Paul McGowan’s The Audiophile’s Guide
By Roy Gregory
What are we to make of the ten, hard-back volumes that constitute the full, unabridged glory of The Audiophile’s Guide? Each (admittedly beautifully presented) book runs to over 300 pages, making for over 3000 pages in total. Even allowing for repetition of introductions, overtures and codas, that’s a LOT of text. Is this the Audio Bible we see before us? Is it the Audio Oracle of Delphi (the all-knowing source of all-knowledge – not yet another iteration of that elegant Canadian turntable)? In reality, the Gospel according to Paul might be nearer the mark – and actually indicates far more accurately what you should (and shouldn’t) expect from this ambitious publication project.
The irrepressible Paul McGowan, head man and face of PS Audio, has been a fixture in the audio industry for pretty much as long as I can remember. He’s seen it all and done a lot of it – which certainly gives him a considerable store of audio experience. Experience that he has now deposited in these ten volumes, so that you can all benefit from the lessons that he learnt the hard way. It’s a laudable enterprise – but it’s also one that needs to be qualified and understood. After all, while some knowledge is universal, you don’t take detailed arctic survival advice from a jungle explorer. It is important to appreciate that The Audiophile Guide is (inevitably) written from the perspective of Paul McGowan, PS Audio and the US market. That in no way invalidates it, but it does give you a clear idea of how it’s positioned and what it covers.
The ten volumes are divided by subject matter:
The Stereo
The Loudspeaker
Analog Audio
Digital Audio
Vinyl
The Listening Room
The Subwoofer
Headphones
Home Theatre
The Collection
However, we can break down the whole rather more than that. Volume 1: The Stereo is very much a primer. It covers the whole subject at a basic or ‘starter’ level but, most importantly, places system performance in the context of the listening room, with all its implications. Volume 10: The Collection is exactly what it says on the cover – a collection of the core elements and key parts drawn from the other volumes. It necessarily operates on a more superficial level than the complete works. In addition to the overarching coverage of these two volumes, each individual book needs to standalone, as well as being a part of the whole and that leads to a degree of repetition, with the same ground being covered across different volumes. That’s not a criticism, it’s a simple result of the Guide’s overall structure.
How does that work? Each book takes a major subject area and covers it on two distinct levels: a general/introductory level and a more in-depth treatment that covers both technology and technique. In some cases, a further book looks at a given subject in even deeper detail: so, as an example, Volume 3. Analog Audio covers the essentials of turntable set-up; Volume 5: Vinyl covers that subject in far greater detail. Buy the 10 Volume Collector’s Edition, with all ten books contained in a slip case, and you can read about record players (in increasing detail) in Volume 1, Volume 3, Volume 5 and do the selected highlights over again in Volume 10.
