Profile of AUDIO STYLE Author pastel_piano

AUDIO STYLE — a guide to compact Hi-Fi systems for real living spaces, began as a blog in February 2005, and thanks to the continued support of our readers, we have now entered our 18th year. I started this marginal little blog about music and Hi-Fi in my twenties and have kept it going, albeit slowly, ever since. Now that the era name has also been updated, and the profile I carried over from the very beginning has grown rather dated, I would like to take this opportunity to refresh my profile as the blog’s author.

　Name: HN: pastel_piano ＠Lord of the Long Post
　Place of origin: Setagaya, Tokyo
　Current residence: Yokohama, Kanagawa
　Profile: Pianist (classical / amateur), web writer, blogger.
　Twitter: pastel_piano
　Instagram: pastel_piano_audiostyle
　CDs / SACDs / LPs owned: approximately 6,000–7,000 in total… and growing.
　Permanent Hi-Fi systems: 5 pure Hi-Fi systems (1 in the living room, 3 in the study, 1 in the bedroom). Desktop PC audio. Plus car audio, among others.

I was still in my twenties when I began writing audio criticism here on “AUDIO STYLE” — a guide to compact, high-fidelity systems for real living spaces,” and I am now well into my forties. Looking around the internet, I notice that sites which have kept going this long are becoming increasingly rare. This blog is now in its 17th year of operation. I have been into Hi-Fi for 31 years. I have been playing the piano for 41 years, and Chopin is my favourite composer. In my younger days I had ambitions of becoming a professional pianist, but various circumstances put an end to that. In my mid-thirties, a serious illness — the kind made famous by a certain duck in a TV commercial — was discovered, and I found myself hovering between life and death, though somehow I came through. Since then I have not made a full recovery, and I live a life of resting and getting up again, managing on the modest income from advertising on this blog and various other supplementary earnings. Due to physical limitations, I have largely given up playing myself and have become, more than anything else, a music lover in the capacity of a listener — yet music remains an indispensable part of my life and the defining pursuit of my existence.

The concept behind the compact “AUDIO STYLE” is to share a cultural and stylish way of living — one in which music is always close at hand in everyday life: a study or bedroom shaped around one’s personal enthusiasms, a living room where audio equipment sits naturally among the furniture, a life lived alongside music. Drawing on my own experience as a performer and on the perspective that comes from having attended a great many concerts over the years, I aim to provide recommendations for compact, high-quality audio equipment and acoustic accessories that achieve excellent sound at reasonable prices, along with practical know-how for getting the most out of them — all in the service of grasping the true essence of music through audio reproduction. I also write, as a deeply committed music fan, about record collecting centred on classical music, impressions of concerts, and reviews of music more broadly, all of which I have kept up for many years.

For enquiries and requests for product reviews or other writing, please use this address: pastel_piano(at)yahoo.co.jp

Audio Equipment I Own ※Updated as appropriate

※The following is an introduction to the main components of the Hi-Fi systems the author of “AUDIO STYLE” has used over the years. Within each category, items are listed from most recently acquired at the top to oldest at the bottom. Review links may change as new articles are added.

Speakers

Brand	Model	Year
Monitor Audio	Monitor 1 Gold	2024
Monitor Audio	MASS-2G	2024
Q Acoustics	3010i	2023
DALI	MENUET	2020
TEAC	LS-H265	2013
CambridgeAudio	Sirocco S30	2013
QUAD	L-ite2	2013
EPOS	ELS3	2011
audiopro	ALLROOM SAT	2008
ELAC	CINEMA 2SAT	2008
DENON	SC-M53	2007
audiopro	Image12	2008
Victor	SX-WD5	2005
audiopro	Image11	2005
ALR/JORDAN	EntryS	2002
KENWOOD	LS-VH7	2000
Vienna Acoustics	T-2 Mozart Signature	2000
Acoustik-lab	SYSTEM1.2	1999
Victor	SX-A103	1995
Wharfedale	DiamondⅤ	1993
ONKYO	Liverpool D-500Ⅱ	1991

Integrated Amplifiers

Manufacturer	Model	Year
ARCAM	SA20	2025
AUDIOLAB	8300A	2020
Simaudio	Moon Neo 220i	2019
ROTEL	RDA-06	2017
Miuaudio	MKTP-2	2014
CREEK	EMF Seqiel2	2011
Trends Audio	TA-10.1	2008
TOKYO SOUND	VALVE300	2008
ONKYO	A-1VL	2005
TOKYO SOUND	VALVE100	2002
TAG McLaren	F3 60i	2000
Musical Fidelity	A1 Junior	1995
CREEK	4240	1993
ONKYO	A-917	1991

Record Players / Phono Equalisers

Manufacturer	Model	Year
Rega Research	Planar2 mk2	2025
LUXMAN	LXV-OT10 ※PHONO AMP	2021
AIWA	PX-E800	1993

CD (CD-R / MD / LD) Players

Manufacturer	Model	Year
CREEK	CREEK CLASSIC CD Player	2011
ONKYO	C-S5VL ※SACD Player	2011
ARCAM	CD72T	2008
C.E.C	TL51Z	2008
CREEK	Evolution CD	2008
MARANTZ	CC4000	2008
Nakamichi	CDPlayer2	2005
ONKYO	C-1VL	2005
Macintosh / PHILIPS	PowerCD	2000
C.E.C	CH-7700	2000
Pioneer	PDR-D5 ※CD-R Recorder	2000
MARANTZ	CDR630 ※CD-R Recorder	2000
C.E.C	TL5100Z	2000
C.E.C	CH-5000R	1995
Victor	XM-R1 MD Recorder	1996
PHILIPS	PLD600WS ※LD Player	2007
ARCAM	Alpha 5 plus CD Player	1995
PHILIPS	AZ6826/06	1995
PHILIPS	AZ6829/06	1992
YAMAHA	CDX-930	1991
SONY	CDP-X555ES	1991

DAC (D/A D/D Converter)

Manufacturer	Model	Year
ATOLL	DAC100 Signature	2024
FX AUDIO	FX-D03J+	2023
Micromega	variodac	2019
Pro-Ject	DAC Box DS	2018
Pro-Ject	Head Box DS	2018
CI AUDIO	VDA-2 DAC ＆ VAC-1	2017
Musical Fidelity	V90 DAC	2014
ONKYO	DAC-1000	2011
Styleaudio	CARAT UD-1	2009
SUPER PRO	DAC707-USB	2009
Trends Audio	UD-10.1	2008
ONKYO	UWL-1	2006
Firestone	SpitFire 24bit DAC	2005
PARASOUND	DAC800	1995

FM / AM Tuner

Manufacturer	Model	Year
PHILIPS	FT930	2008
DENON	TU-1500-N	1999
ONKYO	T-445XG	1991

Blu-ray & DVD Recorders/Players

Manufacturer	Model	Year
TOSHIBA	REGZA DBR-UT109	2023
Pioneer	BDP-3140-W	2017
SONY	BDZ-EW1100	2014
Pioneer	DVR-DT100	2007
Pioneer	DV-585A	2005
Pioneer	DV-545	2005
Pioneer	DV-S838A	–
TOSHIBA	RD-XS40	2003
PANASONIC	DMR-E80H	2003

S-VHS D-VHS HDD Recorder

Manufacturer	Model	Year
HITACHI	DT-DRX100	2002
SONY	SVR-715A	2000
Victor	SR-W320 (HR-20000)	–
Victor	HR-S3000	1988

Receivers / Mini Systems / Boomboxes

Manufacturer	Model	Year
Victor	EX-A5	2005
KENWOOD	AFiNA｜AVINO VH-7PC	2000
Victor	RC-X7	1988

Most of these audio components were chosen with compactness and style in mind, while above all else placing the greatest weight on musicality — modest, affordable combinations chosen with the idea of a miniature garden-style Hi-Fi system that could be enjoyed at low volumes in a six-tatami room. Some have already been passed on, traded in when it came time to upgrade, but I have a particular fondness for each of the components that first showed me the pleasures of pure audio. My basic position is that audio equipment exists, first and last, as a tool for music playback. I have had almost no dealings with high-end or luxury gear, and I am not the sort of equipment enthusiast who cycles through purchase after purchase, so I may be rather a different breed from what people generally call an audiophile.

Among all of these, there was one Hi-Fi system that first showed me, vividly and unflinchingly, what “musicality” truly means in reproduced music played through audio equipment — that gave me the judgement to hear whether life is present in the sound or not — and that was my encounter with the following minimal system: a combination of the PHILIPS AZ6829/06, an Austrian-made portable CD player that would later gather a passionate following, and British budget Hi-Fi components — a European-flavoured, miniature pure audio system.

Speakers: Wharfedale DiamondⅤ

Integrated Amplifier: CREEK 4240

CD Player: PHILIPS AZ6829/06

Audio Cables

　　・IXOS 104 (RCA interconnect cable)
　　・IXOS 603 (speaker cable)
　　・Ortofon 7NPSC 2.0S (mains cable)

The combination described above was a compact system small enough to sit on a desk or a window sill, yet the sound that flowed from it was the very opposite of that harsh, high-frequency-emphasised sound so characteristic of Japanese Hi-Fi — a warm, substantial, living tone. It carries a faintly retro atmosphere while drawing out the flow of the music with a deep, almost excavating grip; a deeply spiritual and thoroughly compelling sound. The Beatles in particular sounded as good as I could ever imagine, and I now find myself quietly regretting having parted with each of those components for one reason or another.

Hi-Fi became one of my hobbies thanks to the first set of separate audio components I bought for myself, in my third year of middle school. The thinking was that, in order to study classical music properly, a solid separate audio system was essential — so I read a copy of Stereo Sound magazine from cover to cover, and set off to Akihabara in search of that year’s Best Buy award winners. And yet, true to form, this turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare.

It is a road many beginners travel at least once — the plan had been a full set of the SONY ES series, which had received top critic ratings, plus Victor’s SX-500 Spirit speakers. But at the Hirose Musen shop floor, a contracted sales representative from Onkyo gave me a live comparison demonstration against the ONKYO integrated amplifier A-917 and the speakers “Liverpool D-500 II”, and I ended up buying the ONKYO units for everything except the CDP-X555ES CD player. At home, however, the sound was nothing like what I had imagined. My ears were accustomed to live instrumental sound rather than Hi-Fi, and completely at a loss, I ended up calling out the manufacturer’s service department on the grounds that the sound quality seemed wrong. (Note: the left and right channels sounded tonally different, owing to lax stereo quality control on the product — but the service technician was unable to understand what I was describing.)

Had I bought the A1E series of the same era — also made by ONKYO, but designed by a British engineer — I might have been rather happier. But as a middle-school student at the time, I had no way of knowing to look for that sort of thing. I was at an age when I had not yet learned even the basic social realities: that manufacturer sales staff working on commission were standard practice in electronics retailers of the day, and that magazine critics were, more or less, in the business of writing favourable reviews in proportion to the rebates they received from manufacturers.

In the end, I found myself torn between the direction that bubble-era domestic Hi-Fi — all surface bulk and specification — was heading, and the image I had in my mind of what music reproduction should ideally sound like, and I was on the verge of giving up entirely on the idea that any realism could be wrung from audio equipment at all. Then, quite out of the blue, a direct mail piece arrived, and it was that which finally led me to encounter a stylish, compact British audio system. On the recommendation of the shop (Goto Sogo Onkyo), the first item to arrive at my home was the British integrated amplifier, the CREEK 4240 — 6 cm tall, 23 cm deep, a small amplifier you could hold in one hand. Matt black with a fluorescent green logo floating above it: a simple, beautiful presence that conveyed a sense of traditional British restraint. I was taken aback by the sheer difference in mass and scale compared with the enormous A-917 that had until then sat squarely at the centre of the living room — but I slotted in a CD by my favourite pianist, Dang Thai Son, switched the wiring over from the A917, and cautiously coaxed some sound out of it, and then——

Out of a deep, hushed silence, a faintly warm and transparent piano sound, wrapped in resonance——yes, that very sound and reverberation of the concert hall, familiar to my ears, spread out before me. What on earth had I been listening to until now? It was truly a revelation. I still cannot forget how, that night, I spent the whole evening with shivers running down my spine at the sheer difference in tone and quality. It was a precious experience that left a deep impression on my soul: that what I had been listening to until then was not “music” but merely “sound”; that it had been about volume rather than quality; and that sound quality and music are by no means the same thing. Starting from that experience, I went on to wander from shop to shop auditioning equipment in search of an ever greater reconciliation of musicality and sound quality — but that is a story for another occasion. To be continued.

February 13, 2005
Profile of Hakopure Site Author ♪pastel_piano♪ (archived)

Name: Pastel Piano Frontier Duke. Known as Pasuteru-n. 29 years old, born in Setagaya, Tokyo, raised in Yokohama. Classification: Lumpenblogatariat artist. Easy-going cosmopolitan. An enthusiast who adores music, visual art, and literature — the arts in general. Hobbies include casual piano playing / collecting CDs of favourite artists / concerts / Hi-Fi / car audio / interior design / fashion / gadgets / tea / Italian food / reading / anime and manga / receiving transmissions from outer space…etc. Days spent pursuing aesthetic sensibility at a leisurely pace. Favourite composers are Chopin and Mozart. Classical music is the main area of expertise, though pretty much any genre is welcome. Even in genres I don’t know well, I’d be very happy if everyone could introduce me to various things d(^_-) Contact: pastel_piano♫yahoo.co.jp (please replace the musical note with @)

In the Enneagram typology, Type 4 Wing 3 — “the person who strives to be someone special.” Apparently there is a fixation on always wanting to be different from those around them. Aesthetic sensibility first, a taste for nostalgia, a fondness for small and delicate things, for obscure and unusual things, a weakness for all things Western… Anything strong and large tends to be a bit much. In real life, perhaps due to mannerisms, I come across as slightly aloof, though inwardly I seem to be rather lacking in self-confidence. Online, I find myself wanting to play the fool… Getting hurt is not something I handle well, and socialising is not exactly a strong suit. All in all, a peculiar young man of rather dramatic ups and downs, strange by any measure.