Am I right for this forum?


I’ve been an Audiogon member for some years now; I remember (fondly) "millercarbon," for example, which will mean something to some of you. And I’ve been a lover of audio equipment since high school—so, for over 50 years (I graduated in 1973). And yet...more and more, I find myself alienated from this forum, even though I do still read it regularly.

I do have what I consider a very "high-fidelity" system. I’ve written a very long account of my "audio journey," complete with many photos, but not "published" it on this site. I’m also a member of our local audio club, which includes several very well-heeled members who have systems costing more than most homes (one of them owns equipment valued at nearly a million dollars, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg: his system is housed in a separate structure purpose-built for it that cost well over a million). I play cello and guitar; my wife plays piano, my daughter piano and violin. We play those instruments in the same room occupied by my main audio system, and so I can attest to the "fidelity" of that system’s reproduction.

And yet...my system cost me less than $3,000 in total. I don’t lust after any particular "upgrade," even though I read reviews and all the many accounts of improvements in "SQ" documented in this forum.

So...am I an "audiophile," or not? Do I belong here, or not?


I’m listening right now to a wonderful bit of Mozart. I also love Tool. And Christy Moore. And Eva Cassidy. And so many others. I agree with Nietzsche: without music, life would be a mistake. But am I an audiophile? Do I belong on this forum?

Any sympathy here? Anyone else feel alienated from the "audiophile community" despite loving the miracle of audio technology?

128x128snilf

many audiophiles are techno cultist...

They idolized the gear branded name which they "tastes"...

Or they idolized what they measured despising the other group...

I trust acoustics concepts and experiments over the price tags of the gear or over the price tags of the measuring tools...

i can bought anything relatively good and relatively low price and make it sound at his peak potential which level is perhaps not the best there is but is better than most can even imagine because they had no idea what acoustics means... 😊

 i am audiophile as any acoustician is : with a relatively modest system working at his best in the best room ...

@brev ... No entrance fee, no bribes. no bouncers....well, not obvious ones on the 1st, none would seem to work on the 2nd (but no party hinting at any, either).

As for the 3rd.... getting a post of yours ’bounced off’ is the most typical, getting blocked from and off the ’Gon will require you to have to ’work at it’ and raise your own rabble to root you out.

How much you’ve spent on equipment is really up to you. If you’re one that feels ’something’ in your Camery when a lot-new mid-engine Stingray is in the next lane, it’ll help to have a thick-enough ’skin’ when names and numbers are shuttlecocked (ref. = badminton) about....

Current ’seat of the pants’ on mine? 3K$ if I really strung it out. Some bought new, most used (7~8/10), the rest my DIY, this ’n that....

Buy it all new, capable of doing what it does now? Given advances but similar....

’Bout....bottom of 10K$...given how I shop for such.

One can easily, in this audio ’endeavor’, it’d be easy to tack another ’0’ left of the comma...
...but I don’t suffer from appliance envy...Oh, for sure, I’d pref a Lotus over the ’vette...and potentially cheaper trills as well... ;)

But, here.....Run whatcha’ brought.....Music over the Means, afterall....

What’s important is what is to you. 👌👍😎

Go forth and listen.

@uncledemp ....Oh, I dunno, UncaDee *tease* I don’t think the various levels of ’density’, or for that matter, ’xtremisms’ are that much greater than the general pop.

For all the pixel space I turned to waste ’round here, no entity has yet to mention meeting outside ’wherever’ for the ’back2back/10/turn/Suvive’ routine.

If challenged I demand the choice of armament.

Surgical tubing rubber bands

Best you can do is bury the combatant with them. ;)

Cost does not matter. What makes you happy matters. I always looked for gear that would make me listen to music more. Some gear sounded nice, but for some reason I ended turning it off after couple of hours. Eventually I built system I can be listening to for hours. I don’t care if it has ’flat’ frequency response or sounds ’neutral’ or ’warm’ or resolves last possible detail. It sounds great to ME with music I prefer.

Having said that, all local high end dealers hate me since my criteria make them cringe. They told me to change music I listen to since their $$$ gear did not play it well. Seriously LMAO.