Six years ago I went on a 600 mile road trip with two friends to pick up a pair of 4343's. It was a fun trip. Since then I've experimented with various front end gear, amplifiers, sources etc with the 4343's which I still have. I've also experimented with other speakers. But the thing about these 4343's is this: whatever breakthroughs I made in the source and amplifiers etc , I always felt that the 4343's were still just waiting for me to catch up, waiting for...more. These things just have so much to give, and after 6 years with them I don't think I've got to the most that can be got from them yet.
Listening to them tonight, admittedly a bottle of wine deep, what stands out to me is the people/person that was behind this. My understanding is that it was John Eargle. The excellence in audio engineering that went into this, that is locked into this object, that I am hearing 42 years or so after it was created is...impressive. It does transcend just being an object and is perhaps a window into art, music. It is also, to me, a connection to the past to, people like John Eargle who strived for excellence. Maybe he was thinking about the end user as a studio engineer that has certain requirements. But I wonder if he knew that a guy in Australia, who was born around the same time the speaker was created, would be loving it, appreciating it, and exploring and enjoying the universe of music with it so many years later? I hope so.
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