From the heart

摘要

Recently, while preparing dinner in the kitchen, I decided to listen to music as I set about the mundane task of peeling some potatoes. Suddenly I found myself overcome with emotion. Close to tears in fact. Although my plan was to use the music as a 'background' while undertaking a routine activity, it had taken over and shaped my thoughts without my realising this would happen. To listen to music in the kitchen I use a fairly old-fashioned system. I was playing a CD with a Pioneer CD audio recorder, feeding the revived Armstrong 626 amplifier that I wrote about in the 2015 HFN Yearbook. This was driving an old pair of Spendor LS3/5As. OK, I know many people will think it crazy to use LS3/5AS as extension speakers in the kitchen, but they do sound good in small rooms that have an unpromising acoustic. After all, that's what they were really designed for!