HiFi vs MidFi

+1 for @mikelavigne @jjss49 millercarbon , @jjss49

"Mid-fi" is meaningless? Just a put down? Give me a break.

The term "mid-fi" has a clear, useful, and non-derogatory meaning. It indicates that a piece of gear or room treatment or combination has pressed beyond the ordinary bad situation (tubby bass, over-bright, echoing, etc.) and achieved some of what audiophiles strive for. But existing accomplishments can be improved, and missing ones can be added. And flaws can be eliminated.

My Adcom 535L and RTP 400 are perfect examples of mid-fi. Decent bass, soundstage, mids, mediocre highs. They are better but still middling/mid-fi: way better than my old Yamaha receiver but leagues behind my current tube gear, R2R, etc. Plus all my room treatments.

Mid fi comprises gear and room yielding an audio experience *on the way* to hi-fi. Could there be an easier concept to grasp and accept?

And, I agree with jjss49 that the notion this can be accomplished for peanuts is delusory. Bless the person who can live in a shack and call it a castle, but...

Differences between 2 relatively good but different amplifier, even between speakers, are most of the times in most of the cases, save for extreme difference in cost and engineering in some particular case, less important generally than the change from an acoustically uncontrolled room to a controlled room designed for a specific type of speakers and system...

If you dont know that, you only are a seller....Anyway not an acoustician....

"Most of the times in most of the cases..." -- for the ignorant. But this is a forum of audiophiles who, um, haver heard about the importance of room acoustics, ok?

And yeah, I think Doug knows all that stuff about how important the room is AND he knows that better gear is the other half of the equation. So do a lot of others. 

 I debate this artificial snobbery about gear to insis on mechanical, electrical and acoustical controls, to be the way to audiophile experience for most...

Sorry. I forgot you were the champion of "the people." Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a gimp in my dungeon that needs a whipping.

@jjss49 You're right. Sometimes I forget that a bot's gonna bot.