Tony

MichaelHiFi · « **on:** 17 Dec 2012, 04:10 pm »

I love music. So did my Dad Tony. He would often say "I'd rather dance than eat". And often he danced.

Round about when I was 12, on my birthday, I received a Sony reel to reel with a bidirectional head. It was the coolest gift ever. This was probably around 1967 or so. I recorded every piece of music I could find. My Dad soon was sporting a new Mac 1700. This was installed in this very large cabinet that also had built-in speakers and a turntable. The turntable evolved into a Gerard Zero-100.

Sometime later Tony (Dad) got plans on building a set of speakers with a new technology. These were called Bose 900's. So Tony and I built these things in 2 large square cabinets, 9 drivers in each cabinet. I thought they were very cool and ended up with them as Dad soon afterward got a pair of some DCM Time-Windows. The home built Bose were a hit with my buddies but when I think back, they sounded like hell. At 17 I took a deep plunge into the credit world and bought my first system. So the quest continues.

It's no surprise that our interests are often shaped by our father or mother's interests. Tony wasn't so much an audiophile as a spiritualist. Mom wasn't much into music. But in the last 7 years of his life, being cared for and loved, living with my wife Elena and I, he was once again engulfed in music and gear. He wholeheartedly supported this crazy hobby. He sat nearly every day in our living room listening, enjoying and giving the

with nearly every change. More importantly, he greatly enjoyed the audio family of ours, folks here in this forum, who have stopped by or whom we had visited, who have supported us in our audio quests, who have met Tony, and shared in his amazing attitude on life, love, spirituality and the pursuit of great music.

Tony left us on Thursday December 13th in our home after a short battle with our health care system. He was 94. We will have a memorial Saturday, to celebrate his life. PM if you're interested in this celebration.

We wish to thank all of you who had known Tony and were so kind to him in our GTG's.

I'm sure he continues to dance..

SoCalWJS · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Dec 2012, 04:39 pm »

So sorry for your loss Michael.

Thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.

S Clark · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Dec 2012, 04:48 pm »

Sounds like he had a long life lived with a love of music. You are blessed to have had him for all those years.

Scott

steve f · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Dec 2012, 05:56 pm »

Michael, I am sorry for your loss. He lived a long life, and celebrated life itself. May all of us on the AC share that wonderful spirit.

Steve

soundofrockets · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Dec 2012, 07:12 pm »

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I had the opportunity to meet him two times. what really amazed me about him was his keen awareness of what was going on and input into music and gear. i was really surprised by his energy, enthusiasm to travel such distance just to give the 9s a listen. i thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with him at my house. and i am sure he is dancing.

Peter J · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Dec 2012, 07:50 pm »

Thanks for that bit of insight into his (and your) life, Michael. I had a similar audio experience with my dad as a youngster. I think one of my take-aways from Dad was appreciating good stuff, and that didn't always mean $$ stuff. I still feel his influence years after his death, for which I'm ever humbled and grateful.

Perhaps their paths will cross in the music and dancing everafter...

gregfisk · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Dec 2012, 07:55 pm »

Michael, I am sorry for your loss. You are fortunate to have had him is your life for so long. I know he will live on in the people he touched and the music he loved will be a good memory for you as time passes.

Take Care,

Greg

tull skull · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 Dec 2012, 09:22 pm »

A very beautiful and moving tribute Michael. May the Lord bless you with wonderful memories of your father. May He comfort you and your family in your grief.

Plund · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Dec 2012, 02:26 am »

"I'm sure he continues to dance"
Michael,
I agree, and I bet he has never danced better! Thanks for sharing a small piece of Tony's life...I bet Saturday will be a very nice memorial because it sounds there is much good to celebrate about his life.

Pete

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Dec 2012, 03:36 pm »

Heartfelt thanks to all of you. These posts had my wife in tears

corndog71 · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Dec 2012, 05:22 pm »

Take care, Michael. I know the feeling.

Cheeseboy · « **Reply #11 on:** 18 Dec 2012, 06:07 pm »

Sorry no tears intended just remembering outloud.

Tony had the world by the tail. He had Elena and Michael and thier young son to care for him. They were quite the family stretching the limits of age difference. I only saw smiles on everyone when they were together. I wonder who taught who to dance. I bet Michaels young son taught Tony how to boogaloo, get down and party down. It sounds like Tony taught Michael the basic tennants of good music. The gift of recorded music at an early age. Elena probably had to dance with all of them with her woman spirit. Dancing and music is fun. It seemed to be the core of this family when I saw them together.

I am so sorry that he has left us all here. My prayers are for your family.

Jeez I hope I have it that good when I get to be in my 90's. Jeez I hope to get to be 90. Jeez I hope I can hear in my 90's much less dance.

Personally I had a good connection with Tony that was very uplifting. I enjoyed seeing him when we met. He threw off some very positive energy in my direction. I feel like we had met many times I just can't say where. I wish I was able to know him better in this time and place. He was present in the moment, whole perfect and complete. I'll miss him. The sparkle in his eyes and the big grin are just a memory away. They'll always be there. .

Back Atcha Tony!

Captainhemo · « **Reply #12 on:** 18 Dec 2012, 07:39 pm »

I didn't know Tony or know your family but I can tell by reading these posts that you are all very lucky to have had him in your lives for so many years. He obviously touched a lot of lives and was a very special man.
All the best to you and your family during this difficult time.

-jay

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #13 on:** 18 Dec 2012, 10:57 pm »

Quote from: Captainhemo on 18 Dec 2012, 07:39 pm

I didn't know Tony or know your family but I can tell by reading these posts that you are all very lucky to have had him in your lives for so many years. He obviously touched a lot of lives and was a very special man.
All the best to you and your family during this difficult time.

-jay

Tony did touch a lot of lives. In ways few people would believe, but that's another story. We are blessed, this we knew all along. Thanks for your observations and kind thoughts.

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 Dec 2012, 11:01 pm »

Quote from: Cheeseboy on 18 Dec 2012, 06:07 pm

Sorry no tears intended just remembering outloud.

Tony had the world by the tail. He had Elena and Michael and thier young son to care for him. They were quite the family stretching the limits of age difference. I only saw smiles on everyone when they were together. I wonder who taught who to dance. I bet Michaels young son taught Tony how to boogaloo, get down and party down. It sounds like Tony taught Michael the basic tennants of good music. The gift of recorded music at an early age. Elena probably had to dance with all of them with her woman spirit. Dancing and music is fun. It seemed to be the core of this family when I saw them together.

I am so sorry that he has left us all here. My prayers are for your family.

Jeez I hope I have it that good when I get to be in my 90's. Jeez I hope to get to be 90. Jeez I hope I can hear in my 90's much less dance.

Personally I had a good connection with Tony that was very uplifting. I enjoyed seeing him when we met. He threw off some very positive energy in my direction. I feel like we had met many times I just can't say where. I wish I was able to know him better in this time and place. He was present in the moment, whole perfect and complete. I'll miss him. The sparkle in his eyes and the big grin are just a memory away. They'll always be there. .

Back Atcha Tony!

Steve, What can I say, Tony has got to be laughing now. Feel his hug?

Need to hookup this holiday break. Need to hear those 6's again and wait till you hear the V's now. Dad is missing his seat!

Cheeseboy · « **Reply #15 on:** 19 Dec 2012, 01:46 am »

We,re gonna do our best to be available for you guys. Just one question, was Tony a Mayan? Did he leave us all a goodbye message? a new calendar? "So long, thanks for all the open baffle bass"

We are home for the holidays. Just wear your pajamas and you will be welcome.

Yes I felt the hug.

Hank · « **Reply #16 on:** 19 Dec 2012, 01:42 pm »

Those of us who have lost parents (and sister) know the voids left, but we remember the good times.
Merry Christmas, everyone!

rollo · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 Dec 2012, 04:21 pm »

Quote from: Hank on 19 Dec 2012, 01:42 pm

Those of us who have lost parents (and sister) know the voids left, but we remember the good times.
Merry Christmas, everyone!

+1, rest in eternal peace

charles

Danny Richie · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 Dec 2012, 10:21 pm »

Thanks for sharing that with us Michael.

I am glad that you were able to share the love of music reproduction with your father. Sounds like you now have some great memories of the fun that you had. I hope that your Super-V project was part of that shared fun. Stories like yours make it all worth it.

My heart goes out to you and your family.

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Dec 2012, 06:28 am »

For me, it all started with my Dad. Now the couch feels empty, but not quite. You see, I have a 2 year old to help fill the void. The void is there and felt by our small family, but the energy left behind is everlasting. You would have to believe it too. Jr says "Papa, music please, Papa music". I hear this often these days. "Where's Grandpa?" Jr had this weird habit of running to sit exactly where Grandpa would sit in our music then he would move over for him.

and the music would begin.

Now Jr wants to be the one shutting down the system. It's not simple. You have to rotate a giant variac dial on a separate chassis slowly until the amps relays click off. Then you power down the Allnic with a switch located on the side of the chassis. Then there's the computer to deal with. And trust me, Jr mostly knows how to do this because he showed my the other night! Wholly crap! And now he's using the JRiver app on my iPhone and picking out music he likes.

(Wish I remembered to demonstrate this to Scott).

We've been exploring music and gear for decades. Tony had lived with us for 7 years after Mom passed away. My endless tweaking, gear changes would often elicit a

from Tony if I was on to something. His hearing and eyesight was amazing for mid 90's.

We continue to tweak exploring the boundaries of the Super V's. Vibration control had always fascinated us, especially my wife Lena. She has her bags of sand and audio balls she bought at the last audio show and has me tweaking with what works the best and where. I took it to another level the other night sandwiching the speaker and power cables between 2 pieces of leftover NoRez and screwing the sandwich to a small piece of 2 X 4. Sounds crazy but the change forced me to retune the system in other ways! And I managed to screw that up wiring a speaker cable out of phase. I wondered what happened to my stage today?

I wonder if Tony is giving me the thumbs up?

Thanks again everyone for the kind thoughts and Merry Christmas, happy listening to all of you