By Juan C. Ayllon
There's something transcendent about Christmas and the winter holiday season. I recall watching scenes from movies and reading about soldiers on opposing sides laying down arms for a few minutes on Christmas Eve and exchanging pleasantries. And although the mystical qualities they held for us as children have passed, it still carries special meaning for many of us. At the same time, financial pressures from an economy that is not nearly as good as advertised, rising costs of living and an increasing narcissistic, entitled mentality undercuts the holiday cheer. Yesterday, my wife, Belle, was about to pull into a parking space at a mall when a man in a car coming from the opposite direction rushed forward, forcing her to stop. He rolled down his window and yelled, "What the (expletive) are you doing?" True to form, she responded, "You can have the space. Merry Christmas!" Then, later after she picked me up and we were merging onto a highway, we were nearly cut off by someone else driving a white Mercedes. Nice. We had a couple steaks at a TGI Fridays, but were surprised at the relative emptiness in that store. Maybe there were 25 people at 9 PM. Normally, these places are packed, but as our waitress noted, lately people aren't going out as much. They're staying in more and using services such as Amazon to avoid the costly and packed malls. Sad. And if that wasn't enough, a few minutes later, a large African American male stood up and screamed at his waiter to take his food back. Apparently, it wasn't delivered in a timely fashion. "We didn't get served until after I complained," he thundered, as his wife cringed. He spurned the diminutive manager's offers to comp the meal, scaring her, and throwing down a fistful of money after his disturbing performance, he stormed out, his wife and kids in tow. So much for celebrating our Savior's birth. A few minutes later, the manager came to our table to apologize for the disturbance. Of course, we assured her that we were fine and did not take this disturbed man's theatrics as a reflection on their establishment. On the flipside, a few minutes ago, I received a Skype call from my friend, Sam Wisniewski, in Poland. We chatted a few minutes, exchanged Christmas greetings and had a good laugh when I put Belle on the phone -- and she shrieked, "I can't Skype without my makeup!" That's what Christmas and the winter holiday is all about. With the rush and demands of 21st Century life, please don't lose sight of that. As Kurt Elling put it in this YouTube video, have a cool Yule!
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By Juan C. Ayllon "Why don't you have a dedicated site for audio?" my friend, Sam, asked. Just keep the other site for boxing and other stuff, he suggested.
For the last several years, I had been running www.ayllonmedia.com as a catch-all for my various writing, reviewing and artistic pursuits. Indeed, why not? Often marginalized, high end audio is a niche unto itself and feels a bit odd lumped together with boxing, consumer good reviews and art as I've done at www.ayllonmedia.com . It's like shopping for Ferraris at Walmart or a cigar shop. I get it. Granted, there are lots of other audiophile sites out there. However, I have my unique voice and take on things, and I aim to express it here as best I can. And, with the help of a few friends, I hope to entertain and provide a viable online site on the enjoyment of high end audio and music. Come, join us for the ride. By Juan C. Ayllon It's hard to believe that the year 2017 is coming to a close. As I was in the car en route to work this morning, I remembered a house party I threw circa 2004 at a lake house I used to own. This young, attractive divorcee I'd met at church stopped by for about half an hour but left before I had a chance to really talk with her. Then, six years later in late February 2010, we started dating, quickly fell in love and were married a year and a half after that!
While we were dating in 2010, I realized that I was spending more evenings at her place than at my home, so I setup my home audio system in her cavernous living room. Back then, I had a pair of Martin Logan Sequel IIs, an Angstrom 200 AV preamp/processor, and a Lexicon 212 (rebadged Bryston 3B ST) at the core of my setup. She and her two high school children were blown away! Despite living in an upscale North Shore neighborhood, they only had Bose satellite speakers and a subwoofer linked up to a receiver in their living room, so they weren't prepared for how much movies came to life in their living room. I was a rock star overnight! Systems have come and gone since then. My wife bought me a pair of used Martin Logan reQuests for my birthday several years later and that gave way to my Von Schweikert VR-5 HSE speakers, while the Lexicon 212 was sold, replaced by a vintage Mark Levinson ML-9 amplifier -- which, in turn, was sold and replaced by an Odyssey Stratos amp stuffed into a Khartago chasis (long story). I now play music primarily through a Lampizator DSD Komputer music server (replacing the Toshiba laptop my wife gave me which held those duties previously) linked up to a heavily modded Lampizator Lite 7 DAC (there's nothing light about it now!). I chuckle when I think of the pair of $95,000 speakers that we demoed for four months in our second home together this past year for a friend in the industry. That was something. And, now, this page is the latest iteration of changes coming down the pipe. The future is promising and I look forward to all that 2018 holds for us. Merry Christmas and happy holidays! |
Juan C. AyllonA writer, artist, educator and owner of Prairie Audio Man Cave, he lives with his wife, Isabel (AKA Belle), and their Goldendoodle, Liam, enjoys listening to high fidelity music and all things hi-fi at their home in the greater Chicagoland area.. Archives
March 2024
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