As we See It

Steve Guttenberg's 116th dream.

- Steve Guttenberg

I ’m at Dan D’Agostino’s house listening to his triamped Apogee full-range ribbon speakers. It’s 1985. His listening room is immense, easily 30' by 45', and we’re rocking out to Led Zeppelin and Bonzo Dog Band records. The sound is light-years better than anything I’ve heard—dynamic as hell, beyond vivid, and the soundstage has infinite depth—and Dan’s obviously loving that I’m blown away by his system. We get to talking. He has three pairs of Krell KMA160 monoblocks and Reference KRS preamps for me. Thanks, I say, but how can I get them home? No problem—Dan has a van. We gingerly put the Krells on dollies and roll them, sliding, bumping, and grinding, down his long gravel driveway to a shiny black Dodge van. The second we open the van’s rear doors, my nose hairs burn from the stench of rotten cantaloupes. Then I get a whiff of charred insulation. But after a while I don’t notice the awful odors anymore, because Dan is going on and on about blue LEDs. He’s really got a thing about blue LEDs. Or maybe it’s white ones. I’m not sure.