A long time ago , I saw a Ford Mustang with so much added equipment ( foillers , deflectors , etc ) that It was looking like the Batmobile ( vintage series ) I remember saying that with all the money , he spent on this Mustang , he could have bought a Corvette.
Then I tough :I have bought a good system.Then I added a power conditioner. I added Nordost power bar . I added Nordost QRT 1 and QRT 2 , many of them. I added Schumann Wave Generators , etc. I was thinking to add Nordost QKore 3.
If I would have take all that money, I could have bought the flagship integrated amplifier rather than the little brother.
My question is ; all those added gears , do they bring you system near a top level one with all the money spent ? Or is it wasted effort. Diminutive returns . My system looks more and more like the equipment in the Batcave.
@crimsoniter Almost a Montrealer . Online translator are not very good : ostie - christ are sweare words. Their origin are religious ; but used in a particular way ; they are adjectives placed before a world . Something like ´´ fu****n´´
@tomic601 I am not the one with the biggest EGO here. Ihave teached Tae Kwon Do a long time ago. Some students were particulary hard with their partners. I gave ONE warning . If it was not enough,I selected these students for a ´´ demonstration ´´ . Most of the time , they never came back . I could not be sued . It was part of the training ..... Martial Arts may be good for ´´ Child King ´´ I think there is one here.
@jad From where I come from , It is almost poetry.
No definite answer as the starting point in building a system is different, depending on background, experience, knowledge, budget. But i believe that many of us like gadgets, have some artistic potential and devotion to this hobby. Sure you could buy a better component with all the money spent on tweaking but time spent there is worthwhile and most enjoyable.
If your like the rest of us, we live and learn.. Sometimes the learning curve is a lot more expensive for some than others.. I've churned my way through a few pieces of gear.. Funny thing I never lost money. TIME yes, money no.. Come to think of it, time is money...
Is my time well spent, or my money OR BOTH? As long as I'm doing it MY WAY who cares? I feel a song coming on. :-)
@millercarbon Ecoutes moi bien mon ostie de niaiseux , tu ne viens plus sur mes discussions . Sinon l’histoire que je vais compter sur toi , mon petit christ de farfadet farfelu , tu vas t’en souvenir longtemps
If you know your house wiring is questionable, and you can ascertain background noise in your system when no signal is being put through it, a good power isolator is a perfectly logical investment. I have a medical-grade power isolator for my gear. The box is a foot square and weighs 35 pounds, because there is real pig iron in that sucker. It didn't cost 5 figures like what it appears you spent on all that Nordost kit, but hey, if that works for you, then cool. I spent $600 on that thing, and it was a worthy purchase.
In my experience, there are "auxiliary" (I use that word for lack of a better one) items that can improve your experience. But I'm definitely in the "diminishing returns" camp. I participated, years ago, in a double-blind A/B test between basic 16-gauge lamp cord and $1500/m audiophile-grade speaker wire to the same set of speakers. I was able to correctly identify which one was in use 65% (13/20) of the time, so there was a difference. But the difference wasn't all that dramatic, even before ear fatigue from listening to the same music selection over and over again set in. No one who took the test that day hit 100%, except one guy who nailed his first attempt and stopped the test after that.
I'm sure some feathers will be ruffled by this opinion, but hey, we all take our own paths through the audiophile maze, I'm not judgy about people who spend top dollar for every aspect of their system. If it makes you happy, do it.
The upside is, all those auxiliary items won't need to be replaced should you decide to swap out a component in the future. So you can kind of mark them down as "done". Right?
You have perfectly understood my point with this thread :-)
Thanks ...
I may add that if we really like our actual component then adding what is necessary, even relatively costly, made sense...
The reason is upgrading an already very good speakers for example to a better one is not easy and very costly in some case.... Then adding what is necessary for an optimal working of our actual system made sense in this context, especially for people which for example, owning a system around 10,000 bucks cannot afford one which will be really better at perhaps double or triple this price....
I really think that a point of diminishing return come very soon....I think that because i am so proud of my system cost/ S.Q. ratio that i think that improving what we have, if we love it to begins with, is less risk moneywise and more rewarding, even if, like in your case, the additions seems relatively costly...
My last argument is i know firsthand that a really well embedded system has no comparison at all between before and after the embeddings controls...What here we call the "additions"... It is the reason why i dont want to call them tweaks...Tweaks are only secondary addition, embeddings controls are fundamental additions...
Then the route of many additions is more rewarding than investing a big amount of money to beat and improve substantially what we already own and love ....Improving it at the least cost is the way...
I will choose the batmobile then ..... 😊
I prefer to build my own "hot rod" than to buy a formula one anyway...
And my goal was never improving my system till i die, but reaching a point where music is all that matter, the sound being no more an impediment....I am there now with a 500 bucks system.... But i cannot speak for others nor advise them, save for the importance to control the mechanical, electrical and especially the acoustical dimensions if they dont want to chase their tails or chase the moon....
My best to you....
«Audio journey is like a submarine, you dont know when you will surface»- Anonymus Smith
Very good question which i cannot answer...Save for myself....
My system is low cost, all my devices are homemade....
The reward is great....
I will read with interest all opinions or experiences about that balance between additions to the system/ versus upgrades...
Personaly i stick with what i have, which is relatively good, to drive it at his working peak S.Q. without upgrades....
But if i had the money perhaps i would have been different in my approach....One thing is sure i interpret now my lack of free money for my audio dream to be a luck more than a limitation....I would have discovered nothing.... It is more easy to buy than figure out a solution....
@millercarbon Ecoutes moi bien mon ostie de niaiseux , tu ne viens plus sur mes discussions . Sinon l’histoire que je vais compter sur toi , mon petit christ de farfadet farfelu , tu vas t’en souvenir longtemps
I think , I am not the only one who is easyly seduced by the pseudo magic of ´´ tweaking ´´ gears . The less you understand the specifications , the more extraordinary , they appears. Being more and more lazy , I pay with Credit Card and it is delivered at home . Room treatment implies more work . More trial and error. Unless you hire a professionnal to do it. It looks less ´´ high tech ´´ A good and simple system in a well treated room. Nothing less , nothing more . That’s it. A mullet will never be a horse . Even with the best horsehoes.But beware of the siren’s call
I don't know about all, but surely you could have taken at least some of that money, gone back to school and learned to read and write? https://ged.com
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
