GOOD VIBRATIONS

My friend Rickshaw is the audiophile equivalent of Howard Hughes. Every aspect of the listening experience is blemish free, no crackle, no pop and the disproportionately humongous scale of his speakers to the room they stand in should tell you how seriously he prioritises the issue of sound. Last Saturday he gifted me some far smaller, yet purportedly potent Wharfdale Diamond speakers and I assumed (being ignorant of such matters) that my audio life was about to improve considerably, deferring to his greater knowledge and experience on the matter.

Whipping out the cables of my old JVC speakers in my office with little sentimentality, I stuck them into the 'Wharfs' and awaited a transcendent moment of epiphany as I took a few steps back.

But nothing. Just my mind and ears scrambling to project greatness onto the two diamond-shaped black boxes out of fear of disappointment. For the next few days I tested various records, including Rickshaw's very own Cantopop compilation for our writing sessions. Listening with alert ears, I found the rich, warm sound of songs by Tan Zhu, Teresa Teng and soundtracks from 'Condor Heroes' as well as Wong Kan Wai's 'Ashes Of Time' and 'Chungking Express' distracted me from the task at hand. Perhaps, for the first time I suddenly appreciated the true genius of Cantopop production and slipped into a dream trance, imagining I was sat alongside Tony Leung and Andy Lau in that classic opening scene from 'Infernal Affairs' (2002) where the two strangers listen to 'The Forgotten Time' sung by Tsai Ching as their separate paths of destiny unspool for the next two hours before their final devastating reunion at the climax of the film.

And so then, in my own moment of OCD, I switched the 'Wharf' speakers back to my old ones and played the same Cantopop melodies on them instead. Suddenly, I then found the transcendent experience I had been looking for all along and was reminded of how these unglamorous little JVCs had something approximating magic about them, an allusive warmth and depth that bounced off the diagonal sloping ceiling of my open plan office/living room space, filling the room with memories and atmosphere like sonic sorcery. Of course, I may have sacrificed some clarity and detail at the expense of this all-embracing boomy warmth but I reckon I may need that warmth throughout the long, cold autumn/winter seasons ahead.

Poor Rickshaw. I trusted his judgement but now I've learned that these 'diamonds' are not this man's best friend.

Still, his Cantopop compilation is gold!