Emotional rollercoaster

boxer12,

Thanks for sharing, I might check them out myself after I've stopped playing the last Dylan album.

Good recording too.

Good to know cd318, I'll check that album out / Thanks

Perception versus reality is a powerful thing. On that note, this may be my favorite group of old bastards...ever! It takes a long time to develop your ear but we are all seaking "Rubicon". Could you imagine a group of Millennials having this discourse? My people...thank you for the perspective! More "must have" recordings please! What lights your fire? What makes you crank that dial when you hear that song? Peace!

@cleeds

In regards to cd318’s comments, there may be more truth to it at times than I’d like to contemplate.
As I have worked for some years in the industry, I have met successful salesman and managers of hifi stores. Their purpose was to move product, and make revenue for the store and thus themselves.

Not all actually cared particularly for the quality of the product, not all would share their actual opinion, and were rewarded financially for being helpful in letting a customer with less or little exposure to the plethora of options spend up big on attractive packaged devices that simply didn’t have the sound quality some of the less bling looking
understated devices had.

They were happy to sell pride of ownership to those who didn’t know or somehow didn’t appear to care about the sound.

I have often wondered what kind of a system could be built on a reasonably sane budget if we the consumer
could actually line up, side by side the cream of the crop, that actually perform at value driven pricing.
I do believe that many really talented craftsmen are good as designing and building audiophile equipment, however they aren’t skilled at marketing, and many great products have simply failed to capture sales in the market place.
However, they didn’t fail at excellence in the devices they crafted.

In as much as we all in here can’t possibly know which of all of the speakers, amplifiers, DACs, cables around the World would work the best to make for a system that is optimum for us - because we simply don’t have the resources to explore them all; the salesman in the stores can’t possibly know either.
There’s simply not enough time, floor space and access to everything out there.
As for me, I’m happy to be in here as opinionated as I can be, and have people boldly tell me I am dead wrong!
When people can back up with an intelligent response with reasoning, I’m so glad for challenge to my opinion and the opportunity to weigh it up and learn something more.

Due diligence takes time and experience to cultivate, especially in curating a system. One of the posters mentioned about building a system from reviews and specifications - which pulled together a system that was very good sounding to him and others. This selection of items took only a small percentage of the time to actually understand what to look for, how to make devices work together with a synergy that worked well.

I’d guess a person with good knowledge could build systems with reasonable consistency, how do the customers know who to trust?
Maybe the salesman is honest but simply doesn’t know as much as another who’s not selling, he’s in it for the love of it.
It’s not because of a lack of integrity, it could be a lack of knowledge, or just less knowledge.

I’ve made some hifi purchase mistakes, and some automotive ones and the list goes on... I’m on my second marriage - need I say more?

I don’t know what cd318’s experience actually was, but I can see there’s plenty of opportunity for misfortune in trusting
someone who either doesn’t care to know, or honestly is misinformed, and sadly will make the sale with the biggest margin.

rixthetrick,

’As I have worked for some years in the industry, I have met successful salesman and managers of hifi stores.

Their purpose was to move product, and make revenue for the store and thus themselves.’


When a vacancy arose at a local dealer’s, (specialist separates) the only thing that I recall being on the owner’s mind were sales targets, not sound quality.


’I have often wondered what kind of a system could be built on a reasonably sane budget if we the consumer
could actually line up, side by side the cream of the crop, that actually perform at value driven pricing.’


This was not possible in the UK as companies such as Linn simply would not allow dealers to stock products from their immediate rivals. Who knows what happens nowadays? As far as I’m concerned, despite its lack of high end speakers, the nationwide chain Richer Sounds offers great sales service today.


As you can imagine UK audio magazines were bewildering to a newcomer back in the mid 80s, but somehow I stumbled onto one that made things a lot clearer.

Enter Hi-Fi Review. Published and written by a certain Chris Frankland it became my favourite for its forthright and opinionated views.

It’s basic premise was that the only products worth buying were those made either by Linn (turntable/arms/cartridges and speakers) and Naim (amps).

Occasionally a different manufacturer might get a look in, apart from Rega it’s hard to recall many. Maybe Epos, Kuzma, Inca Tech, and perhaps some Audio Technica higher end cartridges.

This simplified view of the audio ladder was shared by many dealers, one of whom was Derek Whittington. He ran a lovely civilised shop called (I think) Sound Advice in Loughborough.

It was a fair trek but he stocked Linn, Naim and Rega. Some of those demos in his concrete floored, bare brick-walled demo room have remained the most memorable.

Hi-Fi Review bit the dust a few years later (as did sadly Sound Advice) and perhaps as a direct consequence I managed to escape the Linn / Naim eco-system. More on the Chris Frankland and his Flat Response /Hi-Fi Review shenanigans here:

http://thetomtomclub.ning.com/m/blogpost?id=6506457%3ABlogPost%3A9465


With the development of the internet age I’m not sure whether published magazines domestic audio magazines have any useful role other than maybe fictional light reading.

So what’s different today?

Well, for one there’s far more trading in used equipment now, and there’s far more information, often contradictory, available online. Whichever way you look at it, the consumer is far better informed today.

Anyway, that was my experience, and as a consequence I’m all for sharing experiences, good or bad.

I’m still wondering how the OP (mid-fi-crisis) is now feeling. Has he come to terms with his disturbing realisation?

Let’s hope so.

We are human beings always looking at what the othe rguy has.At times it depends on moneh.But there is alot of help here and on you tube.Which other than seeing it in person helps greatly.You see it working and playing most ofthe time.I have always tried to upgrade.Sometimes buying something i have regreted .Usally something used .lol.But thats me trying to spend  less.I have way to much audio equipment.