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Hi Fi burnout.

Are you a victim of Hi-Fi burnout? A friend of mine who is "Into hi fi" recently called me to tell me he was selling all of his high end audio equipment! He was simply tired of keeping up with all the latest and greatest equipment trends. In his quest for the "Ultimate sound" he had upgraded several times at great expense. Sales people were only to happy to sell him what he "Needed" to "Really" improve his system. I think all told he accumulated some 150k in equipment!! What he forgot and lost sight of in his quest for the ultimate stereo, was to listen to the music!! Instead he would take pride in how great his speakers tweeter's sounded, and the the pages clipped out of various audio magazines that showed charts on his equipment and it's performance. He now owns a little Sony do it all portable stereo, and says he's happier for it because he's not so stressed about keeping up with all the new equipment. It's easy to see how this could happen. I look at my stereo equipment as a tool made for the extraction of music from vinyl or cd or tape. The music IS what matters and shall remain with us forever. In this day of hi tech accomplishments and super materials, you have to be very careful not to get sucked into the equipment junkie bottomless pit. Otherwise you could be spending some time at the Betty Ford Centre for recovering Audiophiles. What say you?
nocaster

Showing 3 responses by jax2

jax2
3,031 posts
 
A question for those singing the praises of iPod and or Tivoli radio's: What are you folks doing wasting time posting and reading stuff here...it's not exactly a forum that expounds much on that realm of the market. I'm not questioning the quality of the sound of those components, nor bang for buck, or anything like that. Instead I wonder about the motivations alone for remaining in a chat group that perpetuates, and even glorifies, the quest for an "absolute sound". It's curious that, once 'cured' that you people are hanging around here...kind of like an alchoholic hanging around a bar singing the praises of ginger ale. What's the payoff?

Marco
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Pour another one for my friend Phil! Jax is my dearly departed dog Phil. She passed away a little over a year ago. Some putz already took 'Jax', hence the suffix.

Marco
jax2
3,031 posts
 
I still maintain that hi fi equipment is only a tool, let the music move you and (should?) be you're focus.

I'd agree that the system is merely a tool. What separates it from the typical 'tool' is in the other half of your statement. Absolutely, we are all doing this to bring us closer to the music that moves us. It seems like the highest accomplishment of this though is when the 'tool' disappears altogether and you become aware only of the music as a 'presence'. Seems like with more conventional 'tools' we are more conscious of the task at hand and how well or poorly the tool aids one in accomplishing the task. Not sure what I'm saying here...just a rambling thought I suppose.

Marco
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