|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
209.119.132.238
In Reply to: RE: Jonathan Valin's obituary for Harry Pearson posted by Mike K on November 06, 2014 at 09:36:28
MF's reminiscence of Pearson is less of a hagiography than Valin's, and is more honest about HP's personality. Pearson seems to have been a more complex character than most men, and Fremer captures the contradictions well I think. He praises Pearson's importance to the high end audio world without ignoring his sometimes negative impact as well.
I only met Pearson once, when I attended a party at his Sea Cliff house after it was restored following the fire. In the span of a few hours I experienced Harry Pearson at his best, as a charming, affable, and gregarious host, and at his worst, as an asshole with a mean streak.
Follow Ups:
Agreed-
MF did a nice job as well.
Let's not turn obituaries into a competition.
Alan
I've never been a big fan of Fremer but I am now. That was a very respectable and realistic obituarary of one who played a significant role in creating an industry.
At the same time of sharing the bright side, Fremer shared the dark side which apparently was a bit more significant than I thought.
In 2005, I exhibited a product at CES that Pearson's right-hand man Garcia came around about 5 different times taking pictures and telling me Harry's gonna' want to see this back at Seacliff. That never happened but I did get a chance to meet Harry at THE Show in Newport Beach 2011 and we talked for about 20 minutes or so. I regret never getting him to hear my exhibiting room.
Anyway, Fremer confirmed perhaps every rumor that I've heard about Harry. Not that I needed any confirmation but I think Fremer used this as an opportunity to all of us to always be the alert and never check our brains off at the door. Something many of us seem to do in this industry as though "high-end" audio is different or protected from the shenanigans that go on in other industries.
Fremer honored the man for who he was, the good and the bad, and managed to do so with the utmost respect for the man. That's not an easy feat.
All I want is truth, no matter how beautiful or ugly it may be. I can handle it. And Fremer delivered.
Next time, I come across a review by Fremer, I will make it a point to stop and read it as finding truth ain't so easy these days.
In contrast, I'll probably skip any JV reviews I come across.
If you would like another reason to be wary of Valin's writing, do a search of Critic's Corner for "Valin Nordost sold".
Oh, yeah. For some reason I completely forgot about that.
The story that always comes back to me about JV is the amp (?) and perhaps other products he keeps on the 10 year loaner program.
JV does have some insight that he can turn on from time to time. For example, around the 2007-2008 time frame, he stated in an article, "We are lucky if even our very best playback systems can capture even 15% of the magic of the live performance." Very few can freely confess that and even fewer are willing to openly admit it, even if it is only once in every 10 years or so.
Thanks for the reminder as that is an important point.
...he knew HP better than the others and what he says is true.It's more honest and heartfelt with a more down to earth writing style.
I felt the same way he describes when I first met HP at Sea Cliff in 1985.
Edits: 11/07/14 11/07/14
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: