A first


I have a newer system that I assembled earlier this year.  It includes the Luxman D-10X CD/SACD player, a Constellation Audio Integrated, Perlisten S7t speakers, and an older Music Hall MMF-7.1 tt with a Grade Sonata.

I had two friends over Saturday, and they love music but could not care less about sound.  They often hook up their phone to my system and play MP3 files.  Truly horrible sound, but they never cared.

I asked them to sit on the sofa and I played music, some they knew, some they did not.

The woman said it seemed like they were at a live concert.  The man said (and he is very cynical about nearly everything) that he never cared about "this audiophile thing", but he has never heard anything this great.

I doubt they will ever change what they listen on at their home, but I was so pleased that they were open enough to drop the cynicism and listen.

 

By the way, this system is in a big room, and it sounds spectacular.  

rpeluso

Yeah, I'm also a lonely audiophile banished to the basement.  That's OK.  I have it set up in the right place.  

People come over and are in shock.  I  didn't know there was so many sounds in the music.  My son wants to hear it loud. Imagine an XA25 getting pushed to the limit with Crites Cornscalas!!  Once in awhile somebody understands.  Usually me solo, wife rarely.

 

My experiences typical of all the above, very few appreciate anything about it. People will often say something like "that's really clear", on to talking about other things having nothing to do with audio.

 

Closest analogy for myself. I've often encountered very expensive home theater rooms and systems, couldn't really care less. Its like all booms, bangs, explosions, blah, blah, blah to me, and I can hardly tell the difference between video setups. I listen to my own relatively lame home theater system at low volume, disconnected subwoofe, at least seven year old tv. The whole thing is beyond me.

I have a friend from college who still has a Radio Shack receiver and speakers and is still very happy with his rig.  He also thinks I’m nuts for the amount of money I’ve spent on hifi. I’ve been telling him forever, that as long as it makes him happy, great, but I’m sure he doesn’t believe me.

@rpeluso , judging by your last post you have a lot to discover. If a system does not have an obvious optimized listening position there is something or a lot of things wrong. The better the system (I include the room in this) the more obvious is the "sweet spot" which is really a sweet Line perpendicular to the speakers. It is impossible for a stereo to image everywhere. It can sound nice everywhere but it can only image on that line. People who think they have a wide "sweet spot" usually have a very poor one due to phase and amplitude irregularities. Most of these problems can be solved but there are rooms/situations that will never perform well. 

 

mijostyn, I might have misled you.  There is a definite sweet spot, and pin-point imaging when it exists on the recording.  Best I've ever heard.  I had the speakers set up by a pro, someone trained in doing this.   They were good where I had them positioned, but definitely improved with the moves and small changed he made.  We used a song with deep bass first, got that sounding great, then focused on a simple female voice, and move the speakers until her head size went from about 8 feet to about 8 inches.  It was a revelation to me to hear that change in presentation with small changes in tow in.

 

I am more than happy with this system's performance, and have zero desire to "discover" more from it.  I'm past that phase of audiophilia, and now simply enjoying what I have, what I hear.