How does one get off the merry-go-round?

Until a driver in one of my speakers developed a small tear near the surround, I had not changed anything in my system for over ten years. This was partly due to career and family pressures, so I take no credit for it; it was not some sort of Pentecost. As I have mentioned before in this forum, I stopped reading the zany, wacky audio press all together around 1991 or 1992, taking peeks at the mags on the newsstand now and again only to convince myself that the insanity had, indeed, progressed beyond the critical stage. Because of the damaged driver, I decided to replace my speakers and only then started looking again and, with this newfangled web thing, found Audiogon. I admit that there is a fun factor involved in audio. However, at its outer limits (which I find are reached much more often and much more quickly now days!) the whole thing makes me cringe, seeing as though it has lost sight of what the whole process is about in the first place: the music. If I have developed one credo over the years, it would be something like this: buy the best system you can realistically afford, now and again if you really think that a major development has improved the reproduction of music, shop carefully and buy the component, bringing and keeping your system at a good level of competence, but through it all concentrate on the music, preferably by attending live events as much as possible. If you feel like buying hardware, make a quick calculation of how many recordings you could buy with that money or which live event coming up in some city within striking distance from your home you could attend. Read about music and musicians, not equipment. Remember that any change in a system, (whether real or brought about by the placebo effect) is almost invariably thought to be an improvement on first hearing. One thing that I did learn in coming back to the audio marketplace after being out of it for such a long time is, at least insofar as speakers are concerned, but I am sure this holds true for other components, that you get a lot more for your dollar these days and that spending double or triple (or even greater multiples for that matter!) will not double or triple your enjoyment. Don't feel you are missing out by not buying the most expensive component. I can attest that there are real value leaders out there. I replaced Thiel 3.5s with Paradigm Reference Studio 100s. I wanted Thiel CS 6s or Dynaudio Contour 3.3s. Thiels are not really available locally and with the current exchange rate would be exorbitant. I auditioned the Dynaudios and, although great speakers, could not justify spending 12Ks on them when the Canadian made Paradigms were a little over 2Ks. I heard Vandersteen 5s at 18Ks locally and was mightily impressed, inter alia, with the bass. I am thinking of adding a Paradigm subwoofer to approximate the experience, it may or may not work, I'll see. There's always two ways (well at least, but let's keep things simple here) to look at things: I could feel that I am missing out on the subtle differences the costlier speakers may provide or that I am getting the best deal out there. Actually, the choice is also yours. Remember, the ego thing can pave your way to the poor house. If all else fails, you can do like I did and at the ripe old age of 47 try to learn to play an instrument. I can honestly say that I have no discernable musical talent, but that, as a result of picking-up the guitar and literally plodding forward, I have improved my appreciation of music and musicians to a very great degree. When I listen to Django Reinhardt or Charlie Christian, I don't mind the thin sound of older recordings as much and am only beginning to understand what such men have meant to music. I could multiply the examples, but I don't wish to bore anyone. By the way, now I am hooked on collecting guitars, but that's another story...

Ah... some semblance of sanity creeping in. Thank you Wehamilton. Thank you Trebleclef. No I don't see this as some great personal victory in an never ending, semi-sterile debate, but as some confirmation that music is the thing to be enjoyed. I remember someone's definition of "audiophile" as a person who upgrades his hardware until he can prove that all software is garbage. I made the point a long time back in this forum that a system should be seen as something able to reproduce a broad variety of the music a person actually wants to listen too. That one ends up with the ultimate system that is only of use with a handful of audiophile records may be the ultimate justice for those having a passion towards buying equipment and squinting to hear "differences" and "improvements", whether appreciable or "HUGE". Detlof, in keeping with the food analogy, my memory of vinyl is of solo instruments or quiet passages with the sound of bacon frying or, in the most extreme cases, popcorn popping. I can almost smell it... Which brings me to the subject of another comment I made not long ago: since music is actually air being moved in the room by some transducer, I have come to believe that the olfactory quality of that air has an effect on the perceived sound, sometimes creating "HUGE" differences. I am still in the process of assessing whether the effect is more noticeable on the equipment or the music. For now my work is limited to various run of the mill deodorizers from Wal-Mart. To ease into this endeavour, I am presently experimenting with pine scented plug-ins, sprays and solids in concert with Respighi's Pines of Rome. Other suggestions would be appreciated. Please stop short of single, double and triple blind and dead olfactory system testing for now. And to all my wine loving friends out there, I have found a way of fine tuning lesser wines by using Grand Cru Classé bottles, complete with labels. Quite astonishing, a California wine, fine tuned with a Château Pape Clément label, was more full-bodied, with a distinct woodsy quality and good blackberry and hackberry overtones. Just my contribution to a better world. Regards one and all.

Clueless, touchy, touchy on vinyl's Achilles heel are we not? Look if you enjoy it, more power to you. I am just too neurotic to enjoy a system where the recording medium is damaged every time it's played. Call me nuts, I 'spose. Seems more incontrovertible that a vinyl record starts dying the minute it is played than believing that music signals bounce inside cables though. Geez, maybe I'm not so neurotic after all!

Gunnar: is this an application of the philosophy that the only way to deal with temptation is to give in to it? As a Catholic, I strongly object to this concept.

My last post was written with a certain degree of levity in mind. Seems it didn't shine through though. People stateside (and elsewhere, I imagine) seem to forget all the good that the Catholic Church did over the years. I remember hearing not long ago on Public Radio a program where situations quite similar to those causing such problems to the Catholic Church were reported nationwide in the public school system. Two wrongs don't make one right, I readily admit, but could the propensity of the US way of doing things by awarding insane amounts in civil suits to those going after defendants with deep pockets be overcompensating some claimants and leaving others in the lurch? Seems strange to me that some think nothing of bankrupting the Church but bend over backwards to protect the billions of dollars ill gotten by the tobacco companies and reinvested in food companies as a way of protecting this loot. Well back to more important things.