Burning Issues #I1: Who Are We? The New Underground Press
Martin DeWulf

I’m still not totally accustomed to seeing my name on the Positive Feedback masthead, even though it has been there for several years. Being so completely associated and a part of what I consider a sister publication, Bound for Sound, it seems out of place that I could be a contributor to anything else. The feeling is not unlike being married to the same person all one’s life — it feels odd to be with anyone else, even if it’s okay. But you’ve invited me to contribute in that gentlemanly way of yours so often over the telephone and in writing that I had to see my way to it. Mind you that the writing itself is not the problem; it’s the feeling of betrayal. For all these years, with one exception, I’ve given my best to BFS. I’ve always felt that it should be that way. After all, those readers are paying the freight each and every month for us, and they deserve first dibs on my thoughts.

Recently, however, your publication has been the fertile soil for many discussions regarding the community of the high-end. And, for that reason I feel relatively comfortable crossing over the small editorial fence that separates us to join in the fray, if that’s what one should properly call it.

The New World Village?

Scott Franklin has been most eloquent in his various essays on the matter, though I think his intellectual capabilities and his ability to verbalize at times leave me in the dust. So it is that I come to you in baser, more elementary terms, and without the benefit of being known as a deep thinker. I probably feel more comfortable with the form of expression used by Harvey Rosenberg; he does seem like an earthy guy, and Harvey is a motorcycle devote’ with considerable time in the saddle. I can relate to a rider, whether it be Indians, Harleys, or Hondas (it’s a stretch with the Honda guys, though — I’m Harley all the way). But, I don’t get Harvey’s Zen thing. Beyond that, what I’m really worried about is that your good efforts are going for naught. For you see, the Scotts and the Harveys are the minority in this world, and the "tribal" audio society that they are seeking is too exclusive to my way of seeing things — or so it’s been described in such a fashion so as to appear exclusive.

For example, how well will the tribe respond to my firm belief that in five years when this whole single ended tube thing blows over, 300B based SE amps will be good for little more than boat anchors? What about my whole hearted conviction, based on critical listening, that the present digital format clearly outperforms the analog needle-disc at its best, and that the upcoming DVD/DAD, if done right, is merely icing on the digital cake? Can my set of beliefs and standards be incorporated into the overall tribal view? Or is the tribe really a place where minority beliefs go to live so that they can be "big fish in a small pond"? Are they really, honestly, and truly interested in hearing thoughts along divergent lines? Or are they simply looking for a choir to preach to?

From what I’ve seen so far, and from what I’ve been able to read, much of the impetus behind establishing the tribal form of audio government is based on Harvey’s yearning for retro-life, and Scott’s distrust of the totalitarians at Stereophile. Interesting and noteworthy ideas both, but not the stuff that movements and noble revolutions are made of. If we are to be united we need something more — we need our old underground back!

Where is this "old/new underground" that we editors have been talking about behind the backs of the readers for the last five years? Things started out fine, or so it seemed to me. There was Positive Feedback, there was BFS, and there was Sound Practices. Wonderful publications all of them, and a firm foundation upon which to plant new ideas. Yes, we all viewed the world a little differently, and not one could be accused of being a mirror of the other, but a complete world nonetheless for ideas of all persuasions. And newcomers were (and still are) welcome, as long as they are committed to expressing clean uncontaminated audio/music related ideas. The idea is the honest communication of thought. Motives and agendas have no place in a true underground because that’s what we are trying to rid ourselves of. It’s not important that we may disagree with each other, but it’s important that we disagree for the right reasons.

With the emergence of Stereophile as a publishing power, honest hearted disputes took on a new flavor...a sour one. I can state with all assurance, that of the thousands that read BFS, very few believe what Stereophile is saying in their reviews or interviews. The average reader is constantly questioning the political turn that the publication has taken, and they believe that much of what is said in the magazine is said, not for the truth of it, but to gain some sort of advantage in the audio world. The advantage may be only to stroke the ego of a long time advertiser, or to put an up-and-comer in his place. But in either case, the end result is a flexing of power. Experienced audiophiles see through it all, and they get their real information in the aforementioned undergrounds. Of the hard core hobbyists that I know, not a single one considers a Stereophile review legitimate. The information that the magazine disburses is generally not considered genuine, it is not considered free of agendas and motives.

But this is not to bash the industry’s lone super power. It’s to explain why what we really need is a new underground. Stereophile’s defection to crass commercialism has in its wake left the underground in a bit of a lurch. Because they at one time were a key player in the underground, the entire industry has suffered immensely. Upon their loss of credibility with the true hobbyist, the underground lost much of its identity and energy also. And as they have endeavored to be everything to every audiophile with beautiful photos, important looking graphs, and summer audio shows, they have lost touch of why we listen to music, and with them thousands of people have lost touch too. They have no direction, and with them we have lost much of ours.

Wait a minute, though; aren’t there some new publications, some new alternatives in the world of high-end publishing? What about them?

In spite of my greatest hopes, some of the new magazines are nothing more than old reworkings of Stereophile. They lack the pioneering spirit necessary for good communications and honest interpretation. It seems like they are nothing more than money machines aimed at turning sincere audiophiles into pots o’ gold. I’ve been counting the pages of advertising in one particular publication each month, and found that they are averaging 50% text and 50% advertisements. One month they were over 58% ads!

I thought about running an ad for BFS in this periodical and asked for their "rates and data". Specifically, I asked them to provide me with figures on in-home subscriptions, since this is where we want to be. All magazines that take advertising provide these figures. Prior to me asking, a person in their organization said they’d never give me that information because their paid in-home subs totaled noticeably less than was commonly assumed. He was right; my personal request for hard data on subscribers went unanswered, and the glitzy package they sent begging for my advertising dollars made no mention of how many people get the magazine at home each month. All they would provide were estimates of how many mags they would be placing at the Hi-Fi show in New York.

Personally, I don’t care how many magazines they place at the New York show. I want into homes, not into the plastic bags of retailers. They said that they were carried by Barnes and Noble, but the two outlets in my area hadn’t heard of this periodical, and they were not on the shelf. Judging by their response, I can only surmise that my source was right, and that this publication is in the midst of one of the biggest chest poundings in the history of audio publications. When nobody reads you, the advertising is for profit only. This bothers me, as it acts to further deteriorate the credibility of those magazines and publications that make no pretensions or excuses.

To sum it up, some of the new audiophile publications make us all look like a bunch of money mongers out for nothing other than a quick buck. And when that happens, honest hearted ones like Scott and Harvey go out looking for something else, their belief systems having been shaken; a total remaking seems to be the only alternative. We need the new underground.

I understand that the manufacturing segment is a large part of this community, but quite frankly, they are in this to make a living. Out of necessity, producers have goals that are mostly at odds with those of consumers — but not totally. You have your AudioQuests, Krells, Levinsons, and the like that are profit driven to the extreme. They have to be, because what they are doing is obviously more than a hobby, and their investments total considerably more than chump change. Below that level, there are the hybrid companies that are capable of turning a reasonable profit, while still being in love with what they do. I think of Kevin Halverson at Muse, and Bobby Palkovic at Merlin, as perfect examples of people that have kept their musical roots intact while viewing the building of equipment as a craft. And there are many more. But, I cannot tell you of a single manufacturer who likes the power of Stereophile in his life. At the annual CES shows they badmouth that magazine in ways that would make a sailor blush. And yet, most don’t have the courage of their convictions to stand up to that magazine and say "No More Equipment Until You Straighten Up!" We all know that the manufacturers who "kiss up" each month in the Manufacturers’ Comments section in that magazine go on to call down curses on that same publication when talking to one of us. And it is this schizophrenic but "politically correct" attitude that keeps this industry as a whole from prospering like mad.

Most people in this industry want to appear that they are something that they are not, and as a result, much of what is done in the trade lacks substance. Manufacturers tell reviewers and customers alike that they have to go down to the factory to pull a particular component off the assembly line to check it out before shipping. Factory? Assembly line? With very few exceptions, this industry has no factories, and "assembly line" means that the manufacturer has two empty chassis on his work bench. Everybody wants to look big and important, just like Stereophile — but audio is a cottage industry with hand built equipment for the most part. Like some of the new audiophile publications mentioned above, they are pretending to be something that they are not. A veil of civility is drawn over much of what is done at the manufacturing and publishing levels; in reality, some elements are literally trying to fiscally kill others. We need the new underground.

It’s Time To Stop Pretending — We Need The New Underground Now: It’s You

Every person with the slightest twinge of love for this industry has to stand up and stop pretending. The charlatans and chest thumpers have to be kicked out, and once again we have to start the honest hearted dialogue between people. If that has to be done over the internet, so be it. If people are forced to cancel subscriptions to periodicals that lack the true pioneering spirit of what this is all about, then it should be done. The high-end will never be the mega-business that some want it to be. It’s too individualized, and its adherents are too discerning and demanding to have the major lines in the industry be household names. We deserve more than McDonald’s to satisfy our sonic palates. The integrity that this industry had in days gone by must be restored, and the only way to do that is to support the integrity keepers. We do that at BFS by reviewing equipment from manufacturers that offer honest value, and are not all caught up in worrying about what Sam Tellig thinks about their product. We do that by having an open mind and telling the truth, realizing that the forces that must be ultimately served are the consumers who depend upon our judgment in making buying decisions. No, people don’t always agree with us, but they know that the position we take is an honest one, one influenced only by the music. We are hobbyists first and foremost with a passion for what we do. And this is what I see that is beautiful about Positive Feedback, and Sound Practices. They too embody the spirit of what this is all about in the form that they presently exist in. They don’t have to change, just keep getting better.

So let’s get back to our roots. As David Robinson has suggested in earlier issues of PF, we all have to start talking about what works and what does not, a sense of adventure has to be rekindled, not by looking at pretty pictures of the latest monster amp costing six figures in Stereophile, but by sharing set-up tweaks, examining old problems in new ways, and by not being so egotistical about the listening experience. In my opinion, the analog needle-disc element of our industry has done incredible harm to us all. How? By having a condescending, even snobby attitude about those that listen to digital. Many of those that advocate the needle-disc try to engender a feeling of superiority, or of at least having more refined tastes than those persons who listen to digital. Does such an attitude open up the lanes of free speech and communication? Or, does it shut down the flow of ideas, and cause hard feelings? An honest opinion is something to be valued; a forced value judgment meant to belittle makes enemies.

Think of ways to contribute to the magazines that you read. Send a letter in a form suitable for publication. Let others know about how you were able to cut racket balls in half to create a superior isolation foot. Tell us how you found out that the electrical phases in your house were not necessarily running at the same voltage, and how you made sure that your equipment was adjusted to it. Tell us about that Stan Rogers recording with the song called Harris and the Mare that made you cry in an empty listening room late at night after everyone else was in bed. Tell your friends about it, write the magazines that you read. It’s all there for those that want to have fun and talk.

Scott!... Harvey!... come back!!

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