July 23, 2012

  • XLO Reference Type 5, Part 6

    Ah, Swing Out Sister's It's Better To Travel.  In May 1987, we began to see that iconic video of "Breakout."  I had this strange obsession with lead singer Corinne Drewery.  Anyway, at the end of that video, she makes that blue dress.  As a fashion model, she dons that blue dress, as she walks the runway.

    In summer of '87, I loved going to the Shirokiya at Ala Moana shopping center.  While my family went wherever, I hung out at the electronics department.  I loved the portable/personal stereos.  And I liked watching music videos on the TVs.  Yes, I saw the video for "Breakout."  But I stopped dead in my tracks, when I saw the video for "Twilight World."  You see, it shows the band at airports in, among other places, Japan.  Shirokiya was a Japanese store.  The TVs were (sigh, the good ol' days) still made in Japan.  My Sony Walkman and D-10 Discman were made in Japan.  Many visitors to Hawaii came from Japan.  They all went hand in hand.

    One fine late afternoon/early evening, after leaving Ala Moana Center, my family slowly made its way to the Pagoda restaurant for dinner.  I had my Walkman in tow, and when I got to the waterfall, the yellow sun made my head sway.  And on came a Swing Out Sister "rock block" of "Breakout" and "Twilight World."  It's one of those scenes and memories you just do not forget.  As an audiophile, every time I hear It's Better To Travel, it damn well better make me feel like it's summer '87 at Shirokiya and the Pagoda.

    In late '87 or early '88, while a junior at San Francisco's Lowell High, I and some friends ventured out to 280 Metro Center in Colma/Daly City.  There was a Wherehouse record store.  I hemmed and hawed between Motley Crue's Shout At The Devil and Swing Out Sister's It's Better To Travel.  I don't know.  Maybe because there were some girls with us, I bought It's Better To Travel.  Yep, that above is the actual CD I bought, all those years ago. 

    25 years ago, I was using Original Monster Cable.  I think the 10' pair retailed for $50, a large sum, in those days, for mere wire.  Never did I think then I'd get a speaker cable which was $55 a foot, as was the original XLO Reference Type 5.

    That Original Monster Cable came with pins, which never worked.  Most audiophiles got the XLO Reference Type 5 with spades, which barely worked.  As you can see, in real life, cables with spade lugs have to be bent, in order to reach and attach to binding posts.  But anyway, now that the pair above has finally been Cooked, let's give it some playing time, and test it by playing It's Better To Travel.  Will the Cooked Reference Type 5 do a better job of making us travel back in time to 1987?