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

Blackwillard, 99% of the world doesn't care about sports cars, fine wine, plasma tvs, guns, electronic games, travel abroad, or any of the other vices that afflict modern society. Obviously, money is the key element is being able to afford your passion. :Your statement about hearing very little difference between a $5k system and a $50k system is, however, over the top. One would have to be a very poor audiophile to buy a system for $50k that would not be audibly superior to an average $5k system.

I find this thread quite interesting as I think there are few audiophiles that would want to get off. I have been doing this for nearly 50 years now and am still having great fun, more thoroughly enjoying realism, and enjoying the circle of audiophile friends I have met over the years.

You get off the merry-go-round when you finally come to your senses that 99% of the world does not give a sh** about this ridiculous and outrageously expensive hobby. This is usually the point when you discover that everything in the world that really matters is in front of you, not what is at the the next corner ( ie. upgrades ).... Put on a blindfold and you will hear very little differences between a $5,000.00 system which is properly set up and complimentary, to a $50,000.00 system which simply gives you braggin' rights. And we often talk about cocaine addicts and how sick they are. True enough, but audio is just as sick. Get the best you can comfortably afford, plug it in and enjoy it. You will listen and enjoy. BUT, buy an expensive system and chances are that after you spend 10X what you should have, you'll lose interest anyway.....

In response to the question,in my house,there is no getting off,only getting on.Party on dude,cheers,Bob

I am feeling the "done for now" time is nearing since getting active speakers. I do want to try to work on acoustic treatments and possibly a projector but I'm pretty happy otherwise and everything fits in my cabinet. No more tubes, minimal cables, and very dynamic life-like sound. Fun.

downsize but don't sell out...buy a decent tube integrated, some efficient full-range floorstanding speakers, a good source, nice cabling & concentrate on finding new music. i did this over 2 yrs ago & never looked back.

"The Pod"?

I would love to spend a little time in that chair.

That is awsome.

Stearmsn,

Are you referring to Roskelly's OTT 5.1 system that I posted?

I hoped it woud get a few comments or push people to find some better pics of OTT systems to post. You know...for fun!

That is awsome.

Drubin,

Perhaps this is how you get off the Merry-Go-Round?

Getting off the Merry-Go-Round One

Getting off the Merry-Go-Round Two

Anyone care to count the number of woofers?

The bluetooth keyboard and trackball are to control everything from the listening position. The extensive acoustic treatment is placed where it is most important (behind the listener). Kudos to Mike Roskelley for a simply awesome studio setup.

Stay away from folks suggesting they left the ride :)

Dlanselm,

Nice suggestion...or, alternatively, stick to gear that is selected by Pink Floyd, Mark Knopfler, Sting and many other famous recording artists and simply assume that these people know what they are doing when it comes to music and can afford to get what they find most convincing. Follow those "in the know" and trust their judgement... after all it is impossible to listen to everything that is out there and the constant change of the Merry-go-round strongly suggests there is a lot of gear out there that leaves people underwhelmed.

Buy a pair of ATC speakers. ; 0 )

I am off the merry go round for goods, my friends. I was out of the hi-end hobby for years. Coming back last years, I had some good purchase but making a lot of unwised mistakes. I put all my faith and trust to a "guy" and here I am out of 12K and a lot of frustration. Sometime, due to limitation of gears to audition, I have to base my purchasing on recommendation of this "guy" I known for over a year...Luckily enough, I convinced the "guy" and I could trade most of my stuffs for new stuffs at extra expenses in a hope that maybe I can re-sell all my gears and get the hell out of the hobby. Everybody has to make a living but this is wrong of me and wrong of him.

I hit a peak of purchasing equipment in 1995. About that time, I had my hearing checked by a Doctor and found my hearing was dropping off. Upon hearing that (barely...), I stopped buying equipment. I still enjoyed my system, but did not want to waste any $ on something I could not hear or fully appreciate. Then in 2005 I moved. In the new house, I put the old two channel prized equipment in storage. I had two theatre systems put in professionally. These two systems are very good but not my definition of an audiophile system. After two years of listening to this system, I found myself (1) not listening to music as much, (2) not enjoying the music as I had on my audiophile system, (3) experiencing fatigue when listening to music for duration, (4) not hearing a full dynamic range, despite less than perfect hearing, and (5) not as interested in exploring, discovering new sounds, musically.

I had heard of people "feeling" music in the inaudible regions, but at this age in my life, I dismissed such comments.

One day in 2006, I broke out the stored audiophile stuff and was amazed at what I heard. I started buying equipment again, updating my equipment, bought new stuff and started enjoying music as I did previously. I now have 5 systems.

Recently, I had my hearing checked by a reputable specialist. The Doctor determined that I had average hearing for my age. The Doctor also opined that I have a trained ear. During the test I was able to hear EMIs in the test equipment that the Doctor had been trying to get rid of.

My next project will be exploring with a limited system in which I have a SACD player with variable out connected to bi-amped and bi wired speakers (in a effort to get a pure sound in this location where I only listen to CDs/SACDs.

Regarding my earlier dismissal of "feeling" music in the inaudible region, I have changed my opinion such that I do believe I can feel substantial music which I cannot hear.

If you're a music lover-there's no getting away from it-it's like eating.

How does one get off the merry-go-round? Adopt a philosophy! Realize that all you can do is listen to live music and come as close as possible - then be satisfied! This takes discipline!

It feels good to be back, I feel more rested. Bruce30, Merry-go-rounds can be fun but not when someone is standing by collecting large amounts of cash at every turn!

Why would anyone want to get off the merry-go-round? Merry-go-rounds are fun.

Sell your separates and current speakers, put most of your money into even better speakers but go with a really nice integrated amp with tone controls. Choose carefully and you really may be off the merry go round while still retaining awesome sound.

Someone wrote an article a few weeks ago discussing what compulsive consumers we in the West are. Basically he said that in the West the philosophy is, "the best is not good enough". In contrast, in China apparently the feeling is more like, "the best is good enough".

I don't know if the Western attitude is the force driving progress or the force driving us to destroy the Earth, or maybe both. But it sure does cost a lot if you are an audiophile.

How about spending all your money and max'ing out your credit cards buying music? That would have two effects, one, you would no longer have any money for upgrades, and two, you would spend so much time listening to all your new music that you wouldn't have time to haunt these forums and re-excite the itch to upgrade.

The internet is dangerous. I was pretty content with my system till I bought an MP3 player on impulse a few years ago. Believe it or not, that led to a series of events that has cost me many thousands of dollars, and I am not done yet. But, I have to admit that my system sounds great, is a joy to use (it's PC based), my music collection has grown immensely and I listen to lot more music, both at home and on the road.

The same thing happened when I discovered the light weight backpacking forums. Are we really sure these forums aren't the creation of some gigantic capitalist conspiracy?

Dpac, thank you for the 4 steps re-hab. If none of your above steps helps, then the last next step is stop replacing the dead battery of your hearing aid.

Spend more money than you have, use a finance company, make payments on your system for five years that take all your disposable income, then, for at least 5 years, no more upgrade bug :):):):) I am kidding of course, at least a little bit
Cheers!

Sure, you must be hungry...and thanks for hanging around all that time, hope you didn't get bored.

Detlof, yes some of us have been in this thread for the past 15 months. With your permission & others, I would like to leave and go home now!

Heck, wonderful to see, that this great thread is still alive. I poked my nose into it about 15 months ago and what I said then, holds still true. I'm back here now to ask a few questions on behalf of a friend and when that is done, I'll be off again to do an old wheezers version of what Joni Mitchell sang so beautifully about on her first LP..... and yes Drubin, what you read between the lines was true, but we got rid of it now. Cheers to you all. Being here, for a jiffy, rekindles such good memories.
Bless your ears!!!!! (((:

1) enjoy what you have
2) stop visiting the internet sites including audiogon (if this makes it through it will be a miracle)
3) throw away useless piles of audio rags
4) take a ~2 week break on listening to music.

I think 2 and 3 are more important than people realize.

Mrtennis, a table top radio? How about an IPOD?

it is very simple. buy a decent fm radio and listen.

you may be surprised how enjoyable it is. you may realize that you don't need a "stereo" to enjoy music.

Find a system that sounds really good for a little money. Then realize to get slightly better sound would cost a small fortune.
After all, meeting personal preference is more the goal than finding "The Absolute Sound" IMHO.

Bojack, Do you have a high quality EQ recommendation?

I toyed around with the tone controls of the MacIntosh 6500 integrated amp (on loan for audition) and found that they just mucked up the sound further.

A good EQ will largely avoid this effect, right?

For me, achieviving what one's definition of correct tonal balance is the key to long-term happines w/a system. What is the easiest, most cost-effective way to achieve that? High quality tone controls/EQs.

I find lack up funds help.

I am still searching for that workable integrated amp. So far nothing has given me *enough* satisfaction (do not expect equal performance) for me to replace my pre/pwr combo.

I did replace an Arcici S-1 Suspense Rack with a much shorter wooden rack from QS&D. It isn't a downsize in the quantity of gear in the room, but the smaller rack does make the equipment seem less imposing and more "accessible" some how. It's pretty lame to even bring this up, because I really did intend to downsize the gear, but the smaller rack has helped the room-gear proportions.

"way things look on Agon, many are taking this advice".

Scary thing, this internet. Largely uncensored flow of ideas outside the control of "the industry".

Cdc, thats very well said. I think there are alot of other excellent statements above & by the way things look on Agon, many are taking this advice.

Don't go for the golden ring. Be happy with "good enough". It doesn't matter how much you spend, no system is perfect.

It's one thing to go through many different systems to determine your preference in sound, but eventually you will have to accept less than perfection with whatever you own, IMHO.

I am grateful to be able to read these posts and totally understand where each and everyone of you is coming from. As I read through these posts at one point or another I swear I could have written them all myself. This is a hobby, we do love music but oftentimes confuse this with power/equipment/status/acceptance...etc but in the end its still just you and your music.
I went through 2 cycles of upgrades /downgrades... THis is a crazy hobby but I love it.

To answer the question:
Not that I do this, but you could have your wife take over the bank account balancing. You could soon realize how foolish this silly hobby truly is ;)

Intuitive Design Summits.

Play around and enjoy a bargain. I've just got on the merry-go-round, upgrading my Mission & Harman/Kardon kit to Spica & Adcom. Almost splurged on Martin Logans until I realized how good my new Spica TC-60s are. I'm thinking, though, that in the future it might be more fun to trade in speakers for others in the same price range or slightly above, just to experience a different set of characteristics and design decisions. I remember an article in Stereophile many years ago discussing just this approach. The reviewer said he'd rather spend his money consecutively owning several $1,000-$1,500 pairs of speakers (Spica, Thiel, Vandersteen) than splash out on something several times more expensive. His reasoning was that at about this price point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in hard, and each of the excellent speakers at this level offers its own unique set of pleasures. I figure I'll eventually top out at a used pair of Martin Logan Aeriuses for $1,200. But, I got an Adcom GFP-555, two Adcom GFA-5200s, a pair of Spica TC-60s and a Mission 700as subwoofer for a grand total of $1,000. Knowing I got 'em for beer money makes 'em sound better. I sit there thinking, "Well, the dynamics are a little compressed, and there's no top-end sparkle, but imaging is great, and for $1,000 this sounds GOOD!"

Whoaru99, how true! Price don't dictate a cable's compatability in ones system.

The first step is admitting that mega-buck cables are snake oil.

Larry,that is so true!

Larryken, Amen!

Stop reading audio mags!!! They create a desire when one does not need to exist...the reviews are so subjective they're virtually useless...know what sound lets you listen to music, not equipment and stop when it sounds good..don't get stuck on brand names or dollars spent.

I found myself more concerned with the equipment rather than enjoying the music. I was listening more to the system than the actual source material. I'm back into vinyl for now....snap, crackle, pop...lovely!

Nrchy, definately the yo yo effect! I wonder if a mad scientist working out of a laboratory qualifies as scientific?

Phd is that the 'yo-yo effect' of the audio hobby? It's a scientific fact.

Don't get a stereo that is too revealing. All you'll hear are faults in the equipment or recordings. Then upgrade is not far away.

Nrchy, I like your answer but I voluntary jumped, then I was quickly retrieved!

Mstic2000,

Good for you. It's nice to see some example of fruition.

I tend to enjoy what I have. I'm fortunate to not want to spend time comparing equipment. I do. But I'd rather have everything set to go broken in, so I can just listen.

That keeps me from swapping or upgrading too often.