A Tough Question


Was watching "Fight Club" the other night and in it Brad Pitt's character opines that you don't own your possessions, but your possessions own you. As applied to our hobby the question becomes, do you own your system, or does your system own you?

There have been times in my audiophile progression that my system has definitely had me be the short hairs, but as of late I've felt like I'm the one in control, at least most of the time. Basically, when I'm enjoying music, I'm on top. When I'm concentrating on the sound of the system, then the system has the upper hand. Unfortunately, my system generally sound quite good, but it's far from perfect and there's always something I know I could do to improve it's overall performance. As a result, I'm never sure where I stand. Do you know where you stand?
128x128onhwy61

Showing 4 responses by onhwy61

Thank y'all for your kind words of support. It's a thin line between passionate absorption in one's hobby vs. neurotic navel gazing, but I know I'm not the only who has stood in front of their electronics and wondered "oh system, why hath thou forsaken me?"
At last, someone understands. Thank you Nrchy. Based upon the type of questions usually asked on this forum (i.e., my soundstage has collapsed, which PC works best with..., what's my next step? etc.) I have to believe that the typical audiophile is owned by their system. I'm not sure anything is wrong with that, but you should at least have the awareness to admit to it.

In my ideal life I would pare everything down to James Spader's mythical "one key" existence as he explained in "Sex, Lies & Videotape". But even with one key, I'd still have a nice stereo and music collection.
How can any exchange built upon the philosophical musings expoused in "Fight Club" not be deep? Deeper still, anyone who mentions of Feng Shui is still in the "Ikea" stage of their personal development.
I don't even think his mother would claim that Brad Pitt is in Mr. Eastwood's league, but Brad is a surprisingly likeable actor. I particularly like his work in "True Romance" and "Snatch". "The Unforgiven" is a great film. I like how in his later years Mr. Eastwood populates his films with first rate actors (Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Meryl Streep, Ed Harris, Richard Harris, Angelica Huston, etc.). It shows a real confidence in his own abilities.