Happy Scale

When my father-in-laws ancient cheap stereo broke I decided to get him a new one for Christmas. With only a $1200 budget all-in we got a changer, integrated, bookshelf speakers, speaker cables, interconnect, power cord, and Cones for everything. With some improvised speaker stands it was set up on one wall of my listening room to check it out and burn it in. 

That little rig was so much fun! It was crazy how good it was! Every night for weeks my system sat unused as it was so much fun to hear how great this little rig sounded. 

We tried some crazy stuff just for kicks. Like people ask how much should I spend on cables? Who would ever stick a $1200 interconnect or power cord into a $1200 system? I did! It was great! Awesome! Even with the $75 budget wire it sounded real good. But the same components bumped up to almost $5k all due to wire and nobody but nobody could believe how good it sounded! 

Of course it was nothing like my reference system. Not bass, not midrange, not treble, not dynamics, not in any way whatsoever. And yet because it sounded so darn good for so little money in terms of happiness it was simply off the charts.

I totally agree. It is the difference between a "stereo" and a "Magic Music Machine."

Frank

Because we who have the FC tweaks know just how awesome they are. First, the system is elevated to a level never before thought possible. Then even more amazing, it turns out to be able to go far, far higher even than that. 

Where is the limit? There does not seem to be one. Even without component upgrades, it just seems there no longer is any limit. 

What this tells me is however close we think we are to "real" the reality is the gap is so wide it can be cut in half again and again and again. Only instead of what people think, that the halves keep getting smaller, they stay the same size- or sometimes seem to get even bigger! 

One of the most common assumptions is shattered. There is no such thing as diminishing returns. Quite the opposite. The more, the better. 

The other night one tiny little inch of fo.Q tape, only barely 1/4" wide, was added to the tone arm base. The improvement in presence was palpable. Not a huge difference, but not subtle either. Obvious. One inch. This of course is in a system already elevated to levels of clarity undreamed of by normal audiophiles. You know what I'm talking about. The rest no doubt chalk this up to yet more MC know it all arrogance. But you know. You- and a select few others. 

It may be that the one inch, minus the other stuff, the system would not be anywhere near resolving enough to notice. Possible. Doubtful. Hard to say. Doesn't matter. Point is, every one of these little mods and tweaks elevates and improves every bit as much now as back when there was half as much, or even one tenth as much, in the system.

This is me doing The Happy Dance! 

We are so happy it sometimes has us laughing out loud. Seriously. People wish, dream, fantasize, and pretend, and for all that still can't get here. Not in their wildest fantasy. Not in their wettest audiophile wet dream.

Happy? Last night we put on Jackson Browne Saturate Before Using. Bought almost entirely because of a Fremer comment about the cymbals on Doctor My Eyes. Had it years now, hadn't listened to it in a while. Last night Jackson Browne was right there, guitar body, strings, space and air, you name it its there. In spades. Tracy Chapman Mountains of Things, the same thing only this one the bass is so deep and powerful it must be felt to be believed.

Happy? Delirious! https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367
Whole bunch of tweaks done since these pictures were taken. Many of them like fo.Q tape don't look like much. But the tweaks make all the difference. Remove them, just another stereo. With them, you can't touch this!