What MF has brought to our hobby with his tracking angle and Analog Corner contributions is most commendable. Few reviewers could match this accomplishment for the uplifting of analog and the superior source of the vinyl medium. Yet what strikes me a bit odd is his Don Quixote like quests to right the so called wrongs voiced by folks like Arthur Salvatore or some of the ”IDIOTS” on Audiogon? Mr. Fremer what possible “capital” do you intend on gaining from wrestling with …. As the adage goes, you will only come up covered in mud. I realize it’s not in your nature but sometimes saying less is more powerful.
We all have different ears and differing desires driving what we expect out of our personal Hifi systems. Emotions run high because of the very nature of what the medium invokes in most all of us, otherwise why bother. For me this forum (AudigoN) is a place to question the very ideas of what we are trying to accomplish here. Short of personal slander I find it a healthy exercise to share in this mutual ‘reality check’ experience. Not all that comes from an open forum such as this is fruitful, so it goes.
On the subject of this thread though short of the color of the paint on these (Wilson Audio) speakers I find the colors of the speaker sound itself to clash with my decorum.
If that wasn’t enough Dave Wilson’s interview in TAS (I stand corrected) December 2004 article entitled “The Cutting Edge, Playback systems; What is most important?” IMHO leaves me not appreciating the sounds that come from the man behind the speakers either. His premise (as a speaker producer, of course) is that an ipod and Wilson Sophia loudspeakers represent in the hierarchy of a high-end system a more suitable combination than say Ivor Tiefenbrun’s contribution of a Linn Lp12 and a modest grouping of components further down the chain of reproduction. Then at a CES of the time he duped the masses in what he refers to as an experiment by leaving them to believe that they are listening to a $25,000 dollar CDP through his speakers when in reality they are listening to an ipod. All that this stunt proves to me is that a group of Wilson observers happen to be incapable of hearing the difference. That should serve him well if they also have wallets fat enough to support his livelihood and I find no offense to a person making a good living for them selves. I don’t believe for a minute though that some of us would not have ferreted out this attempt of proving whatever it was that he was trying to prove. Yet I find it to be in a whole different spirit than what Ivor and Linn were out to prove decades ago when they ran double blind comparisons of the early Lp12 against other decks. For me a Wee Dram of Scotch will not quell this affliction, in the words of Ivor Tiefenbrun, “Well, I’m just taking medication after hearing that (laughs).”
Along time ago I let my ears guide me though to assemble my first Hifi system and as I gleaned little pearls of wisdom and listening experience I found that some folks such as Ivor and his principals seemed to give me back the greatest amount of satisfaction. There were and are a lot of ideas out there about Hifi and musical reproduction and we each have to prove out what makes sense and what is just more distortion to be eradicated. This all adds up to the buffoonery that begs for a forum like AudiogoN and demands some not so pleasant discourse in relief to the spectrum of colors being projected by our audiophile rags. For me personally over the years having listened to my share of Hifi equipment I have come to find that much of the choosing of a good reproduction system is about my ears and my personal likes, yet this in no way negates a hierarchy of practical science and coexistence with the laws of basic physics. Let’s keep the “art” (and I’m not referring to Art Dudley in as much as we all need to lighten up and laugh at our selves, which he is the master of) I digress, of it in perspective to the reality of our physical realm. Maybe the flat earthers are on to something. Happy listening and Cheers!
