Is it important to long demo or own HIGH END gear to have a fair accurate view about it?

i understand you too and if i could i will buy better speakers than what i already own even if after my modifications i am more than happy ...

My low cost speakers will not beat my past Tannoy dual concentric acoustic potential embedded right ...

My point was only made to put emphasis on acoustic basic more than on price tag and better quality design ... Between the extreme and the TOP of gear there is the majority of average products neither  mediocre nor highly refined... Here acoustic knowledge make a huge difference ... Thats my point ...

I never negated the common place fact that we get also what we pay for ... Common place fact are implicit and i dont need nor to endorse them nor to repeat them , anybody know that... But few people has experienced the huge transformative power of acoustics ...( not mere few panels on a wall as most thought, thinking about acoustics)

 

I wish you a happy new year with plenty of luck and a good health for you and your family ...😊

 

@mahgister i understand your point. But with that being said. I mean highly engineered equipment that sells at higher price points because of the alleged build quality and technology etc.

@mahgister …”I dont know how people can think they had heard something in any room which is not their room , and with any complementary gear around it which is not their gear...”.

I think you learn venues the same way you can learn to separate what the specific speakers contribute, versus amp, preamp, vs, source. Experience. The more venues, live music, and equipment you experience you can start separating them out.

I never said that listening experience in showroom is not informative... It is...

But the only way to know the optimal potential of a piece of gear is in our OWN room with our OWN work and time and with our OWN gear to couple with it ... Thats my point ... I am sure you understand it but i must clarify ...

 

I will say it more drastically than Mikelavigne because people dont always understand a point if not said in an exagerated way stylistically :

High end has nothing to do with the gear price tag. and even with his design ultimately , but with the way we work the gear we have with passion for music and for learning and passion for acoustics ...

Give me anything relatively not too bad, i will make it sound minimally satisfying or more if i invest time to learn how to do it... the only thing that help a lot is often a dedicated room ... the most difficult element to buy for many of us...my room now is very small ...😊 but i can live now with it without any frustration ...

read me right , for sure design matter, it is better to have the Fritz speakers bookshelves than my low cost active speakers... But i can do with any of the two ...because of what i learned ...

 

 

I dont know how people can think they had heard something in any room which is not their room , and with any complementary gear around it which is not their gear...

They can have an "idea" about the quality of these something they heard somewhere in a showroom...

A showroom is not a dedicated room created by someone over many years of work attentive to details ...

To really hear the potential of a piece of gear we must learn how to couple it with the rest of the system and after that creating a room around it investing ourself in it and immersing ourself in all details ...

But what makes high-end high end , is the dedication to embed it righfully in a specific room ... It takes more time than purchasing an upgrade which may be often only a side grade ... Room acoustics impact so hugely on any system , it is the main upgrade, it is unbelievable not just great...Especially if you had a relatively good system synergy, the room system relation is the key to audio ...Today we must add the BACCH filters of Dr, Choueiri ...

 

 

I had been lucky enough to had been captive with low cost components...Yes now i know it was luck for me... I would have never invest so much time to understood how to embed a system if i could have bought anything ...I am lazy... 😁 but i was deseperate by how bad all i had bought, even top speakers , sound not good ...

Then i could modify my low cost gear and learn without being afraid to take the risk to destroy them ...😁 i did it but it was not enough... I realize that i must experiment with acoustics... All had begun there ...

I think for 10 years that the low cost active well reviewed speakers i bought 10 years ago were just trash...I put them on a secondary computer and just forget them ...

I sold my house and lost my dedicated room and my big speakers...

Then i had no other choice one year ago then to learn about the way to embed these low cost active speakers this time rightfully and coupled them with the right component ...I was desesperate by the lost of my room and i work hard to recreate a room ...

I did it , but was not totally satisfied...they lack bass and lack holography and the soundstage stay between the speakers etc ....

I modified the porthole completely and the wave guide of the tweeter ...I add some acoustic devices and electrical controls etc

Short story results : amazing...

There is no relation between them right out of the box and now ...ZERO comparison... Then if one here goes listening to this small active speakers in a showroom he would have no idea about this gem at cheap cost ...And he will call me name because i dare to speak here about S. Q. with such cheap gear piece ...😁

High end is a state of mind and a state of learning as said mikelavigne ...

My system dont compare with most here but i assure you it is not trash sound at all ...

I am proud not envious...😊

I am sorry for many here in truth instead of being envious ( my ego for sure dont help me 😊 here) ... Thats is my state of mind AFTER learning for years how to work on any system at any price ... it takes time much time and dedication to acoustic among other factors ...

By the way i called my audiophile experience : the minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold... I call it acoustical because all acoustic parameters pertaining to sound perception are relatively balanced and not overemphasized or lacking too much ...

Any system at any price can give satisfaction or not , it is related to the way you work it and work with it ...

 

 

«the high end is not gear, it’s a state of mind» Mikelavigne

 

 

 

Easily the best sentence and one good explaining post to go with it i ever read in audiogon...

mikelavigne say better than me what i try to say without having been able to say it simply and directly ...

I admire him for his posts almost always if not always spot on ...

merry Christmas to you ...🎄

the high end is not gear, it’s a state of mind.