Stephen Mejias

Then there's this">http://www.pbase.com/sid_presley/the_record_collection">this site full of awesome Asian record covers from the 60s and 70s. (Thanks Edenhttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/project_sapphire_at_the_end_o…;.)

The walls of the Stereophile offices have been shaking to the sounds of Mogwai's latest, The">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/the_hawk_is_howling/">The Hawk is Howling. Yes, we know that hawks don't howl. (Or do they?) We also know the difference between a hawk and a bald eagle. (Sourpusses.)

For Halloween, I dressed up as myself: rigid and morose. My costume was a smash at all the parties. However, the Best Costume Award goes to SnowGhost">http://snowghostmusic.com/">SnowGhost Music's Greg McGrath. Greg dressed up as an MP3. He explained:

It was a certain sunless Sunday afternoon and we were listening to some records at the Brooklyn Navy Yard's DeVore">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/112206custom/">DeVore Fidelity factory. Something had just come to an end, and I decided to take a look through a box of LPs to find something new. I found an album that was still sealed in its plastic wrapper. It was the seventh installment of Sonic Youth's SYR series, the album that started">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/040808immediately/">started it all for me. I was shocked. Shocked. I was all exclamation points and italics.

I've learned, unfortunately—even painfully—that not all vinyl sounds good. Crazy, I know. I would like to think that great performances make great recordings, and that's all there is to it. But it's not that simple. Even the greatest musical performance can be slashed to death by a bad recording, or by the foolish acts of the music industry. I learned the hard way. Is there any other way to learn?

I should have known by the looks in their shining eyes. When people told me that I'd probably enjoy it, that it was probably a good idea for me to go, they were being coy. But never mind: No words could have prepared me for the enormity of the event, for the knee-weakening prospect of innumerable treasures. And so, on Saturday morning, when I decided to go to the WFMU">http://www.wfmu.org/recfair/">WFMU Record Fair, I was entirely, woefully, indubitably unprepared. I am reminded of my">http://www.stereophile.com/news/010605cessm/index.html">my first Consumer Electronics Show. You can't know what it's like until you've been. And only after it's over can you pretend to prepare for the following year. I will begin pretending to prepare for next year's event today&#151taking for granted that next year will exist&#151but, until then, I'm left wanting a do-over, wondering why didn't anybody tell me it would be like this, while nevertheless enjoying the few treasures I did come home with.

You'd think that setting up a pair of loudspeakers would be a piece of cake: Stick 'em where they look good, and be done with it. It can be as simple as that, but to get the best sound from your speakers, you'll have to do a bit more work.