesa phono bag. While I was listening, I used to stare intensely at the spinning of the vinyl, that poor broadband loudspeaker from which so sublime sounds came out. Very soon, it was love for everything could bring new life to music.
Many enthusiasts consider the means of reproduction as “iron pieces” or agglomerates of electronic components. In my opinion, they are in strict union with the emotions I receive from music. Due to their strong symbiosis, it happens that very often I could not identify the limit between the two.I do not know if that represents a lack or an advantage, but I am sure that my vision of their strict relation has conditioned my way of being an audiophile/musicophile.
Two years later, after I had passed my exams, my father gave me a compact Philips and I became a vinyl collector who kept his jewels with maniacal care. Although the microgrooves of the first LPs had been ravaged by a piezoelectric cartridge with a stylus pressure of (10!) grams, they are still in perfect conditions with intact covers and without any scratch on their surface.
The great leap occurred with a one brand Pioneer system: PL 12 D turntable, SA 6500 II amplifier and two-way bookshelf CS-E 421 loudspeakers, with carbon fibre mid-woofers. The following system was always a Pioneer, but with a pair of RCF BR 45 loudspeakers and, then, the Infinity RSb. This audio chain has been operating for thirty-five years reaching now a quite odd set-up, fruit of some rethinks and changes of components.
In 2005, I found out TNT- Audio web magazine. It was a coupe de foudre that rekindled the passion for Hi-Fi, which had been appeased for several years, and my other passion: writing. I joined several discussion forums, where I could meet many famous and not famous people of the audio planet. In the course of time, I have refined my knowledge with the aim of getting a technical smattering. Some good books of electronic and electro acoustic, besides pure acoustic, like the prestigious manual by Everest F. Alton, did the job. Currently I am learning the measurement techniques, both for electronic devices and loudspeakers. With commitment and constant practice, I have been able to produce some graphics that today equip my reviews. Those experiments are made in the awareness of being on a long and difficult path, interesting, though.
I have summarized the last years of my great passion in a series of articles, reviews and reportages where I describe my journey from 2006-2007 up to now. You can find them in my website Non solo audiofili.
I have my ideas, maybe peculiar, about what should be a review and what means being a reviewer. In substance, a sincere enthusiast who never has to loose his enthusiasm and who needs to keep untouched his sound curiosity. Besides these technical aspects, special attention has to be paid to the distinctive features within a general vision, to make a meticulous research of what is hidden behind a product. Who writes has to become an engaging storyteller that express himself first. Without being invasive, he has to make leaking out his experiences, brushed through his peculiar sensitivity.
My system
Analog source: Pro-Ject Debut II SE turntable, Denon DL 160 cartridge
Phono preamp: TCC TC 750 LC
Digital source: Rotel RCD 1070 CD player, HP G62 computer with Foobar 2000 audio player, E-MU Creative Pre Tracker USB 2.0 audio interface
Deck recorder: Teac W-600R
Tuner: Denon TU-1500
Line preamp: Rotel RC 06
Amplifiers: Trends Audio TA-10.2 integrated amp, Rotel RB 1070 power amp
Loudspeakers: Canton LE 109, Dynavoice Definition DF-6
Cables: signal Fluxus 2*70 S, power Fluxus LTZ 900, main Fluxus Alimentami and many others
