Book Report: The Ultimate HiFi & Listening Rooms

Wow would you take a look at that pile.

Been thinking about Japan a lot lately; it’s impossible not to, what with the coverage of the horrific events suffered there by so many.   As I type this, NPR is reporting that the official death toll has just passed 10,000.   I attended a public magnet school for 10th grade in which I was taught Japanese and then sent to Japan to live with a suburban family for a month.  This experience had a profound effect on me and I am consequently one of many Americans who has a great fascination with, and affection for, Japan.  It is notable that middle-aged Japanese men seem by all accounts to be the world’s leading demographic of vintage-audio fans and collectors; antique audio has become my obsession as well.  Not sure how the chicken/egg thing sorts out on this one but there you go.

“The Ultimate HiFi & Listening Rooms” was published sometime in the past decade.  From what I can divine from the wholly Japanese text, it seems to be a collection of “Show us your system!” reader-submissions as published from 1989- 2002 in MJ Audio Technology, the venerable Japanese magazine.  See this earlier post for full details on MJ.

If there is one thing that collectors of obscure items all enjoy, it’s seeing the similar collections of others, and this book does not disappoint.  I picked this up in Tokyo several years back, and I have no idea if it is still in publication; if it is, Kinokuniya can certainly import it for you (The ISBN 10 is: 4-416-10201-1).

Here are some examples of the wonders on display in this 192pp volume.

I really dig how the inclusion of the antique-industrial-electronics within an otherwise conservative, posh-masculine domestic space creates a real Matthew Barney vibe.  Or, in a different sense, it feels like the discourse established by the obelisks in the various images within the Led Zep ‘Presence’ sleeve.

Aside from the strange and sizeable systems, many of the spaces themselves are quite  beautiful and idiosyncratic.

Portraiture of the obsessed.  Highly recommended.

See this link for previous Japanese Super-Collector coverage on PS.com