Mr. Tennis sez: Just Say No and, while you're at it, Abstinence Only |
Very well said, Jmslaw. Indeed, I've had tremendous misgivings about digital room correction because I worry that it may change the nature of the pursuit too much. But I'm going forward anyway. |
Actually, I think here it would be friends of Bill J(ohnson). |
The problem is, those musicians and Europeans you speak of don't have the disease we have. If we could be content--truly content--with mid-fi systems, I think many of us would be happy to do so. |
Right on!
I could quit anytime, I just don't choose to right now. :-)
Maybe after the New York show. :-) :-) |
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Detlof, I hope that you are saying the expedition vehicle will be the last vehicle of your life. There is another way to read your last post that is, um, not so pleasant. |
"Just when I think I'm out, they keep pulling me back in." |
Please stick around, even if you have no interest in the gear. |
Wel. I have three pairs in my listening room now and it's not helping at all. In fact, it just adds to the anxiety. But if they were each permanently situated and I could just flip a switch, preferably by remote, it could work.
A non-audiophile was over the other night and we compared two pairs of speakers. One he likened to a teenage girl and the other pair he said sounded like a woman. How can you choose just one? I mean, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes... |
In the past year, I've pursued a music server solution. I loaded about one-third of my CD collection on the server and then decided to give it a rest and just enjoy. And I've discovered a couple of things about myself:
As expected, I am listening to stuff in my collection that I haven't listened to in years. It's so easy to just give something a try. And I often play the entire library on shuffle while I'm doing other things, so I'm getting re-exposed to stuff. This is very positive.
I've also discovered that I have a lot of music in my collection that I have no interest in listening to, and I can comfortably say that I never will.
In the all-vinyl days, I was more likely than not to listen to an entire album side in one sitting. With CDs and remote control, I've tended to be more selective, which has fueled a sort of ADD behavior of listening to only a few tracks, or skipping to the next if I grow impatient with a particular song. With the music server, I find this ADD pattern is exacerbated. It's like endless channel surfing. It has it's plusses, but on balance I don't like what's become of my relationship to recorded music.
I'm coming to realize that, for pure music enjoyment, my preferred relationship is the radio. I've never played a lot of tapes or CDs in the car because that's when I listen to radio; and that's how I discover new music. I prefer DJ radio, commercials and all, to what I've heard of satellite radio. I like the human connection.
Sonics aside, with Internet radio there are now plenty of good stations within my grasp. If I think about being able to choose between WWOZ, a few classical stations I've found, some college stations, and several others, I begin to wonder what else I need. So long as I could put in a CD of KOB or several dozen other staples when the mood strikes, I'm not sure I need to "own"most the stuff I have. I prefer the never-ending surprise of others' programming choices, the discovery of new stuff, and the re-discovery of old favorites.
So I'm letting this percolate for a while before doing anything rash. But the thought has occurred: sell the entire system and replace it with something better suited to listening to MP3 streams. Sell most of the music collection, too. |
What's your reasoning, Tbg? |
Because that's what Internet radio is.
This is mainly about changing the way I source music. Getting out of the gear hobby is an added bonus. |
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Rockadanny, have you ever followed those two simple rules for more than, oh, let's say two weeks? :-) |
Frank, can you say more about those "smaller and smaller details of everything?" Can you recommend a strategy for tackling them? |
Frank, To see where your power amp is at: put on some fairly driving rock where the drummer is having a good time on the cymbals fairly constantly through the song, at a very LOW level. If your system is half reasonable you should be able to hear the shimmer of those cymbals beautifully captured ( if you can't, go directly to Jail, do not pass Go, ...). You say that if the sound of the cymbals collapses when the volume goes up, the problem is with your amp. Where do you think the problem is if the shimmer is not so beautifully captured at low volume? |
I had a pair of those once. (I'm the OP.) :-) |
Great post, Sailcappy. Thanks for sharing your cautionary tale and baring your soul. I can certainly relate to just about everything in your story.
One part that really caught my attention was Lyric's refusal to bring in amp from other rooms in the store to try with your intended new speakers. If I'm going to spend $12K on a pair of speakers from a dealer, I damn well expect them to let me listen with amps from elsewhere in their store. |
You're suggesting a critical judgment of audiophiles but not of other hobbies. I doubt that's true. Obviously some audiophiles feel it's constructive and others see issues with it, such that they might frame it as being on a Merry-Go-Round. I'm sure the same is true for other hobbies, don't you think?
I've always believed that hobbies and how we engage in them are partly an outlet for, or an expression of, our neuroses: pursuit of perfection, defense of one's decisions as the best possible choice, etc etc. You see all sorts of patterns play out here constantly. I'm sure this is true for golf, racing...you name it.
My neurosis is all about creating a legacy. Since this thread I started almost 15 years ago is still going, I believe it's time to declare victory. Though I'm still not off the MGR. :-) |
