The Fine Art of Doing Nothing By Roger Skoff

Roxy54 ... of course I agree with you too. But Mr. Skoff also scoffs in general at using various artifacts that purport to only do good, but at no cost or adverse effect. this goes way beyond cables.

If I was in start-over mode, I would like to seriously listen to Roy Johnson's time coherent speakers. Problem is they are stone ugly to me ... look like Praying Mantises. LOL.

Most other tops brands are NOT time coherent. Some brands even reverse the polarity of drivers to achieve a modicum of phase coherency at the cross over points. I can't speak to the math and physics, but intuitively, reversing driver polarity just seems pretty wild to me. I like simple, elegant solutions to problems.

Cheers,

Bruce

Btw, IMO, Wilson speakers look like Dr. Who Dileks. LOL :)

Nice link Bruce, thank you.
I do agree that everything affects the sound. There is no perfect cable or component, not to mention the differences in how we perceive the sound with our own instruments (ears). That is why making recommendations is an exercise in futility. Not only are there too many electrical variables in each system, but there are variations into how each individual will perceive these electrical variations and interpret them sonically.

Even if we like the sound of the change at first, many times with time we find out that the sound was just different, not better. For every yin there is a yang. Noticeable improvements in one area of sound help us overlook deficiencies in other areas....until we have lived with a component for a while. Then we almost always hear it's faults and start looking for the next change.

Just relax, do nothing but listen to the music.

Indeed quantifying perceived audio pleasure is nearly impossible and unlikely to work a priori actual listening. That is- not checking to see if your mathematics do in fact predict the results intended without heavy tweaking and redesign. .

I wish I could find something that does nothing to the sound.Then I could join the "it's all about the music" crowd.
Everything I have done has done something to the sound of music "in my room".

Sometimes just moving the speakers a bit this way or that,adjusting toe-in, or where the listening seat is, can make bigger differences than a change in wires.

This is cheap, some wires aren't,but DIY is almost as cheap.

Yet,I find everything either adds or takes away from some bits of the music.

Sometimes more bass equals less inner detail.

So it's always a win-lose scenario.

You get a very clean sounding pre amp and then realize that there maybe other areas to address that were masked by the old pre-amp.

This is the slippery slope.

We look for ways to cover up deficiencies that we hear from our systems, and while doing so, add more colourations.

Interconnect as tone controls?
It's not something to sneer at, neither are tone controls, or electronic whole room tuning devices.

Room tuning devices have been very productive for me as have efforts made to clean up all electrical contacts in the system, from the panel to the gear.

In fact I would wager that before I ventured down those roads, I was mostly trying to compensate for my rooms deficiencies by an endless parade of wires and amps and speakers, looking for the right match that would bring me sonic bliss.

I came close,but there was always something that I missed or that I still didn't achieve.

I know this is off the mark,but if one does nothing,or simply plugs and plays in an untreated room and sets the speakers up where they look the best,the fine art of doing nothing will be doing something to the sound.
And it won't be good.

Mechans wrote,

"Indeed quantifying perceived audio pleasure is nearly impossible and unlikely to work a priori actual listening."

Oh, I dunno. I doubled the performance of my headphone system just last week.