How does one categorize consumer-grade versus audiophile-grade gear? Is it based on perception, professional review ratings, or price (again)? How one avoid perception or confirmation biase.
Audiophile Equipment
I learned the value of audiophile equipment early in my pursuit of the high end. I had accumulated enough gear for a system and was looking for the best possible tape deck… with Dolby C. From the popular magazines… Stereo Review, Stereo Times… the Harman Kardon T392 seemed to represent the pinnacle. So I bought one. It was OK… but such a huge step down from vinyl that I was genuinely bummed, especially since it cost something like $650… a lot of money at the time.
A few months later I was browsing a high-end audio shop and, somewhat morosely, told my story to a salesman. He just started laughing. “Those things are junk… you need a real tape deck.” He led me over to the window, where there was a seven-year-old used Nakamichi 1000… huge, with wood paneling all around it… looking more like a reel-to-reel than a cassette deck. He wanted $1,200 for it. That was an astronomical amount of money… and it was old. Then he said, “Take it home… try it.”
My first real jaw-drop moment.
It had the full depth and bass of vinyl… it was simply astonishing. It made the so-called “flagship” Harman Kardon sound like a cheap plastic transistor radio and without Dolby C. All that glossy magazine talk about bandwidth and specs… page after page of marketing… well, that’s all it was. This old, purpose-built audiophile machine performed leagues above the consumer-level product.
I was hooked.
It wasn’t my last audiophile purchase… but it was my last consumer-level purchase for decades.
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@ghdprentice I modified the Marantz 7C a bit using recommendations for upgrading given to me in a letter by Saul Marantz himself. I only used it for 5 years as my front-line preamp until I replaced it with an Audio Research SP6B preamp in 1981. The Audio Research had a far more specific sound stage with much tighter bass, but the Marantz soundstage stretched wall-to-wall, while the SP6B only went from speaker to speaker and had this "paper ships on a paper sea" image, not as holographic as the Marantz. Funny story: the Marantz paid for my moving from Northwestern University to the University of British Columbia (post-docs) because the moving truck had a leak and soaked the box the Marantz was in. Based on a repair estimate from an audio shop for rebuilding, they settled for $3000 and let me keep the preamp (!). The preamp worked fine after I replaced some connectors and a few capacitors. I later traded it in for a set of new speakers in 2003 (ATC's), so it was quite the investment return for $200 non-working in 1976!
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@mdalton Come to think of it my connection had a fantastic stereo, car, lovely GF and a lot of the trimmings. He had Mcintosh equipment and Bose 902’s hanging on chains from the tapestry laden ceiling. Yah man. |
Yeah, I finally got my Nak, 25 years ago, but it was the MB-10, a CD changer. It was a demo at a shop near me that I paid something like $400 for. It was actually a pretty good-sounding unit, but I sent it to get modded for an additional $750! I still have it in my 3rd system, and it still sounds good. The MusicBank system was pretty ingenious, so much so that McIntosh paid Nak to license it so that Mac could include it on their very expensive CD changer back then. That may have been one of the last high quality products put out by Nakamichi before they eventually imploded. |
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