HiFi satisfaction and/ or Musical enjoyment
Have you ever asked yourself if these are the same or different objectives?
For me I had an epiphany after over 25 years of chasing perfection that enjoying music is different than owning the best hifi gear. This happened when I grabbed an a used Pathos integrated, BS Node and Forte IV for my second system in my open floor plan.
I found myself listening much more to my 2nd system and nowhere near as much in my dedicated treated room with a reference level system costing >25x the price of my downstairs system.
After I realized my behavior I began a self assessment:
A.) Lower expectations are more easy exceeded
B.) The system is less resolving therefore average to poor recordings are still enjoyable
C.) I listened to entire tracks or albums that I wanted to listen to vs what sounded the most impressive on my reference HiFi system. Damn it is nice to listen to the music that you love.
Does it matter how you become satisfied with audio reproduction or just that you get there?
For me it just matters that I am happy and if I can get there with modestly priced gear and in this economy be subject to far less of a depreciation hit… hey that is a win win.
Below are a few other things that I learned about “my” preferences
1.) I prefer high sensitivity large speakers due to their ability to create realism (no replacement for displacement)
2.) Paper cones over any exotic materials
3.) High tech cabinet materials are great but I have no issue with properly braced MDF or plywood
4.) Wide dispersion designs (look for Klippel data on a speaker that you are interested in and see the horizontal dispersion)
5.) Soundstage scale and tone take the cake for me… throw a huge stage due to #4 above and nail tone and we will call it a day
So what did I do about this Audio crisis of mine? Sold all of the HiFi gear and grabbed some Cornwall IVs and some used gear to drive them at a fully depreciated price. Are Cornwalls perfect? Nope. Is any speaker? Nope. Screw it I am now a man free from HiFi BS and listening to music.
Nope, if the reference level system is not working for you, you need to spend MORE money, not less. Hasn’t reading 25 years of Stereophile taught you anything? |
If my system doesn't take me back, from the here an now (listening room), back to the there and then (musical event)*, with my recordings; I don't feel it's doing it's job. *provide a reasonably believable simulacrum of the recording space (ambience), SPLs, instrument sizes/voices, vocals and their locations in that space. If it does accomplish that: I'm assured of it's ability to faithfully reproduce whatever my prerecorded media contains (good or bad). The objective is ALWAYS my enjoyment of the music. Whether running a system for an event, recording it or listening to one at home; I've never been able to enjoy music, unless it's well conveyed (good equipment, well set up and adjusted). Far as the music: I've enjoyed hearing my kids and grandkids, as they've (haltingly) practiced their very first instruments, every bit as much as any Pros I've heard in concert (lost count of those). (different strokes...) |
@xp200dr - congratulations on reaching a satisfactory system and getting off the upgrade bus. For myself, I like variety to keep from getting tired of my system - tube, SS, various carts, full range and flea watt systems.
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+1 @dekay I am with you on your responses. Also @sudnh is right on money: Sounds more to me like you put together a poor sounding main audio system like many people do and you are now in lament. If anything I have found that the better your system is able to bring out the "liveliness" or make your music "more alive", the more you enjoy your music and start exploring genres that I found boring before. If the OP put together a system that probably sounds analytical or "not interesting enough", then let's they probably learned a valuable lesson to not spend money just because they have them. I have to guess that the second system costs close to $4k (used?). and 25X of that....strange! But also one more point I note is the "open floor". Music often "blooms" in such space and it is beautiful. Not sure about OP's down stair room. So if the OP would have hauled his "primary system" into the "open space" and then decided before selling, then that would have made sense. Hope they did that. But like @dekay , I am not sold on this post. |
