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Reviewer's Bio
Todd Warnke
"Todd the Mod"
Growing up we moved often and so the one constant in my life, besides family, was the radio. And I was a voracious listener. When we lived in LA, I listened to rock and soul. On the high plains of Alberta Canada it was country, and in Chicago it was blues and jazz. Along the way I picked up on Tex-Mex, folk, classical and ambient as well. The primary rule I learned from this musical cross-pollination was that the good stuff transcends genre. I also quickly learned the corollary to that law - that crappy music does as well. To this day my musical tastes remain eclectic. I'm as likely to spin Biosphere as Brahms, while Zap Mama sees as much play time as Frank Zappa. But perhaps the best way to describe my diversity of taste is to point out that my favorite artist is Miles Davis... all of Miles Davis. Pangaea, Kind of Blue, Walkin', Sketches of Spain, Nefertiti, it's all good. Okay, most of the '80s stuff was just so-so, but almost everything from 1975 and back is, in the real sense of the word, awesome.
As for gear, in the late '80s someone decided that they needed my record collection more than I did and took it, along with the playback system, such as it was at the time. Armed with the insurance check, I set out to replace the Denon system I had and instead discovered high-end audio. The idea that I could extract more information and, ostensibly, more enjoyment from the few records I still had excited me like nothing had since a certain night in High School involving the winning shot in a basketball game, the back seat of a Dodge Dart and beautiful brunette named Paige. The resulting trip through audio-geekland has been interesting. I've heard systems that are medium-rez but emotionally involving, systems that are high-rez and boring as a night in Pierre South Dakota, and the occasional system that is both high-rez and highly involving. I wish I could say that each of the exciting, emotionally fulfilling systems had certain, exact things in common as it would make my reviewing job easy, but when talking about the gear involved I can't. I've heard solid-state work, tubes work, digital and vinyl work, and cones and planars work. But if I look away from the gear I find a common thread in almost every cool system I've heard - an owner who's primary passion in life, beside family and perhaps food and wine, is music. When the motivation is a love of music coupled with a love of excellence, regardless of the amount spent the system, emotional communication is oft times the result. Yes, $2,500 can get you there, just as $25,000 can, or even $250,000. And the "there" it gets you to is cool regardless of the cost. My overriding goal as a reviewer is to find gear that gets me there and to then tell you about my trip. I sincerely hope that my experience helps you find what you're looking for as well.
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