By Juan C. Ayllon I was perhaps three as I sat, marveling, as my father, a chemical engineer and strict disciplinarian, sang and played Spanish ballads with great abandon on his guitar next to me on our living room couch. His impassioned tenor vocals, accompanied by the warm, rich tones emanating from the sound hole of this massive, resonant, yellow and brown, yummy looking object he was strumming moved me so that I scooched over and took a bite—and then another, crunching tiny indentations along the edge of the guitar’s body. Amused but undeterred, my dad played on. It wasn’t long before I was sinking my teeth into other musical experiences. The smell of hot resin in the air as my father soldered connections in his HeathKit receiver, followed by countless sessions listening to vinyl on his Garrard turntable, were integral parts of my childhood memories. Although my dad’s efforts to make me a learned musician--and an engineer--never took, his love of music and art certainly did. Again and again, I fell in love with songs, albums, and artists, listening on the radio, roommates’ turntables and my headphones while oil painting in college (often portraying musicians or boxers). I recall trading a charcoal drawing of the band for their CD when Dotsero played, and I sketched, at a small jazz bar in Riverside, California circa 1990. Several years later in 1993 while drawing at another concert, the mother of smooth jazz and studio saxophonist, Kirk Whalum, asked to purchase another sketch--this one of Kirk and his vocalist brother, Kevin, when they performed at Chicago’s China Club. Being particularly moved by a pair of Proac monitors at Pro Musica in Lincoln Park a few months later, I purchased my first set of audiophile speakers when I took my first teaching job in 1995, and like many in our hobby, through the years since then,I bought and sold a variety of speakers and components in search of audio Nirvana. Like many, the cavalcade of speakers parading through my listening spaces were many, including the following:.
Other components brands gracing my listening environs were Adcom, Arcam, Audio Art, Naim, Bryston, Lexicon, Technics, Denon, Lampizator, VPI Industries, HSU Research, WK Audio, Shunyata, Straight Wire, Triangle Art and more. To help sate my appetite for experiencing more in our beloved obsession, I became a reviewer, kicking off with a report on Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) 2014 under my press credentials for the Cyber Boxing Zone, where I served as lead writer/news editor for 10-plus years, on the pages of Ayllon Media (you can read that report HERE), then expanding to Prairie Audio Man Cave, and, this last year, with Positive Feedback. It’s been a wonderful journey.
Fast forward to several days ago: our first grandchild was playing in our family room (my listening room) when he crawled up to the base of my Usher Mini Dancer 2 tower speakers and stared. He was enamored with the music pouring out of these titanic musical structures. “Oh, my gosh,” my wife, Belle, exclaimed. “He LOVES your speakers!” And, like that, another audiophile was born. Although he’s been gone for several years, my late father’s love of music and audio lives on to another generation.
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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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