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#1 |
Banned
Aug 2008
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If you've ever been in the paperback section of a supermarket, you've probably seen his face and physique gracing the cover of more than one romance novel. In fact, he has appeared on the covers of over 2,000 such books, which have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. He is the quintessential image of masculinity, setting feminine hearts aflutter in his various guises as pirate, rogue and hero.
However, Fabio is far more than a handsome face and buff body. Behind those penetrating eyes is a thoughtful, intelligent and talented man. He has co-written four romance novels that made the USA Today best-seller list, and a fifth title is due out in November. He also created a book and video called Fabio Fitness, both of which present his ideas on health, nutrition and exercise. He has appeared on virtually all the national talk shows and many television series, including Roseanne, The Howie Mandel Show, and New York News with Mary Tyler Moore. Beyond his career as a model and actor, Fabio takes a balanced approach to life. "To be a complete person," he says, "you must have three elements mind, body and spirit. People have a tendency to forget one of these, but you should work on all three to be complete. I believe this is the secret and the meaning of life." These are not just idle words to Fabio. He takes care of his body by eating well and working out every day, while regular meditation and prayer address his spiritual needs. But what about his mind? One of his primary intellectual pursuits is his passion for audio/video equipment, which began at an early age. "I've always been fascinated by mechanics and electronics," he recounts, "as well as sound and stereo systems. My first system was a turntable with a speaker in it, which I got when I was only 2 or 3 years old. Then I got an 8-track tape player [laughs]. After that, I got a more serious turntable with a preamp and power amp. From there, I continued to build my system." Today, his system includes no hint of its humble beginnings. Soon after Fabio came to this country to model for the Ford Agency in New York, he discovered the products of American audiophile manufacturers such as Martin Logan and Krell. "They opened my ears," he recalls. "Now, I only buy American audio products because of their warm, beautiful sound, which Japanese products can't match." Fabio likes these products so much, he keeps just about everything he buys, even when he upgrades (which he does often). "I'm going to have my own Martin Logan and Krell museum," he laughs. With all that gear, Fabio needed a place to enjoy it, so he bought a large, modern house with Greco-Roman columns in the hills above Los Angeles. The main living room opens onto a huge pool deck through a wall of beveled-glass doors, which reveal spectacular views of the canyons beyond. Marble floors and countertops throughout the house reflect the luxury to which he has become accustomed. The bulk of his equipment resides in the main living room. The centerpiece is a Martin Logan Statement speaker system, which consists of two massive electrostatic panels and two dynamic subwoofer towers. When Fabio first saw the Statement system, he knew he had to own it. "It became one of my biggest dreams to own a pair of Statements. Now, twelve years later, the dream has come true." Before the Statements became available, Fabio bought a pair of custom-made Infinity IRS Vs to serve the front right and left channels. Now that he has the Statements, the IRS Vs have been moved to the rear for the surround channels. The rest of the speaker complement includes a Martin Logan Logos electrostatic center-channel speaker, two Martin Logan Sequel lls serving the side channels, and two Velodyne ULD 18 powered subwoofers. Of course, such speakers require some pretty beefy amplification, and Fabio's system excels in this regard with Krell amps throughout. Over the years, he has developed a close friendship with Dan D'Agostino, chief design engineer at Krell. "Dan is a genius." Fabio declares. D'Agostino even built custom KBX crossovers for the Statements and IRS Vs. On the video side of things, Fabio has just installed an AmPro HD4600 front projector that fires onto a 12-foot-wide, custom-made Stewart ElectriMask screen. The screen descends from the ceiling and includes masking panels that change the aspect ratio from wide screen (1.85:1) to standard NTSC (4 3). In addition, it is made with a reflective material called StudioTek 130, which features micro-perforations to allow the sound from the front three speakers (which are located behind screen when it's deployed) to penetrate without sacrificing sound quality or picture brightness. This is the first front-projection screen material to receive THX certification from Lucasfilm for visual fidelity. You might expect a celebrity such as Fabio to hire professional installers, but he installed the entire audio system himself. He even assembled and positioned the Statements with no help, a job that normally takes two skilled men to accomplish. "It takes my mind away from work and business," he says. "It relaxes me. If I have a bad day, I go behind my equipment and rearrange all the cables and forget about everything." Speaking of cables, Fabio uses Transparent Audio products throughout the system. "Cables are extremely important," he opines. "I've tried many different brands over the years. Once I heard Transparent cables, I changed every cable in my system to theirs. Now the system sounds super clean. Their name says it all." Fabio is not merely a consumer of A/V gear; he also uses it to work on his own projects. "When I was a teenager in Italy, I used to stay up all night making reel-to-reel tapes of different records for radio stations to play, which got me into recording studios." This proclivity has remained with him to this day. In fact, the living room includes a complete recording studio and video-editing bay, in addition to the home theater. When manufacturers work directly with celebrities, the experience is often less than wonderful for the company representatives. However, nothing could be further from the truth in Fabio's case. As Gayle Sanders of Martin Logan recalls, "I was a little hesitant at first because I thought he would be full of himself. But I found him to be very down-to earth, warm, sincere and knowledgeable." Dan D'Agostino of Krell agrees. "He's always a real gentleman about everything, and he knows what it takes to make all this stuff work well together." D'Agostino introduced Fabio to Transparent Audio cables, which led him to contact Karen Sumner at the company. "He is a pleasure to work with," Sumner enthuses. "He's highly professional and a genuinely good human being. He's also technically astute about what his system requires." D'Agostino also arranged to get him the AmPro projector through Jim Davies, who quickly became another fan during their conversations. "It's like he's known you all his life, like you're best of friends." Marc LaVecchia of Stewart had a similar experience. "He instantly made me feel as comfortable as can be. He's also very insightful and intelligent, which is different from some celebrities I've dealt with." Fabio has made a career as "every woman's fantasy." However, it's easy to forget that such a man must have fantasies of his own. In this case, the fantasy is owning the very best audio/video equipment available and having the time to install and refine it. Being the object of female desire has allowed him to satisfy his own heart's desire and lose him self in audio/video perfection. INSTALLATION BY FABIO: MAIN SYSTEM AmPro HD4600 video projector Stewart custom 12-foot ElectriMask perforated screen Faroudja VP 400 line quadrupler Runco LJR 11 laserdisc player Pioneer Elite LD-52 laserdisc player Lexicon CP-3 surround processor Krell KIS Reference A power amps (4) Krell MDA-600S power arnps (2) Krell KSA-100S power amps (2) Krell KSA-300S power amps (2) Krell KPS 20t CD player Krell DT-10 CD player Krell KRC-HR preamp Krell Reference 64 digital processor/power supply Martin Logan Statement speaker system (front left & right) w/custom Krell KBX crossovers (2) Martin Logan Logos speaker (center) Martin Logan Sequel II speakers (sides) (2) Infinity IRS V speaker system (surrounds) w/custom Krell KBX crossovers (2) Velodyne ULD18 powered subwoofers (2) Grado HP 1000 headphones Stax SR Lambda Pro headphones (2 pair) Transparent Audio MusicLink Reference interconnects, MusicWave Reference speaker cables Transparent PowerLink power cords and power-conditioning equipment Transparent Audio video cables DINING ROOM Pioneer Elite PRO91 rear-projection TV Martin Logan Quest speakers (2) Krell KSA-200 power amp KITCHEN Mitsubishi CS-35803 direct-view TV Panasonic AG-WI multi-format VCR BEDROOM Pioneer Elite PRO107 rear-projection TV Sony KP-61XBR28 rear-projection TV Pioneer Elite CLD-97 LD player RCA DSS satellite system Mitsubishi U80 S-VHS VCR Sony SLV-R1000 S-VHS VCR Krell CD-DSP CD player Krell KRC preamp Wadia 15 Digital Decoding Computer Harman/Kardon AVP1 surround processor Martin Logan Monolith III speakers (front right & left) (2) Martin Logan Quest speakers (surround) (2) Martin Logan Logos speaker (center) Krell KMA-200 power amps (2) Krell KAS-200 power amps (2) Denon POA-6600 power amp ![]() |
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#3 | |
Moderator
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#6 |
Banned
Aug 2008
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Someone in another thread made mention about a proto-type speaker, and it reminded me of an article I read years ago about Fabio & his lust for audio gear. Apparently, the people at Martin Logan & Krell had made some “dream” equipment that was too cost prohibitive to bring to market. Fabio paid a good chunk of change to have this unique stuff. The interviewer asked him if he used the gear to impress the ladies, and he said (I’m paraphrasing here) “No, women have no appreciation for fine audio equipment – those stupid bimbo’s put their drinks on top of the speakers like they’re furniture!”
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