Enjoyment

What is 'accurate'?...what is your benchmark for measuring accuracy?....how do you know if your system is more or less accurate than another system?
Judging by your question, it sounds to me that you are at a crossroads in your life and you may be about to make a big mistake.
Sell your stuff now, buy a Parrott and a new birdcage. Train the bird to say 'hifi sucks..I'm so happy'
Invest what's left wisely in drugs and alcohol.

I 2nd Rooze,back to my coma....Bob

I just looked at the systems of the persons who responded to this thread and to the fidelity thread. In most cases, there appears to be some thought and money going into the equipment selection. I would assume that the purpose of each person's system is to facilitate enjoyment of music. If a boom box lead to a higher level of enjoyment, there wouldn't even be this discussion. (Not to say that boom boxes don't have their place. I very much enjoy boom box reproduced music in the setting of my garage workshop.) To me, however, the emotional and physical experience of listening to music (e.g, Yo Yo Mah, Jennifer Warnes, Cowboy Junkies, Sarah Mclachlan, & Pat Methany to name a few) is the whole point of sitting back and listening.

My interest in hi fi was rekindled early this year when my 20 year old Infinity speakers died. I started to audition speakers, and gradually my "budget" escalated. After listening to Paradigm, Proac, B&W and other speakers over the course of four months, I finally found that I most enjoyed Totem Forests and bought a pair. (The Proacs were sensational, but my wife didn't like them.) Since I bought the Forests this summer, I've repeatedly listened to every cd I own (a few hundred) and I look forward to listening to more. Good speakers have increased my enjoyment many fold, and much of that improvement came from increased sound quality (whatever that is). Of course, I want to continue the process of improving my listening experience. Reading threads form this web site and stereo magazines have tweaked an interest in what is "quality" in music reproduction. It is apparent that many people become obsessed with reaching perfection in hi fi, but perfection is probably unattainable. I clearly enjoy some systems over others. This leads me to the question, "what is it about certain components/systems that increase enjoyment?" Is it clarity? Precision/Accuracy? Transparency? Warmth? Expectations? Novelty? (The easy answer is that it depends on individual difference amongst people, but there seems to be something that transcends individual differences.)

Anyway, this is the reason for my question about accuracy and enjoyment.

John

John, I've never sought 'accuracy' as a priority. My priorities are musicality and scale of presentation, the later has the sub category of dimensionality.

Musicality for me happens mostly in the midrange. I crave the full bodied presentation of tubes, which many would argue are inherently inaccurate. What happens at the frequency extremes is not as important to me per se, though one might argue that without high and low frequency extension, realistic scale and dimensionality may not be possible.
Many audiophiles talk about the importance of dynamics in their systems. My experience is that some people tend to combine components that create an overly dynamic sound. Perhaps they are trying to impress others with a 20 minute blast through their CD collection....almost like a showroom system.
For me, an overly dynamic presentation leads to listening fatigue; I prefer a system that is somewhat more laid back, one that I can listen to quite loud for long periods without constantly adjusting the volume.
Give me a warm and lush midrange, a large coherent soundstage with good depth and image size, and good 3-dimensionality of performers within the stage, and I’m a happy camper.
I haven’t reached those goals entirely with my system, though having made many changes over the past year or so; I’m finally getting pretty close.