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Emotional rollercoaster

I think I've been slowly improving my system over years. Starting with garage sale finds and tip finds to eBay and ultimately spending serious dollars on some decent amplification and speakers. I was even going to post recently about how the journey has been worth it.
Then this afternoon I tested an old Akai AA-5200 that I'd retrieved from under my ex's house (left it there 8 or so years ago) and I connected it to some old magnat 10p speakers I picked up for about $40 ages ago.... and behold.... I was listening to about $60 of hi-fi equipment that sounded extraordinarily nice and made me wonder why I'd spent a hundred and fifty times that much "improving" my main system over the years. 
It's left me disillusioned and fragile. Is spending big bucks a sham. Where have I gone wrong. It's an emotional rollercoaster. Help.



mid-fi-crisis
barts's avatar
barts
678 posts
 
@millercarbon " Money is just the very crude indicator we use as a substitute for performance. Its a crutch. Its not really the cost that matters, its the performance. As long as everything performs at about the same level then your odds of finding magic go way up."

Chuck, couldn't agree more.

I have spent considerable time, energy and treasure building stereos.
Interestingly, I have always been satisfied with the result. You may ask "If the first one was that good why move on?". The answer is as simple as the stages of life we all go through. But my tastes and desires have not changed in 50 years as far as stereo/music are concerned.

I'm not on another upgrade path....this is it, the last rodeo, just like every other time. Time to sit back and and reap what I have sown.

Music is not the first thing, it's the only thing.  
cd318
2,636 posts
 
barts,

'I'm not on another upgrade path....this is it, the last rodeo, just like every other time. Time to sit back and and reap what I have sown.'


Yes, but what if a loudspeaker finally comes along that does most things right?

Texture, timbre, dynamics, bandwidth, dispersion, vanishingly low distortion esp through the 'presence' zone.

What if it can also pull off that all-important disappearing act too?

I guess we'd have to start saving up!

https://www.soundgym.co/blog/item?id=seven-frequency-zones-you-must-identify
glupson
7,842 posts
 

cd318,


If we ignore speakers. do those British magazines ever do group tests of other higher-end equipment? I have never paid attention to that stratification and, until you mentioned that nobody compares directly, have never noticed this difference between British and U.S.A. based magazines. I do not think that those from U.S.A. do group tests of anything ever. Interesting how they have different approaches.

twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 
The moment that you do group tests, it becomes comparative, and one ends up a winner, another the loser, and the others in between.  U.S. mags would never contemplate this as they'd immediately lose all kinds of advertising revenue, plus many manufacturers would stop sending them freebie examples (long-term loaners) to review.
Of course, given the access of the most of the population in the U.S. to easy audition of multiple competitive components--which is close to zero if you don't live in NY, Chicago or LA--then precisely this kind of review would be the most helpful and a genuine service that a magazine could provide.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
"U.S. mags would never contemplate this as they'd immediately lose all kinds of advertising revenue..."
Wouldn't the same happen to those British ones? I know nothing about differences.
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