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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
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,266 posts
 
noble Tim....*G*=Grin, as in not a *S*mile or a *L*augh.....

It's OK....Old (age and era) previous 'webchatters' sometimes find emoji-speak time consuming....;)
That, and they've made Tribbles look slow in reproduction.....

I'm just obviously somewhat weird in this venue....not that I give a rats' arse over it....;)
roberttdid
534 posts
 
How do you know the ambience was accurate to the recording @boxer12? How many of your recordings are live miked with only 2 microphones placed head width at a typical listener position? .... Oh and that you were there for the recording?
boxer12
8,654 posts
 
Good point atdavid (robertwhatever). I wasn’t there, but the ambience is there in spades in the recordings. BTW, it took a far amount of tweaks & cable changes to finally hear it (across the same speakers & room).
cd318
2,636 posts
 
boxer12,
 
"High end audio isn't a sham. The sound I have now is something I could only dream about 20 or 30 years ago. The stage is wall to wall, deep, with ambiance accurate to the recording."

"BTW, it took a far amount of tweaks & cable changes to finally hear it (across the same speakers & room)."


Without details, your posts could be mistaken as mere shills for high-end audio, tweaking and dabbling in random cable upgrades.

It might be more helpful if you at least provided us with a list of a few of these recordings you are now able to reproduce so successfully at home.

Evaluating recordings is difficult enough already without details and specifics.

Perhaps this might help to clarify things.

http://seanolive.blogspot.com/2009/10/audios-circle-of-confusion.html?m=1
boxer12
8,654 posts
 
cd318,
To clarify, I'm not a shill but an audiophile looking to get the most out of my system.
A few (there are many) of the better recordings for ambiance:
   Wax Poetic / Istanbul
   Larkin Grimm / The Last Tree
   Starlight Mints / Built on Squares
   moe. / Wormwood

I hope this helps
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