The B‑side with Jody Crane

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’s 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’t cheap: Jody has some customers who’ve 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. “A 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’s why you could be a record collector. I’ve never heard of anyone being a CD collector.”

YESTERDAY’S WINE He compares audiophiles to wine aficionados. “Connoisseurs go deeper: they taste shades, overtones, the fruit. As for audiophiles, it’s what they hear: things like imaging, voice, the sound staging.”

GREATEST HITS Jody owns close to 5,000 records, and he confesses that he doesn’t keep close tabs on how much he spends on a regular basis. “I’m not sure I’d want to know,” he laughs. His favourite record? Probably Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, of which he owns 23 copies on vinyl, each of them different.