From the Dalhousie Magazine Fall 2011
NAME Jody Crane
HOMETOWN Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia
POSITION Instrument Technician (Heat and Ventilation Controls), Facilities Management
PASSION High-end audio equipment
EARLY TRACKS Jody grew up surrounded by music, his parents always playing records by the likes of Charlie Pride, Paul Anka, Buddy Holly and Elvis.
HIGH FIDELITY Jody got his first sound system from the Sears Bargain Basement by the time he was nine.
PLANET OF SOUND Jody鈥檚 company, Brooklyn Audio, operates out of his home in Dartmouth, and he sells worldwide via a website, with customers in Australia, Tokyo and El Salvador.
MONEY High-end audio isn鈥檛 cheap: Jody has some customers who鈥檝e spent upwards of $100,000 with him over the years. As for the sound system in his own personal music room, Jody estimates its value at $75,000.
INTO THE GROOVE Left for dead in the CD age, vinyl is making a comeback. 鈥淎 vinyl record is tangible. You can hold it, pick it up, read the liner notes, play with the extra stuff in the packaging. Records are fun. That鈥檚 why you could be a record collector. I鈥檝e never heard of anyone being a CD collector.鈥�
YESTERDAY鈥橲 WINE He compares audiophiles to wine aficionados. 鈥淐onnoisseurs go deeper: they taste shades, overtones, the fruit. As for audiophiles, it鈥檚 what they hear: things like imaging, voice, the sound staging.鈥�
GREATEST HITS Jody owns close to 5,000 records, and he confesses that he doesn鈥檛 keep close tabs on how much he spends on a regular basis. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure I鈥檇 want to know,鈥� he laughs. His favourite record? Probably Pink Floyd鈥檚 Dark Side of the Moon, of which he owns 23 copies on vinyl, each of them different.