I have only cables. No amplifier, no turntables, no cds no nothing. Just cables. They're sound great. I can listen to them all day long.

You know you have a problem when you're taking out a mortgage to buy an amplifier.

This guy is nuts. You don't have to spend $18,000 on cables. You can get equally good sound for $12,500. Easy.

The story of the stroke victim man that was aware that his collection was being sold for a $1 / record but could not speak left me heartbroken. Probably the biggest lesson I took from this tour... I shall teach my wife about all my precious items, even if she doesn't understand.

Good heavens, I sincerely hope that you have an excellent water damage coverage by your insurance company.

yeah... Alan Parsons: “Audiophiles don’t use their equipment to listen to music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment”

I will be scared with that water tank sitting aside that precious sounding room

Fantastic tour and I absolutely love the history and your sense of humor!

That man is way ahead: I listen to music, he listens to CABLE.

Michael, you made your love of music and musical reproduction your life. you may never, know how you have helped countless numbers of people like myself build audio systems that let us experience music in ways we never dreamed of. I was a musician my entire life and to sit in my home and to transcend my human condition, is in a large part because of you. I still remember the day I heard a music system so good I actually cried. The gentleman sitting sitting next to me said "you got it man", Can we switch seats?

As a sound engineer the two most significant differences to sound reproduction is: 1. Room acoustics and 2. Room acoustics. Certainly not the mains power cables! - If you're that bothered, how about an external triple filtered DC mains supply instead? One thing I do notice about all deluded audio snobs is that they love telling anyone within earshot the price/cost.... I'm convinced that this level of gear is firmly about bragging rights than it is about raw sound quality.

Audiophile hell is equipped with a GPX dual cassette boombox and a single tape recorded off a drifting radio station.

Some people buy yachts. This is just gentle madness but madness nonetheless. The reproduction gear is more sophisticated than the recording gear. It's nonsense. I used to own that level of equipment (Wilsons, Spectral, you name it); spent as much on audio as people spend on a house. Not anymore. It sounded great, no doubt, but it shifted my attention from the music to the sound. I've rediscovered the emotion of music by going back to cheap but clean gear. I own Schiit Audio and KEF LS-50 and I've got the goose bumps I had as a teenager. My kit costs less than one of my cables used to cost and I feel both happy about it and less of a manic fool.

Thanks Michael, this make my day. I am one of this young people that started collecting LP at 25 years old... Regards.

I’m sure you probably never look at comments from some of your old videos but just want to say how much I enjoyed this. I’m from England and you made it so interesting, amusing and matter of fact with great stories about your collection. It’s your money to spend and knowing the pleasure you can get listening to great music and artists I just appreciate what you have. Thank you and now I’m subscribed will keep watching you.

Very interesting...an amazing collection...even more so your equipment. Thanks for sharing!

Why don't you talk about the wiring in the wall going back to your fuse panel or circuit breakers and then out to the telephone pole and then the miles and miles of wiring going back to the power plant. And then there's the argument about the audible differences between Siemens, General Electric and Westinghouse power plants. And coal versus gas versus hydro versus nuclear. $1000 6 foot long power cables are a joke!

Wow Jerry Springer has a lot of records.

musician shows up at recording studio with $5 road/gig beaten instrument cables and any random power cord for the amp to make the recording. Audiophiles decide they need $50k of cables in order to reproduce this sound.

You nailed it about having records. The memories are incredible. You remember when you bought them....where you were...what you were doing. It's incredible. Younger people don't know what they are missing. I'm 61...have tons of records that I've bought since the 60's.....Most of them are mint! I thank God I took good care of them and kept them. Also I have tons of CD's. Now people have been convinced those are out. This is a great time to buy CD's for cheap. Get a good CD player with a DAC!

Hot water tank next to records? Confucius place for high end audio!

Love the video. I could listen to your stories and the history behind it all day long. Really great stuff.

I am yet to hear an A/B comparison on the difference a cable can make? I wonder why that is?

What an amazing tour, thank you for sharing

Thank you Michael! Your passion is electric! PS: I really like your record shelves, I think I will make ones similar. Your fan from South Africa.

For anyone interested, this is the cost of all the equipment he owns that he has mentioned in this video... Wilson Alexx speakers: $200K/ pair darTZeel amps: $144,500/pair Tarot Labs Zero (?) cable: $18K Thick speaker cables lying on the floor: $30K/pair Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn with Cobra tonearm and Castellon stand: $90K at the time he bought it but it is now $150K Minus K stand: Varies depending on weight Swedish Analog Technology tonearm: $30K Kuzma 4Point tonearm (secondary tonearm): $6500 darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier: $23,250 CH Precision P1 Phono Preamplifier & CH X1 power supply: $31K Yypsilon VPS-100 phono preamp ($26K) w/moving Coil Step Up Transformers (MC10 / MC16 / MC20): Retail: $2800 / ea Audio Alchemy ACD-Pro Transport (upside down pioneer): $1279 new Lynx Hilo Ad/Da converter: $2500 (Utility room) Stillpoints 40-26 ESS Rack: $10,245 Harmonic Resolution System (HRS)SXR Rack Frame: $9,495 without additional charges totaling $3,600 Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner PRO: $3895 Loricraft PRC 6 record cleaning machine: $5050 Roundabout total comes to $640,914+

If you guys don't believe that everything makes a diference it's okay but doesn't mean that you are right ! From what i experienced the smallest change can make a diference.

Too cluttered for me.... I find I enjoy my system much more when its in a nice clean uncluttered space. The sense of peace that comes from a nice minimal listening environment really adds to the music IMHO. That much clutter just causes an unease and a lack of relaxation. Doesn't matter how good it sounds, I couldn't enjoy it.

Wonderful. Finally a guided tour of the inner sanctum. And I agree with Michael, vinyl should be enjoyed while we can.

Well Fremer certainly appears to be a happy goof so good for him...

Awesome Stereo System and Record Collection! I Love the Rega RP10 Turntable 🤩

Do you have an 3.5mm aux cable so I can plug my phone in? You'll be happy to know I only use flac files. 👍

Thank you for allowing your readers to visit your listening room, Michael! It's a real treat!

I tried pink t-shirts. And it really works. I vow for that. My ears don't lie. The colour of the t-shirt has a distinct effect on the quality of the sound. Like with light radiation, darker colours appear to absorb sound radiation too. Darker colours absorb more sound than lighter colours, particularly the higher frequencies above 10 kHz. It makes such a big difference - no doubt about it. And pink t-shirts only cost a few quid! That is the best thing about this audiophile advice. Please, don't let any audiophile waste my advice by referring to double-blind AB tests. That is just some rational belief. Instead, believe your ears. Be like me, and put on a pink-coloured t-shirt when listening to your favorite 'hi-rest audiophile music'.

Organizing albums by race... BRILLIANT! 🤣

Hugely entertaining. More of this please Mr Fremer.

The best upgrade my poor little $10k sound system ever got was a great big listing room

My actual arm on my body isn't worth 30k.

Thank you Michael for invite us to your home and share your sympathy, passion and knowledge. Maybe somebody misunderstood the way you do. Fortunately, in our little world there are some people looking for the excellence, and investing a lot of time and effort to achieve the state of the art. That’s why we can enjoy and value brands like Wilson Audio, Audio Research, Air Tight, Brinkmann, Koetsu... or A. Lange & Söhne, even if they are not affordable for most of us. Thank you again.

Saw Bob and Johnny, you made my day. That's it, I'm buying a house and I'm making a room just like yours. I'm sick of being told to keep it down. Freedom!!!

You have some amazing gear, and probably the ultimate audiophile man cave, the search for audio nirvana is obviously not for everyone, but I admire your enthusiasm.

I'm just wondering what kind of touch screen and component that he is using at 11:00. Anybody know this setup? I'd love to add something like this to my system

I love your enthusiasm! Great record collection! Working on building my collection.

What system do you use for your record “shelving” ? They seem well built, easily stackable and even stable stacked. Thank you for the videos. They are an incredible resource.

Huge fan! I have a whole turntable/stereo system partly thanks to you!

I could spend all day with that guy, and I would love to hear his system and some of his record collection.

I've watched this video a few times already. I love his listening room and the gear he owns. Very entertaining! Respect to you Mr. Fremer. I would love meet you.

Hello! great sound. For now I would only use my TV for a music device. I don't use a cd player, turntable, tablet, phone, etc. question is do I need a receiver and an amplifier like separate devices? or do they make integrated amplifier/receiver/dac all in one device? so I can just connect floor standing speakers to an amp/receiver/dac single device and connect my tv to it for the audio? do you have any recommendations for one if it exists? Thank you

Thanks for sharing. Don't know if anyone else mentioned it but I find it remarkable that you keep possibly over a million dollars worth of audio gear and media within feet of your water tank...a large destructive vessel destined to fail unexpectedly. I wouldn't even want a plumber proactively swapping it out in such proximity of all that stuff. You even pointed it out!

Like you, I can tell a huge difference in sound quality when I have a fully functional water heater in my listening room. It definitely creates a warm, fluid sound doesn’t it! At what temperature do you have yours set? Everything makes a difference indeed.

Just happen to come across your video. I have been reading Stereophile since inception so was great to see a video of your review room and collection of equipment and albums!

Michael! How would I go about purchasing that wonderful piece of music by John Atkinson?

18:02 - Isn't there a concern with having sensitive audio equipment and vinyl right next to a hot water heater?

Very nice, so true when looking at albums, and remembering!

I need to sit in that chair and hear how good this sounds... or confirm that this man is in fact completely insane.

And I thought I had a huge collection. Thank you! Although I collect almost all forms of recorded music, I still buy quite a few new records. I have noticed that many of the new "audiophile" re-issues often don't sound as good as my original pressings. With the rising demand for vinyl, new pressing companies have been popping up. Some of these new startups like QRP I've found to be especially problematic. I've had more than a few which were off-center on one side. Plus, they always don't sound as good as the originals. As an example, the CCR "Absolute Originals" were originally pressed by RTI. They are fantastic! A couple of years ago, AP decided to re-issues the albums but this time being pressed by their own QRP. They used the same metal parts as RTI used, but they got most off-center. I contacted Acoustic Sounds and they couldn't understand what I was talking about, even when I posted videos on You Tube showing the tone arm swaying side to side. They offered to send me replacement copies and I realized that the whole pressing run would be affected, but I let them send replacements anyway. Of course the replacements were off-center. My worry is that inexperienced record manufacturers may hurt the record industry.

Very cool. Was kind of looking forward to seeing a more recent, high-end CD Player/Transport but it was still entertaining and informative!

How the F can you hear the difference between tonearms? Is it the way the electrons in the wires carrying the signal from the needle (that aren't connected to the tonearm) make an electromagnetic field around the tonearm?

Really enjoyed the tour and the history of your record collection. Thankyou.

This guy is enclosed in a breeze of good and healthy fun. I really like his audio system. Everything seems to works nicely together and is a wonderful looking setup for a trough music admirer.

I find it all fascinating, I don’t understand why he has to go through all of equipment and tell us if he owns it or not...literally every item

Hello Michael, Could you lend your professional advice on Revel F328Be and F228Be speakers for 2.0 stereo? Also how would you compare these to one another and to Dali Rubicon 8 speakers. My amplifier is a Parasound A21+ and my listening area is 19 ft long x 13 ft wide x 10 ft high wall on one side and 14 ft high wall on the other. Thanks in advance.

What was the name of that triple Village Vanguard LP he is reviewing? The name was unclear and I can’t find anything like it on GOOGLE?

you look like jerry springer

How do ac power cords make a difference? How is it better than the contract wire in the wall it's connected to?

Thank you for the video it was amazing looking around your place and seeing what you are working with! Thank you for sharing I am new into the hi-fi Question though what do you think I should set my Pro-ject RS phone box to DECCA or RIAA? I have a RPM 10 using a Sumiko Blackbird.

I’ve been reading your reviews for 25 years!!! I use Krell, Dynaudio, etc, for years based on your reviews! Thank you!!!

What I don't understand about the audiophile world is how blind listening tests don't figure in it at all. Yes human hearing is remarkably capable but it is also extremely selective. Often we hear differences based purely on auto-suggestion (what some call "placebo effect"). I don't know if, for example, different cables sound different or not, however I do know that unless effective blind listening tests are carried out then nobody will know. Blind listening tests remove the factor of auto-suggestion.

Listening to one record and making mental notes of the sound, then going off to do some work while someone changes out cables and then coming back to compare simply does not work. You MUST employ direct switching (A/B tests) to get anything out of it otherwise it becomes purely anecdotal and just guesswork really. It's hard enough to hear subtle differences between cables when performing A/B-test, trying to compare with long breaks in between is impossible.

What's that streamer display interface at 10:25 ? I'm looking for something user friendly like that .

Dear Michael. Can you please tell me how you deal with dust in your work room.Thanks.

Great video, can't decide whether I like this guy or not, i liked his 'stroke guy' impression.

The emperor has no clothes.

Hi Michael. I enjoyed watching your video. Your equipment and music collection are remarkable!

Absolutely amazing. I enjoyed this so much! Wow. Thanks for sharing so much of your life.

I think this might be the best example of insanity I’ve ever seen.

Very neat to see your gear and such. Madness at its best!!!

What a great, entertaining video! You have some cool stories. I am wondering if your vocal work is available on vinyl.

What system do you use to catalogue or organise your collection, so you know where they are ?

Say about him and his hobby whatever you want, I have to admit i watched this Video like three times because he is just that entertaining. (points at boiler) "this is my subwoofer"

25:39 Why didn't Fremer help the fellow (disabled) audiophile - explaining to the man's wife what was going on - instead of just joining in on the theft...? As he did for Rick R - see @ 28:00

Really enjoyed the tour of your system and record collection

imagine taking this dude to a basement, with a 90s pc and aux sound. And a cheap 10$ headset from walmart

33:38 - spot on! I'm the same with my records, I have so many white labels or one off 12" runs by artists that are just gold! And the sound quality is far warmer than any digital format. Streaming is great for finding stuff or listening on the go, but it doesnt compare to actually owning an artifact in your hand and experiencing the precise moment you stumble across something new that blows you away :D

I have this record! I think this was the first complete recording of Porgy and Bess. I have the original UK pressing from 1976.

I would be interested in your opinion on the linear tracking type of turntables.

Very enjoyable. Thank you for having me. Would love to go through that collection of Brit albums.

The audiophile world is a freaking rabbit hole, I better be careful getting into this xD!

Thank you, Michael :)

How did you manage to get all those Per Madsen racks? Love those; wish I could still get them.

Great, loved the video. I loved the barking dogs during first few minutes. If you ever get out to Wyoming look me up and we'll listen to records at my place.

All that great equipment, and nobody can pick up the crap on the floor?

Took me about 20 minutes to realize this wasn't Jerry Springer.

wonderful love records , great job , thanks .

Who was the song by around 11:00 minutes in. Anybody know?

I am a skeptical audiophile. I have a pretty nice system but nothing like the expensive gear you have. I think a lot of what is written about is either imaginary or not discernible by most listeners. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of your system and now think I would love to hear it. After listening to you talk about it, I am leaning towards not discernable by most listeners. Perhaps cables and well made amps sound different to people that have spend a lifetime reviewing for a living and have trained themselves to do so. Some professional audio reviewers don't hear differences that others do. It would seem probable that hearing acuity differs between people just like any other physical or mental skill. The real question is not whether Mr. Fremer or Mr. Atkinson can hear a difference, it is whether the prospective buyer can hear a difference and, if so, is it a quality difference worth paying for. I admire the fact the Mr. Fremer "puts his money where his mouth is" and purchases the gear he really falls in love with. It is much more difficult for me to take seriously the rave reviews of megadollar gear that is on indefinite loan to a reviewer. What is silly expensive varies from person to person. I have close to $10K in my system including two channel gear, surround speakers and a HT receiver. Almost everyone I know thinks that is an insane amount. None of them, having listened to it, think it sounds just like their BT speaker or name brand one box solution they have at home. The bad news today is that the ultra high end equipment is completely unaffordable to most people. Some of it is expensive only because there are people that will buy it. Other stuff (like Mr Fremer's speakers and turntables) are expensive to build. The good news about audio today is the inexpensive gear has never sounded better. Great sounding audio gear is available to anyone with an interest in it. Buy what you like within your budget and have fun. I do wish the Stereophile would attempt measuring interconnects and speaker cables. Perhaps they have and found no differences so they quit. I suspect that some of the differences are not improvements in fidelity but subtle filtering effects that cable designers put in on purpose because it will make them sound different.

100k speakers being played in a tiny room. Oh the irony.

What recording is he playing that John Atkinson recorded with an operatic feel?

What is the name of the jhon atkinson music playing ?