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
The 2023 AXPONA Show: Jonathan Valin on Speakers $30k and Up
Judging by the number of displays and attendees, I’d call […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Apr 20th, 2023
DS Audio DS 001 Eccentricity Detection/Correction Device
Since the advent of Thomas Edison’s cylinder-based phonograph in 1877 […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Feb 07th, 2023
2022 Golden Ear: Stenheim Alumine Five SE Dynamic Loudspeaker
Stenheim Alumine Five SE Dynamic Loudspeaker $72,000 Just last year […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Feb 07th, 2023
Synergistic Research SRX Speaker Cables, Interconnects, and Power Cords
Better than a decade-and-a-half ago, Synergistic Research’s chief cook and […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jan 31st, 2023
2022 Golden Ear: DS Audio DS 003 Optical Phono Cartridge
DS Audio DS 003 Optical Phono Cartridge $2500 ($6000 with […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Jan 31st, 2023
Thriller 40th Anniversary Review [Mobile Fidelity]
There probably isn’t a one of you who doesn’t own […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Nov 14th, 2022
2022 Golden Ear: MBL 101 X-treme MkII Omnidirectional Loudspeaker
MBL 101 X-treme MkII Omnidirectional Loudspeaker $325,000 These truly remarkable […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Nov 01st, 2022
Magnepan LRS+ Review
Those of you who have been reading me for the […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Oct 28th, 2022
From the Editor: The Mofi Mess
A fresh scandal has cropped up in the contentious little […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Oct 10th, 2022
2022 Golden Ear: Magnepan LRS+ Quasi-Ribbon Loudspeaker
Magnepan LRS+ Quasi-Ribbon Loudspeaker $995 ($289, dedicated steel stands) Though […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Oct 07th, 2022
2022 Golden Ear: Aavik P-580 Stereo Power Amplifier
Aavik P-580 Stereo Power Amplifier $30,000 There is a lot […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Oct 03rd, 2022
2022 Golden Ear: Metaxas & Sins Tourbillon T-RX Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck
Metaxas & Sins Tourbillon T-RX Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck $36,000 Unlike […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- Sep 27th, 2022
