The Story
The man on the cover of every romance novel from 1987 to 2003 has better speakers than you.
Fabio Lanzoni — known to the world simply as Fabio — was featured in Stereophile magazine in 1996 with a home audio system that made seasoned audiophiles' jaws drop. We're not talking about a rich person's fancy stereo. We're talking about a system that cost over half a million dollars, assembled with components so rare that some of them are literally one-of-a-kind pieces.
Dweezil Zappa visited Fabio's Los Angeles home and later described it as the most amazing stereo system he'd ever heard. The Tom Green Show filmed a house tour where Green kept asking how much things cost — Fabio's answer about the cables alone was "$15,000." Dan D'Agostino, founder of Krell Industries, personally praised Fabio as knowledgeable and deeply engaged with his equipment. Gayle Sanders, co-founder of MartinLogan, called him "very down-to-earth, warm, sincere, and knowledgeable."
This isn't a vanity system. This is a man who genuinely, deeply cares about how music sounds.
The Gear
The front channels are MartinLogan Statement electrostatic speakers — towering transparent panels that reproduce sound with a clarity and speed that conventional cone speakers cannot match. At roughly $70,000 per pair when new, they were among the most expensive speakers MartinLogan ever produced.
The surround channels — yes, the rear speakers — are Infinity IRS Series V loudspeakers. These are considered one of the greatest speaker systems ever built, and Fabio's pair is one of only two ever made in a custom high-gloss black piano lacquer finish. Most people would build their entire system around a single pair of IRS V speakers. Fabio used them for the rears.
Powering everything: Krell Reference amplifiers, custom-built by Dan D'Agostino himself. Fabio's amplifiers were one-of-a-kind pieces — D'Agostino kept the only other matching pair. The system is wired throughout with Transparent Reference cables.
The system also includes reel-to-reel tape decks, an AmPro HD4600 video projector, and a Stewart custom 12-foot ElectriMask perforated screen.
Yeah, the cables.— Fabio, when Tom Green asked if his stereo cost $15,000
Why It Matters
Fabio's system matters for two reasons. First, it's objectively one of the most impressive private audio systems ever documented. The combination of MartinLogan Statements, Infinity IRS V speakers, and custom Krell amplification represents a level of audio engineering that very few systems anywhere in the world can match.
Second, it shatters assumptions. Audiophile culture can be insular, and the idea that a romance novel cover model would have deeper knowledge of high-end audio than most people in the hobby is both humbling and hilarious. Everyone who has actually met Fabio and discussed audio with him — from Dan D'Agostino to Gayle Sanders to Dweezil Zappa — reports the same thing: he's the real deal.
On the secondary market, MartinLogan Statement speakers appear rarely and trade for $10,000 to $30,000. Infinity IRS Series V speakers command $15,000 to $40,000+ per pair. Krell Reference amplifiers vary widely by model, from $3,000 to $15,000. Transparent Reference cable looms can easily reach five figures.
You probably can't build Fabio's system. But you can respect it.
