Jonathan Valin
I’ve been a creative writer for most of life. Throughout the 80s and 90s, I wrote eleven novels and many stories—some of which were nominated for (and won) prizes, one of which was made into a not-very-good movie by Paramount, and all of which are still available hardbound and via download on Amazon. At the same time I taught creative writing at a couple of universities and worked brief stints in Hollywood. It looked as if teaching and writing more novels, stories, reviews, and scripts was going to be my life. Then HP called me up out of the blue, and everything changed. I’ve told this story several times, but it’s worth repeating because the second half of my life hinged on it. I’d been an audiophile since I was in my mid-teens, and did all the things a young audiophile did back then, buying what I could afford (mainly on the used market), hanging with audiophile friends almost exclusively, and poring over J. Gordon Holt’s Stereophile and Harry Pearson’s Absolute Sound. Come the early 90s, I took a year and a half off from writing my next novel and, music lover that I was, researched and wrote a book (now out of print) about my favorite classical records on the RCA label. Somehow Harry found out about that book (The RCA Bible), got my phone number (which was unlisted, so to this day I don’t know how he unearthed it), and called. Since I’d been reading him since I was a kid, I was shocked. “I feel like I’m talking to God,” I told him. “No,” said he, in that deep rumbling voice of his, “God is talking to you.” I laughed, of course. But in a way it worked out to be true, since from almost that moment forward I’ve devoted my life to writing about audio and music—first for Harry at TAS, then for Fi (the magazine I founded alongside Wayne Garcia), and in the new millennium at TAS again, when HP hired me back after Fi folded. It’s been an odd and, for the most part, serendipitous career, in which things have simply come my way, like Harry’s phone call, without me planning for them. For better and worse I’ve just gone with them on instinct and my talent to spin words, which is as close to being musical as I come.
Articles
Stenheim Alumine Five SE Loudspeaker
The three-way, four-driver Stenheim Alumine Five Special Edition (SE) loudspeaker […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Aug 23rd, 2022
In Memoriam: Lloyd Walker
Years have gone by now since the start of the […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jun 03rd, 2022
In Memoriam: Atsushi Miura
Today, May 27, 2022, I learned from Art Manzano of […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jun 03rd, 2022
CrystalConnect by Crystal Cable Art Series Da Vinci Cables
No matter who makes them, cables, interconnects (analog and digital), […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 17th, 2022
CrystalConnect by Crystal Cable Art Series
No matter who makes them, cables, interconnects (analog and digital), […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 02nd, 2022
AXPONA 2022 | Loudspeakers $30k and Up
After three years of self-imposed exile, it felt distinctly odd […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Apr 28th, 2022
2021 TAS Tapeography
Although they were the go-to (in fact, the only) sources […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jan 17th, 2022
DS Audio Grand Master Cartridge and Grand Master Equalizer
It seems like it was only yesterday that I rave-reviewed […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Aug 25th, 2021
Audio Research: Making the Music Glow by Ken Kessler
Where would the high end be without William Zane Johnson, […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jul 29th, 2021
Goldmund Telos 590 Nextgen II Integrated Amplifier
Let me be honest. Right up until this very review […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jul 27th, 2021
United Home Audio SuperDeck
Although the first mass-produced stereophonic LP—Audio Fidelity Records’ combo of […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 25th, 2021
SteinMusic Pi Carbon Signature Record Mat
I can’t tell you how many different record mats I’ve […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Apr 29th, 2021
Most Popular
Goldmund Telos 590 Nextgen II Integrated Amplifier
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jul 27th, 2021
United Home Audio SuperDeck
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 25th, 2021
MBL 101 X-treme Omnidirectional Loudspeaker
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jan 17th, 2020
DS Audio Grand Master Cartridge and Grand Master Equalizer
- by Jonathan Valin
- Aug 25th, 2021