Learning to Love Maine in Winter on the Road to Perdition: The Cabin Audiophiler

Three weekends ago, I awakened in the early morning hours that are marked by the bitter cold that is common in early-January and quietly pulled on my sweatpants and slid into my sneakers sans shoelaces.

I’ve been here before. It feels different this time. Self-inflicted wounds of the worst kind.

A new phone, small baggie with some Biltong, migraine pills, toiletries, and the Siddur that I came with had to be secured in a locker.

eCoustics Podcast Editor and Producer, Mitch Anderson, and I discussed our life experience with bipolar disorder on an episode of Black Circle Radio that you can listen to here for some additional insight.

2024 was a year of tremendous loss and pain; not all of me was fixed apparently and there will never be enough apologies to everyone that I hurt.

Honesty is the only way. And I will have plenty of time alone going forward to focus on that.

“I believe that whatever you do in your life it will get back to you. If you live long enough it will. ” — Sheriff Ed Tom Bell

Northern Exposure and the Almighty ‘A’ Frame

Becoming somewhat of a nomad at this point of my life on the other side of fifty, has forced me to accept a new reality and improvise because it is my nature to rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Looking back, my parents did me a huge favour sending me to Forest Valley Day Camp in the 1970s and 1980s located in Toronto’s Bathurst Manor.

Whilst my friends attended some of Canada’s most expensive overnight camps located in Muskoka and Haliburton, Ontario, — my summer days were spent playing road hockey on a tilted concrete parking lot and swimming in the dreaded “P” pools that were unnaturally warm after hundreds of little kids did their worst.

RIP Bert Fine and thanks for all the memories.

One of my favourite parts of any day at camp was lunch in the A-frames that Bert Fine had built to accommodate so many children at one time; the camp peaked at over 900 campers before it closed down.

The A-frame had its origins in Europe and Asia, but the modern iteration became popular in the mid-20th century as a symbol of modernist design simplicity and always fascinated me as a kid.

The modern prefab park cabin has become incredibly popular in 2025 and there are a number of manufacturers like Zook Cabins that are doing a remarkable job with their innovative designs.

That innovation does not come cheap; expect to spend a minimum of $130,000 on one of these, which does not include the price of the land. The final purchase price does include shipping and installation when buying from Zook Cabins; these are finished A-Frame Park and Luna model homes that start at 400 square feet and can be expanded to between 711 and 848 feet with their ADU models.

Zook Cabins are based in Pennsylvania and having settled on Maine, Florida, and New Jersey as my future — it made sense to not only pay them a visit but also experience its A-frame and Luna cabins that are available as short term rentals before deciding on the designs that will become my homes.

Much smaller homes. With their own set of challenges when it comes to being the Editor in-Chief of a Hi-Fi and Home Theater magazine with children.

Do Not Go Gentle Into that Cold and Blustery Night

For more than a decade, my parents resided in New Hampshire and it became a thing to visit Kittery, Maine to go shopping; Dover has never been known for anything more than some lobster rolls (which were not popular with kosher parents) and its proximity to Portsmouth and the University of New Hampshire.

Having lived on the Jersey Shore for almost 15 years blocks from the blustery Atlantic Ocean and survived more than 54 Canadian, American Midwest and Delmarva winters — I was born for a place like Maine.

Upta camp? I’m already becoming a local.

The Atlantic Ocean and I have a rather testy relationship but we understand one another.

Maine winters don’t really scare me. The isolation will be a test as the plan is to live in the Bar Harbor area part of the year which will give me access to Bangor to the north, Arcadia National Park, and the Bold Coast which will allow me experience New Brunswick and Nova Scotia via car and ferry service.

My boots and collection of Maritime Shirt Jackets await.

Having experienced a rather different type of isolation in my 30s where my freedom was controlled to enable the hard work required to rebuild my mind, body and soul — this will come with a different set of challenges.

Having a lot less space will force me to consolidate what I have and use any outdoor space to learn how to properly braai meat, fish, and chicken and continue the rather intense physical exercise that has been part of my rebuild after 3 months of medication that played havoc with my metabolism and focus.

Maine Bears hockey and the summer breeze will be interesting contrasts.

So will therapy and those daily checks to make sure that I am focused on an honest life where I can fall asleep at night and know that the good person that exists is not a mirage; and it has taken a lot of reinforcement from friends to remind me that he still does.

The Florida part of this story is the final piece of the puzzle; those who have known me for 5 decades are aware of my past life in the Sunshine State, and with a parent living along the Atlantic coast — it has become a necessity to be much closer.

Mother Nature has not been kind to Florida in recent years and whilst home insurance costs have gone through the roof — that created an opportunity to plant some roots with a view in a rather unique town that has already made me feel rather welcome.

All I need is the ocean breeze and a place to have my morning cup of tea or coffee and I will be fine.

The Cabin Audiophiler

Having a lot less space (with two cabins and an apartment) will obviously change what and how I review and what my focus will be; anything larger than my existing Magnepan LRS and Q Acoustics 5040 is not happening and the decision has been made that I will be listening to products that work better in smaller spaces.

Between 711 and 848 square feet with very different layouts and acoustic challenges.

Bluetooth and wireless speakers, active loudspeakers, bookshelf speakers, network amplifiers, consoles, turntables, and desktop and personal audio will be the word of the day.

Vintage restored Thorens turntables from Vinyl Nirvana including the TD-125 MKII will be my test beds for phono cartridges, phono pre-amplifiers, and vinyl purchases.

Expect to see a convergence of Hi-Fi, movies and music, books, and the food and people that make this part of North America so interesting; I will also be visiting other cabins in Vermont, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Quebec, and the Maritimes to see the world from a different perspective and hopefully find some inner peace whilst rebuilding myself.

Not sure how welcome I’m going to be in Canada right now but we are about to find out.

What do I want you to get out of this?

Practical advice about what actually works in smaller spaces and that includes outside on the deck when you are swatting away mosquitos, and watching the meat sear on the Braai.

I already have long list of products that we are going to test from Ruark, Unison Research, Simaudio, Pantheone Audio, Gadhouse, Q Acoustics, DALI, NAD, WiiM, Bluesound, DeVore Fidelity, Naim, Focal, Audeze, Grado Labs, Meze Audio, Cambridge Audio, SVS, Marantz, Denon, Wharfedale and more…

I will also be exploring new towns, shops, and places to eat on my journey that has just begun and my goal is to connect you to all of it. This will not be a traditional Hi-Fi column and some china might get broken and egos bruised in the process. You may even get to watch me fish and cook — two things that I do rather well.

Follow my daily updates on IG @thecabinaudiophiler.

What do I want to get out of this?

A path forward.

A place where I can be the “good” person that my grandparents and parents raised me to be — and that’s not going to be clean or easy. Because life never is.

My personal focus?

People, mental health, family, Judaism, music, culture, movies, books, kindness and honesty.

Related Reading: See more articles by Ian White