As a child, I listened to high-end audio in its infancy through my father's system (McIntosh, Marantz, JBL, Akai, you know the stuff). Later, I went to university and played music professionally. My system was the worst, cheapest junk imaginable: a $50 SS Onkyo integrated, a no-name 3 way speaker system with screws as binding posts, the cheapest direct-drive Technics TT with a screetchy AudioTechnica needle. The sound was terrible, but it did not matter. I was more interested in the music. I invested in instruments and records. This went on for about 15 years. Now, I maintain 3 stereo systems and have 8 upgrades under my belt in the last 4 weeks. Everyday, when I come home, even before I say hello to my wife, I immediately fire up the SET monoblocks for warm up. Then I listen for 2 to 3 hours, reading an audio magazine. Then I might move the speakers or clean records or adjust a cable for awhile. Then I will check what is happening on audiogon for another 1 or 2 hours. Then I go to bed and turn on a bedside headphone/CD system that I listen to before I fall asleep. The sum result is that I practice my musical instrument less and less and listen to other musicians more and more. Edifying conclusion: good musicians need bad stereos; high-end audio is the song of the sirens. |
I think it depends on why you feel something is "wrong" - are the bills mounting uncontrollably and, yet, expenditures continue unabated? Or is it just that it doesn't seem "normal" to spend so much time and money on the pursuit since you don't know anyone else who does and feel like you should do something different or "better". For me, it comes down to how much are you enjoying music / audio - if you enjoy experimenting with wires or gear, more power to you even if it's at the expense of reading books, going to the theater or whatever other optional pursuit you might have. There's nothing about one optional past-time that makes it inherently better or worse than any other. On the other hand, if it's actually causing you more anxiety than enjoyment, stepping back for a breather and letting it re-establish itself as important could be a good thing. Personally, I don't have the time to experiment with all the possible enhancements I'd like to, but someday I may. If I could afford it and keep my wife thinking I was sane, I'd find time to experiment with lots of different speakers, at least for a while, but I don't want to spend that much money for the experience. At the end of the day, nobody should apologize for enjoying something, even if nobody else understands why, as long as it's legal, etc. -Kirk |
Keep an old reference system to compare each new piec of equipment to;
If the upgrade that you are considering is not 10 times better (better tonal balance, better resolution, better sound stage, better depth, better bass, better high end, more nautral midrange, greater dynamics, ect., don't change or upgrade (this pertains especially to the silly prices for some of the latest audio gear). |
.......enjoyed your post G13. Good Luck in law school. Craig |
I don't want to get off the merry-go-round. I've got a bad case. I think Jmslaw's above post defined the disease well-- for me too, it is a "quest". Cheers and Beers. Craig |
I did it.
But mainly out of necessity.
Like many of you guys, I am single, which affords me supreme omnipotence with respect to speaker placement.
I'll just say that my small 2 bedroom apt is totally set up around the stereo system. I had it bad. Upgrading, upgrading, upgrading. Meanwhile, I spent less and less time listening, and worse, only to 3 or 4 well recorded CDs, instead of the several hundred others I have.
I was eating at my local chinese buffet here in Charleston SC, and at the end of the meal, as is customary for Americans eating at local Chinese buffets, I opened my fortune cookie, and received the best advice of my life.
"The simplest answer is to act."
This was not a typical fortune cookie fortune. This was pure knowledge.
IF something is bothering you, address it. Don't walk around it, walk straight up to it, and slap it in the face.
I knew that my stereo habit was out of control. Plus, I knew that I didn't really enjoy the "hobby" as much as I did when I began to piece together my first high end system.
I looked at my life, where I was going (actually to law school, very, very soon), and decided that I needed to free up a little cash, plus get out of the upgrade fast lane.
I remembered hearing an inexpensive integrated amp at my local hifi boutique, and decided to take it home for a trial. (thanks, Read Bros. Stereo!!)
My thinking, reinforced by my fortune cookie, was to get rid of the frustration. I wanted a stereo system, for sure, but not one that was quite so costly and frustrating, if it was only going to be used occasionally, as the case had been lately
.
I had roughly $2k in a $5k retail amp/IC/preamp combo.
Pretty cheap CD (Planet) and speakers that I love (Nautilus 805). I decided to trim the fat from the amplification components.
SO I bought the $1k (retail) integrated amp.
Never looked back.
Sold the Preamp (no longer made CJ PV11L)
Sold the Amp (no longer cheap Audioprism Debut now RedRose model 2)
Sold the IC (no longer made Audioquest Diamondx3)
Looked at my all solid state, 2 piece stereo system, sitting there on the floor, taking up MUCH less space, producing MUCH less heat, using MUCH less power.
And I was Happy.
And you know what else??
Those poorly recorded CDs sound MUCH better.
Detail? Not as much, to be sure.
Soundstaging? not as deep, but wide, wide, wide.
Imaging? Almost as good.
Musicality? light-years ahead.
And I listen LOTS more. To Music, not Diana Krall, though she does still sound RAVISHING....
So, I still check the forums, hell, I still look at the classifieds at least 10 times a day. But I know that I ran the race, chased the grail, got as close as anyone gets, and then settled down and got on with my life.
Some of you are laughing, but I bet many of you are not.
There are jokes about the addictive nature of this hobby, but addictive it is.
How much money have you spent on drugs, legal or not, in the past year?
How much have you spent on stereo gear?
Can you say without hesitation that your $10k rig produces more happiness, and gets used more than the $2.5k rig you started out with?
Now, once I am a rich, fat old lawyer, I might be tempted to jump in again, but if I do (OK, when I do), it will be a supplement to my life, not it's main purpose.
Just Say No! to expensive stereo rigs that don't make you happy
Enjoy THE MUSIC, cliche as it may be in here, that is what it is truly about.
Joe |
I pretty much stopped listening to music from 1985 to 2000 with exception of a few music vidios, plays, the Hollywood Bowl and friends performing locally. I sold all of my gear (a tube based Ls3/5a system) and most of my vinyl in 1985 and spent my leisure time from then on reading as I was burnt out on music. The only thing that I kept was my KLH Model 21 table radio to listen to at low volume in the kitchen when I cooked (the local jazz and classical station). When I jumped back into the hobby in early 2000 I was starved for music (we have picked up 500 CD's in a little over a year's time) and as far as the gear goes finally ended up with a system composed of things that were new and interesting to me (digital source, 300B SET amplification and solid core cabling). I added the usual tweaks as well (PC's and isolation components), but found this a natural course to take, no different than replacing the tires on a new (used car) with the Michelins that I prefer or than ripping up the kitchen floor in a rented apartment and replacing it with something more to my liking and at my own expense (I have replaced our kitchen floor three times in the past 8 years:-). This system is almost completed and when I can afford to, it will replace the mini system in the spare room and then I will start all over again on another type of living room system. This is what I enjoy doing as a hobbby. As far as the Merry-Go-Round goes, I can only afford so many tickets at a time. |
jmslaw, i don't see it that way - if some amazing gnu *affordable* technology came out that provide the *perfect* reproduction of live sound (whatever that is - i've gone to some comcerts & thought it sounded better at home!), i'd be happier than a pig-in-shit! ;~) i like the *music*. drubin, don't worry - if the digital room correction works, ewe *will* be happy! :>) regards, doug s. |
Very well said, Jmslaw. Indeed, I've had tremendous misgivings about digital room correction because I worry that it may change the nature of the pursuit too much. But I'm going forward anyway. |
Is it the result or the journey?
I suggest that most of the fun in this hobby is the journey towards the "holy grail." If some amazing new technology came out tomorrow that provided the "perfect" reproduction of live sound, wouldn't most of us be disappointed that our quest was over? It is that satisfaction which results from an upgrade that keeps this hobby exciting. Yes, we spend ridiculous sums as we approach the asymptote, but it is that incremental betterment of the musical experience that makes it worthwhile. |
djlackey, yer description sounds closest to mine - i'm mostly satisfied w/my system, & generally hang on to someting for quite a while before getting the upgrade itch, & then usually upgrade one ting at a time. changing software helps - listening to lotsa different kinds of music. also, i guess my interests are spread too thin - i enjoy being out in the country, food, & someting that's easily as spendy - or more - than the audio bug: cars & motorcycles. of course, there's the wife-n-kids too... ;~) having other interests helps keep the audiophile disease under control... :>) regards, doug s. |
I would bet that the majority of posters to this site will never get off the merry-go-round. While I do not buy into the music-lover versus equipment-lover debate, there are people who simply have decided to turn their love for audio into a hobby. They know that a system can always sound better than it does, and that live music always sounds better than than the home system, so they tweak and trade up in search of the grail (which they full well know is unattainable). Still, for them it is fun, and if they choose to spend their discretionary income in this way, no one should criticize. For some people it's cars, for others it's world travel. For audiophiles, well you know. I spend more money on CDs and spend more time actually listening than anyone I know, but fortunately can resist upgrading my system for around five years at a time....a new amp here...new speakers there. Never have been much for tweaks. So while I've got the bug, it is not a severe case, I guess. But while I've got your attention...can anyone reccommend a good tube preamp with two sets of of out jacks for under $3,000?...just kidding. I 'll ask again in a year or two when I am actually ready to buy one...I can wait....I'm one of the lucky ones...or am I? :-) |
Most here may be aware that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has decided that audiophilia is an infectious disease. It manifests itself typically in males, but has been known to also affect some females. The manifestation process varies greatly, from extremely rapid infection to slow, almost unnoticable accumulation until one day you realize that having 14 amps in your closet does constitute a disease. |
If memory serves me correctly, the only way off a merry-go-round is through the loss of one's grip. Forces that cannot be seen then pull you at break-neck speeds away from the comfort of friends into the sandpits of despair, ultimately leaving you with feelings of vertigo, dizziness beyond belief.
I wish to point out that some people believe that a loss of ones grip is what landed them on the merry-go-round in the first place. But, if I may quote our great President Theodore Kennedy, who speaking before the Paris Audio Society in 1910 said, It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.
>BR> I think it was delivered to the Paris Audio Society. Anyway, it sounds like it was. |
|
The problem for me is this: I've always loved listening to music, but I never let myself buy any truly hi-end equipment until a couple of years ago.
Now I can't stop wanting to experience different types of gear. It is an addiction, and it can be as damaging as any other. As an addict, I have found I have to listen to music 2-3 hours per day, while reading an audiophile mag. Then mess with my system for an hour or two--and before collapsing into a heap--spend a couple of hours on the web looking for the latest and greatest piece of audio gear...
Ahhhhh, group therapy is good for the soul!
Partly serious :( Partly not ;?)
gb |
I kinda hit the wall with respect to gear upgrades, but am I ever having fun tweaking my systems! Tweaking is cheap, fun, and appeals to us guys who just can't leave well enough alone |
I think the gap between the best you may have at home and the sound of real music ( and if you are a true music lover, you will be intimately familiar with it) can be the mother of adiction. Its like the fable of the donkey and the carrot suspended in front of its nose.....so close...and yet so far, but you keep on running ....and the merry-go-round goes round and round. The answer to get off it is a simple as it it tough and like most things in life ( marriage for example (-; ): Resign yourself to what you've got, make the most of it and enjoy it to the fullest. |
I have a Resolution Audio CD50 and speakers I love, but my search ended (at least I think it did) with my Rowland Concentra II. I have owned nine other amps (seperates and a Plinius integrated), in the last few years. |
I guess I can whip up a new Power Cord.Throw some wire nd connectors toghther.see what happens. |
I think you have a good point here. Over the years I have tried all the approachs. Tri-amp, bi-amp, total seperates, multicables & the like.
Now I seek a sound that I can live with, I still like mono amps, but only two. One line source pre-amp, & yes even a one box cd. Simple wiring, one per speaker. I also have decided to go with a smaller reference speaker. A 150 lb one rather than 400 lbs. Oh yes, I have wheels on everything but the speakers. LOL
I will never tell you that single this and that sounds as good as all that other stuff, but things sure are much easier to live with. I just buy better quality componets, but single box ones that are easy to use & set up.
Now my focus is on the music, and just keep the equipment working properly.
Current system: Jeff Rowland Senergy II pre-amp, Halcro power amps-dm58, Audiomeca Mephisto II 24/192 CD player, Piega P10 speakers, Ensemble interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords. Now, lots of new CD's
It has taken some getting use to but I am adjusting pretty well.
Good Listening, |
Leafs; your Agon membership could be in jeopardy if you don't at least attempt an up-grade in the next two weeks. Have you gotten the "sweats" yet? |
I have not made an upgrade in over 2 months.Is this normal. |
Check this out:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/audiohell.htm
He turns many of the usual equipment comparison systems on their heads.
Seems pretty interesting, certainly worth a try. |
I hear you! I think it is really desturbing when you walk into your local dealer and hear a system that costs a few thousand dollars that is putting out this incredibly musical sound and your thinking that you have spent 10 times that with little better results.
Well, first, depending on the type of music a smaller system can sound pretty good but not on everything. Secondly, friends ask me how I can listen to a $20 radio at work when I have such a nice system at home. I like music; it is that simple. However, when I really want to listen to something that can give me chill bumps, it is not going to be on my little radio.
My advice is that maybe you have hit a wall where you additional investment just isn't bring you any additional "joy" (for lack of a better word). Maybe it is time to quit tweeking or upgrading and just enjoy what you have while you decide on a plan. Downsizing may be an option or maybe finding a new type of music that really turns you on will help. For example, I was talking to a friend who had asked me if I had ever heard of a kind of new age flamingo by Jesse Cook. I borrowed a disk and for the next few months was really energized by this incredible music.
Don't worry. I am sure we all are there at some point. Something will happen to re-energize you!
Gregg |
