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Is this about music or equipment? Am I crazy or am I such a wise man lol.?

Dear Friends,

Few years ago I decided that I'm happy with my system.

Actually I love it.

In a few words:

I'm the owner of the first version of Martin Logan CLS speakers (panels have been changed twice) that I'm powering by VAC Renaissance amp. The source is a Dell touchscreen computer running Windows 10. The signal goes to the old Denon CD player that was modified by APL 20 years ago and that I will upgrade soon (maybe not). The power to the  the most of the system is (horror of horrors lol.) cleaned by an old Tice Powerblock.
In addition I'm using  additional Aperion Ribbon Super Tweeters for the high frequencies (ML CLS are quite soft in the high frequency department) and an old Velodyne 18" subwoofer that I'm running through Rolls SX95 filter to limit its' frequency to 32 HZ. Over 32 HZ two Martin Logan Depth subwoofers limited to +/- 45 HZ take over. The signal from DAC to the amp goes through Yamamura 6000 interconnects. I tested the system several times on different frequencies and the curve is almost flat with regards to few spikes and valleys (please pardon this non-technical description) - the only "room treatment" as you could see from my profile photo are bookshelves filled up with books I love, placed on bookshelves  behind ML panels. The custom stands for ML speakers I designed and built wit a help of cabinet maker. I'm living in an apartment.

This leads me to the point of my post. A dear friend of mine is at this moment in the phase of improving the sound of his system. His step now is to get new power cords to make his system sound better. And my question is - Is this about music or equipment?

Please see the copy of my email to him and please let me know your thoughts.

"I just did the calculation. My entire system costs me about $50,000 including the changes of tubes. This is is a price if I paid a full price. Taking into the account the discounts and the lower price for used equipment such a VAC amplifier and Yamamura interconnects it would be somewhere around $40,000 spent 20-15 years ago, so considering the inflation, nowadays it still stays around $50 k.
Because I went through 5 changes of vacuum tubes that are costly (8 main driver 300B tubes and 4 6SN7 steering tubes) that were around $2,500 per change.
Now - I have in my collection around 2500 CDs. Some of them are single CDs for the cost of $15 a CD. Operas and other collections such as complete rerecordings' of Bach organ music are between $80 - $150.(I'm not mentioning Rammstein, Dr. Dre ant French hip-hop I love depending on my mood ;-)
So let's round the average cost of CD to $25 (very low estimate).
Please multiply that by 2500 CDs and we are around $60k for CDs.
To me this makes sense - the proportion is +/- 1:1
Now please talk to your "audiophile" friends.
Are they music lovers and are they are listening to the music they are passionate about, or are they the equipment lovers and they are listening to their system?
You'll be surprised by your findings.
I'm not going to comment."

I'm certain that this discussion will be entertaining.

I'm looking forward to hear your opinions - let's have some fun guys.

Love

lucian-sf
carlos269
465 posts
 

Here is a perfect example for me that separates the music lovers from the strictly equipment lovers: Lucinda Williams recorded the song “Seeing Black” on her “Blessed” album release. When I first played and heard the “Seeing Black” on the “Blessed” release it was just another song on the record, it didn’t grab me or feel special. Fast forward a couple years later when I purchased the “Deluxe” version of the “Blessed” album, which includes her rehearsals as a second CD. Lucinda refers to the rehearsals  as the “Kitchen Tapes” as they were recorded at her kitchen table on a portable cassette tape player/recorder. The rehearsals versions as you might expect sound raw and often overload and clip the input level in the cassette tape recorder. Cutting to my point, the “Kitchen Tapes” rehearsal version of “”Seeing Black” is now one of my favorite Lucinda Williams songs warts and all, so much so that I never listen to the polished mastered version on the album. You can clearly hear the clipping on the tape, but it doesn’t matter to me as the only thing I hear is a beautiful heartfelt song every time I listen to it. Now how many audiophiles would play this low quality track with noticeable sonic artifacts and defects on their high costs systems?

Seeing Black (Kitchen Tapes)

 

jsd52756's avatar
jsd52756
504 posts
 

I think it's about all of it.  Music & the fancy stuff we have including the necessities that aren't necessary.  It's a hobby with a lot of fluff. Having a turntable setup that allows me to hear Stevie Winwood's lips part before singing a line in "When The Eagle Fly's"  give me a big grin.  Hearing Rod Stewart mess us and kick out a half of the word "look"  in the song "Every Picture Tells A Story" is pretty amazing.  Having cable lifters & fancy lighting is what my friend calls "Disco Biscuits".  Not needed at all, although I dig having it.  Same reason I read Audiogon.  Fun stuff all around.  -John

mylogic
839 posts
 

@bpoletti ”I’ve reported him with a request to ban him”

Could this be a new, “La Damnation de Faust” ?

bpoletti
1,590 posts
 

@mylogic 

I think of it a little more like an exorcism although I do like your musical reference.

 

larsman's avatar
larsman
3,146 posts
 

I reckon it's like the difference between how a song 'goes' and how the music that makes it up SOUNDS.

Anything that can reproduce music will give the you melody, the beat, the words if they're understandable, and you can even dance around to it if so inclined. That is serving one very enjoyable purpose to a great many people, no matter the SQ.

What it doesn't do is give you much of an idea of how the music/instruments/vocals actually SOUND. Better gear will serve that other very enjoyable, more visceral purpose for not as many people. 

 

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