How Do You Live The Audiophile Life

Lots of interesting responses. Great to read the variety of viewpoints. Thank you.

(Notably Stereobuyers in Brooklyn. Do they sell? Their site seems to be all about buying. I love a deal. Got the NAD stuff refurbished and couldn't have been happier.)

There was a bit of misunderstanding about my question. I don't have audiophile ambitions. I'm thrilled where I am. I can't believe how much the equipment has improved for the money. Those KEF Q150s were $500. The last time I went shopping, 10-12 years ago, I believe that level of sound quality would be $5,000 in a much bigger box.

I'm more interested in the mechanics of the high-end life. I want to peek behind the velvet curtain. I've got 20K to drop on an amp. Where do I go, what do I see?

Someone above mentioned Kerr and Monopulse in the same post. I never heard of either one. Granted, if I did enough reading, I would know all about them. But finding them must be like finding a rare jewel. How do I listen to them? Do companies with high prices and low turnover send their private plane to pick me up? 

Let me add one more point that may be of interest. Maybe this should be a separate discussion. I run with a fairly fast lane, yuppie-ish, New York crowd. (Albeit, one that has been slowed down by the arrival of children.) I'm the only person I know with a serious set-up. Everyone else listens to Alexa or plugs their phone into something. If these people aren't buying stereos, who is? Whither good sound?

Do you bargain? I mean, if you're spending 20K on something, you'd usually bargain. That's a car and you would certainly bargain over that price. If the sticker price of the amp is 20K, can you offer 18K? Or is that gauche beyond all imagination?

Wow! All I can say is Wow! MillerCarbon, you have a tape eraser from Radio Shack but, as you predicted, the rest was foreign to me. I can’t help but be impressed by the commitment it must have taken to build The System. Nor can I help but wonder about the man who possesses such commitment. I like the capitalization of The System throughout to distinguish it from the dross possessed by lesser mortals.

Do you have to show the dealers the loafers before they will sell to you?

What is Estoril Blue?

A response to MillerCarbon and some general observations.

I will refer to MillerCarbon as MC going forward. And he may well be the MC of this forum.

First, a soft shot before I begin to gush. MC, you seem to not to think highly of the "quality" of my original question. As I said upfront, I’m a stranger in these here parts. But aren’t there rules of etiquette? Is that kind of cheap criticism what I can expect on the Audiogon forums?

Also, judging from the response, it provoked a great deal of interest. Been the number one post all day. Maybe not such a bad question, after all.

Next, you ask me what I’m doing on this forum. Am I a spy? Am I just lurking about?

I came to this forum to find an answer to a very specific question: Can I leave my NAD integrated on all the time. I found many, many answers. Both sides were equally well-reasoned, well-presented. No winner. There were, however, a lot of posts from guys who had left their amp on for decades with no problem. There were no posts from anybody saying, "One day, it just blew up."

Besides, I can log onto Audiogon, can’t I? This is a free country, isn’t it? Oh, right. I forgot. Never mind.

Now, and perhaps most importantly, big points for the Big Lebowski quickie. Never viewed that movie threw an audiophile lens but that’s the beauty of it. Every time you watch it you learn something new. Right, Dude?

As to the Raven amp, I didn’t watch the video but I read the piece in Enjoy The Music. That article clearly drove home the care, the pride this guy took in his amps. I’m sure the video does the same.

I see things through a journalist’s eye, because I was one for many years. (Pretty much every journalist is "former" now. The internet leveled the industry like Vesuvious leveled Pompei.) Without even knowing you, I’m seeing a 5,000 word profile in the New Yorker. The audio stuff is great and something tells me that you’ve got more. The soldering gets us in, we open up from there.

But the poor New Yorker isn’t buying any freelance pieces. The new issue is like a pamphlet. No one is buying ad space. With good reason, I guess. And no one else wants a 5,000 word profile, no matter how good. The pay is pitiful these days. That used to be a $10,000 piece. Now, if I could get someone to buy it, they’d cut it down to 1,000 words and pay me $500. No thanks.

MC, there’s something interesting about you, something that stands out from every audiophile I’ve ever met/read/shared forum space with. Everybody says the same thing: It’s all about the music. Never think about the equipment. "I only care about the music. The gear means nothing to me," might as well be the audiophile’s pledge of allegiance.

That claim has always rang hollow. I’m a music-heavy guy. I listen constantly, still get in the mosh at a Nick Cave concert (a recent example), and I go years and years without buying any equipment. I still love the gear. An issue of Stereophile is pornography. I hide it under my mattress.

But literally 100 percent of the many responses I got today told me to ignore the gear. It’s all about the music. Really? What do you spend more time reading/writing about: A great new album or a great new DAC?

You didn’t say anything explicit to make me think that you’re any different, MC, but talking about the soldering the way you do—making it almost sexual—I can only imagine what you have to say about something like tube choice. You love the gear, and I’m guessing that you aren’t shy about admitting it.

And now, having pissed everyone off by raising the dread gear/music issue, the third rail of audiophilia, I will disappear. This forum is a great resource. A tremendous well of knowledge. I’m very glad that it’s here. I’m sorry if I’m taking without giving. I’ll go back to Pitchfork, AllMusic, and JazzTimes. Thank you, Audiogon.

This room has me losing the game before the opening kickoff. A lack of decorating options that forces the speakers too close together and aimed directly at the dining table or empty wall/window space, leaving all the comfortable sitting positions in front of one speaker or the other. 
Plus, the room is too small to allow for any serious rearrangement. When I got the new NAD stuff, the clarity demanded that I give the speakers a few more inches of distance from the wall behind them. A few inches! All of my books had to go to make room.

Every year I ask the kids if they’d like to move to the suburbs. Their own room, a yard, room to run! Every year they threaten to beat me up if I even think about it.

The serious audiophile would get rid of it all, put one chair at one end, the two speakers at the other (one blocking off the hallway), forming the perfect isosceles triangle, and the hell with everything else. If the 16-year old boy would have to go, it’s worth thinking about. 
The biggest joke of all is how much I pay for this place. Ah, NYC living!

Glupson, you really think Johnny Rotten will move out when he's 17 and someone less obnoxious—like Justin Bieber—will take his place? Thank you for the ray of hope. If I hear "Pretty Vacant" one more time . . .

But I'm not sure. Luke, my son, adopted his Johnny Rotten personna very easily. And, like the kid in the Exorcist, not someone who is going to give up easily.

Speaking of music—Pretty Vacant! Never gets old.