Although he looks like Pat Morita, his style is more like Ip Man
, mentor of Bruce Lee. Internal strength which is all hidden and unleashed as a single power.
In Hokkien, it's called 'Dien Lai Kong'. The training of strength is from within your body. And it's lethal.
Pat has many secrets. X10Ds, secret tube types,
and other secret things which by definition I SHOULD NOT EVEN KNOW. But I know...
Truth serum works.
It's true that he knows how to match brand and things, and that is born out of his experience in audio back in the early 70s when he was playing around with ARC's SP3 and Marantz electronics. He is not an overnight sensation and I have learned a lot from him as well. He loves recordings that puts a good system to its limits because that way he will be able to tell how worthy his investments in gears has become. He once asked me, 'do you think Arnie Nudell designed the IRS for people to judge it with a solo piano recording? You've got to test it to its limits'. Hence, he has also treasured great recordings like Gerhard's The Plague, Saudades, Killer Bees, Dafos and Pig's Eye Jass. He likes to be 'wow'ed' by these recordings. I see his point. And he goes on by saying that if it's music you want, and all music alone, then why not just get a Rogers 3/5a and be done with it. Wala nang sakit ng ulo. This is what I call 'audio philosophy', and in effect leads to choosing your gears to what you are looking for and what you want you want to play instead to following a theoretical absolute sound. The way of Pat, as seen in the journey of Val and John, is the 'all-out' path (pardon the pun)
and push the design envelope to its limits, no matter what brands they are.