2. misc-audio
  3. 193276-2248

Do you agree with John Atkinson (and me)?

 

Point 1: In the recent thread entitled ’How much is too much to spend on a system?’, I contributed this comment: "The hi-fi shouldn’t be worth more than one’s music library." I said that half-jokingly, a wisecrack that I knew might be disagreed with.

Point 2: In the 1990’s I became a regular customer at the Tower Records Classical Music Annex store in Sherman Oaks, California. The store manager knew a LOT about Classical music, but also made no secret of his distain for audiophiles, whom he viewed as caring more about the sound quality of recordings than their musical quality.

Point 3: In the early days of The Absolute Sound magazine, the writers occasionally mocked audiophiles who had a serious high end system, but whose record collections merely consisted of a small number of "demo" discs. Those audiophiles collect records that make their systems sound good, rather than assemble a system that makes their records sound good.

 

I make the above points as a preamble to the following:

In the past few months I have fallen behind in my reading of the monthly issues of Stereophile that arrive in my mailbox. Yesterday I finally got around to reading the editorial in the January issue, written by John Atkinson (filling in for current editor Jim Austin, who is recuperating from surgery, I believe). The final two paragraphs of the editorial read as follows:

 

"Back in the day, I did an analysis of Stereophile reviewers’ systems. The common factor was that all the reviewers’ collections of LPs and CDs cost a lot more than their systems. The same is true of me, even in these days of streaming."

"Isn’t that the way it should be for all music-loving audiophiles?"

 

Well, is it?

 

bdp24

Showing 2 responses by whart

whart's avatar
whart
3,113 posts
 

I think it is a mindset. When I was building better and better systems for myself decades ago, I sought out the HP List stuff and had some secret pleasures that were not "audiophile" but I enjoyed the music, for example, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. 

I accumulated a lot of records, especially when vinyl was declared dead. I only had the time to start "curating" several rooms worth in roughly 2006. I then started to focus more on records I didn't own, started to cull, and became much more focused on the recorded performances for their own sake. I began to expand my listening to include material beyond hard rock, classical and soundtracks to embrace a variety of material with which I was unfamiliar and became very selective at the same time, seeking out good pressings, often but not always OG pressings (the definition of which can vary, depending on your perspective).

I wound up dumping approximately 12,000 LPs leading up to a move from NY to Texas, bringing approximately 5,000 or so records here and adding perhaps another 1,000 since 2016-7. 

My main system is "mature" in the sense that I have had a lot of the core components for years- circa 2006-7, but have made some incremental improvements. I'm pretty satisfied with it, and with my vintage system (which recreates what I was running in 1975 and uses some of the very same components, sympathetically restored). 

I rarely listen to the same record between listening sessions, although if I have a visitor I will often pull a few known "demo" records out to play for them.

The mindset part is where your focus is: I'm happy to say that I can enjoy the benefits of what I assembled in the way of these systems (even the vintage one) and concentrate on what I'm listening to, not for analytical purposes or to abate audio nervosa, but simply for enjoyment. I'm at a point where I may not be able to listen to all I have in this lifetime; I've slowed considerably on record purchases, largely because the market is inflated in price and grading, and a lot of the rare stuff is now exorbitant. I will on occasion buy a reissue of some rare record simply because I'm not going to pay 4 figures for an OG. 

The mindset thing was also hard for me to break away from when I was in gear acquisition/upgrade mode. Perhaps it's the flip side of " most high end audiophiles are geezers." And perhaps I'm simply more relaxed about life. 

whart's avatar
whart
3,113 posts
 

@bdp24-We should absolutely get together if you come to Austin, have a meal, do some listening, go out and hear a band or two. I don't travel as much as I used to, but a little advance notice would be good.

One further thought that is indirectly related to the topic:

I realized at some point that my systems (particularly the main system where I've spent the most time and effort, leaving money aside) allows my brain/ear/gut to take in the music without as much "processing" to "fill in the gaps." Musicians are often able to get the gist listening to a boom box because their brains are wired for music. For audiophiles, whether or not you have music training, I think it is a little more passive being in listening mode and requires some degree of attention. In that process, I've found that a good system doesn't require so much imagination--the performance can be appreciated without as much "work." I've never formally studied psychoacoustics, but I'm sure there is some "science" relating to this. 

More to discover