Stephen Mejias

Of Zest and Verve

Stephen Mejias  |  Jun 29, 2006

Four Thursdays have powered up and cooled down since this year's Home Entertainment Show in Los Angeles, and I'm still reading the show reports. Beyond that, I'm enjoying them more and more. This is a good sign, I realize. I'm enjoying the reports more because they're making more sense to me. The language is becoming a part of me.

Jonathan Scull tells me, "Once bitten, quality becomes a lifelong pursuit." Sure: we were talking about something else — something more beautiful — but I think it applies to hi-fi, as well.

In our latest e-Newsletter, Jason Victor Serinus catches up with Zu Audio to find "a bunch of heavy metal, punk, and rock LPs scattered about the floor." For this and other reasons, the Zu room was one of my favorites at the Show. Afterwards, back in NYC, when a couple of other writers — guys who've been in this business longer than I've been in this world — told me how awful the Zu speakers sounded, I began to doubt myself: Maybe I'm not a good listener, maybe I'm not the right guy for this job. Today, however, I'm full of zest and verve.

"Go with your instincts, as always," Jonathan tells me.

Read Stereophile. Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine. Let's go Mets. Peanut butter and jelly is good for breakfast. Have a great weekend, and Happy 4th.

COMMENTS
Monty's picture
Submitted by Monty (not verified) on July 1, 2006 - 4:19pm

I suspect that having used the Totem Arro speakers for a few months now, Stephen is learning all about listening fatigue.

David Nighorn's picture
Submitted by David Nighorn (not verified) on June 29, 2006 - 10:57pm

I hope that Zu tries again. They had the right idea. If they keep up the efforts, then they have the potential to attract and cultivate a younger market.--------And on a completely different note, can someone tell me how to put line breaks into the comments? Buddha can do it. Stephen can do it. I've tried a bunch of different combinations with no success.

Monty's picture
Submitted by Monty (not verified) on June 30, 2006 - 1:20am

It'll all come together in time. Things you struggle with now will become instantly recognized and all you will have to worry about is the writing part and not the confidence in your subjective opinions. Someday you are going to laugh Sam's evil laugh and say to yourself, I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this?"" I know I sure as Hell didn't have any confidence in my evaluation ability for a long time...and I didn't have the added stress of anybody critiquing me. The key to being successful in just about anything is really wanting to be. Figuring out what you really want is the hard part. Don't let anything get ya down or allow you to lose focus on what you want to accomplish. Who was it that said"," ""In every passionate pursuit"," the object pursued isn't nearly as important as the pursuit itself."" The experience of getting there is where all the value rests. Hey", at least nobody is shooting at you.

David Nighorn's picture
Submitted by David Nighorn (not verified) on June 30, 2006 - 7:27pm

Monty, Buddha, Please tell me how you get the paragraph breaks in your comments! I'd chime in more but anyhing longer than a few sentences turns into a shapeless blob of words. Thanks!

Clay White's picture
Submitted by Clay White (not verified) on July 1, 2006 - 12:58pm

And a happy 4th of July to you as well. About those speakers in the Zu room, don't take it too hard. So you were wrong, that's how we learn. We seldom learn much from things we got right in the first place.

Buddha's picture
Submitted by Buddha (not verified) on July 1, 2006 - 2:26pm

Hi, David!

For a break, type < br > ...only don't use a space between, I did that so it would show up.

In case that don't show up," it's the ""less than sign", br," then greater than sign.""

I use it twice. Once at the end of a sentence", then another on it's own line.

I'll be sure to check back and see if that explanation works for ya!

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