Is this when you have "arrived??"

Or realizing that his wife will never let him have it.

Absolutely! Good one. A wife with a permanent headache deserves respect but it would probably drive a man into depression.

Or realizing that his wife will never let him have it.
That would explain the next visit.
Is it a pull-out sofa?:)

Now, if he would have cried listening to Bork, that would have meant something.

was this person familiar with a sound of a hi-end audio system? or was it a revelation?

Sort of familiar with Best Buy mid-fi, but never heard anything like mine.

Are you able to disclose the exact track?

I would like to try and recreate this experience at home, with myself, friends and family.

It was about halfway through side one of the mfsl TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION... "ever more..."

I have several Lp's of hers that are good Coffee house music but not that album....kinda thankfully!

Understandable. I agree about the Coffee house angle.

A movie that explores similar themes is "Dear Frankie" directed by a woman ( no surprise there ) - again a tear jerker. Some men can't help responding to the damsel in distress. Others like to abuse them. Strange world.

To me, "Alone Again, Naturally" and Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the Band" are two very sad songs with the latter being one of the saddest I've heard.

To me, "Alone Again, Naturally" and Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the Band" are two very sad songs with the former being the saddest I've heard.

It was tough to feel anything for the Luka song as it was often sandwiched between such classics as Cindy Laupers "Girls just wanna have fun" and Rockwells
"I always feel like somebodys watching me"

I have several Lp's of hers that are good Coffee house music but not that album....kinda thankfully!

I find Suzanne Vega's Luka is a tear jerker...you really feel for the tough but physically weaker woman being victimized by the bigger man. Yet she has courage - "Don't ask me", she says - knowing probably that her children might suffer if she involves police/social workers...in essence a terrible trap where she endures abuse for fear of escalation of violence and to protect her children who may still love their Dad (as all kids do)...sadly it happens all the time.

The story in the news from a small Austrian town is utterly horrific and repulsive...and probably something only a man would be capable of!

Which side of Alan Parsons?

I've found myself teary during movies. I didn't particularly like the movie and I wasn't even paying attention. I was thinking about something else and the TV was just background noise. That detachment was the key. The right side of my brain independantly managed to associate with something about the movie. Don't ask me what. Couldn't even remember it.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that analytical listening isn't very emotional. Congratulations if your system was so convincing that it managed a suspension of disbelief, to borrow a literary term, that led away from the analytical. On the other hand, it could have been just a distraction.

Are you able to disclose the exact track?

I would like to try and recreate this experience at home, with myself, friends and family.

was this person familiar with a sound of a hi-end audio system? or was it a revelation?

Good one Albert. It's a nice story Gumbydammit! Whatever happened to the other "green man" around this place?

I almost cried when my daughter wanted to bake her cookies in my brand new DVD player. DVD survived that assault only because the cookie could not fit in the "oven."
My wife thought it was a tear of joy and comely laid her head on my shoulder while I almost fainted from blood pressure.

Reminds me of the (joke) story of the family that refused to buy "sexist" toys for their two small children.

They purchased a hammer for the little girl and a male doll for the boy.

Later that evening they checked on the children to see how they were adjusting to their toys.

The boy had completely disassembled the doll, and the girl had put the hammer to bed, just it's head sticking from out from the covers.

Very funny Chad-Thanks!

I got it. Thanks, Gumby.
JOHN

Abucktwoeighty,
I have a Benz ACE, which replaced an old Grado XTZ. At the end, I was running a MCZ stylus in it though.
Honestly, I heard zero difference between the XTZ and the MCZ styli.

Huge soundstage, I will still give to the Grado. But that's all I'll give it.
The Benz has it all over the Grado in every other aspect. I am sure the cart you have is very different from my aged XTZ, but regardless, this Benz just gets the music right.
After hearing 2 and 3k MC's in front of 50k and higher systems, I was worried that a retail sub 700.00 MC would not be worth it.
WOW, was I wrong.
I am just blown away by it.
This has been one of the biggest sound improvements ever in my system. This has made more of a difference than going from planar3 to LP12.

Okay, last shot at this point. I should have not even bothered, but since I am in this far...

The guy was not brought to tears by a spectral analysis report on my system. Understand? OF COURSE it was the music. The fact that the music had NEVER been heard with that level of clarity...causing him to realize the musicians were trying to convey something quite different than he thought for so long...the subtle little words he had never understood before...okay? Are we clear now?

If not, I give up.

I don't consider myself a big, bad, strong, mean man, but I don't cry. I can't say why. I would not say that I fight back tears or bottle anything up inside. I guess I just don't understand it. I have felt very, very sad, and very, very happy without tears.

I have a sister who used to say when we were young, that everyone should cry at least once a day. Maybe for some this is a way to relieve stress, I don't know. I do know that when I see someone crying over what I consider small potatoes, it perplexes me. I can certainly understand it at funerals though.

My wife does accuse me of being too detached, maybe that is a character flaw. She seems to enjoy watching movies that make her cry. I prefer ones that make me laugh.

The last time I did cry was in 1989 when my father died. I'm not really a stone face, as I tend to laugh quite a bit, though not while listening to music (smile maybe).

Maybe I will cry again one day, but I doubt it will be over entertainment, work, relationships or such. Possibly when I lose someone else who is very close to me.

Cheers,
John

All the big, bad ,strong and mean men really don't cry now do they? No to show emotion is weak and frail and one with emotional issues. Real men don't CRY DAMMIT!!!!!!!!

Some of you Srong men have not creid in your whole life accept when you were little BOYS so you see little boys are the only one's who cry. When you feel that little boy emotion you fight it back and hold that tear in because, DAMMIT Im a MAN yes I am....... and I don't want to be seen with emotional problems.

Anyway I bet a CDP with a SS amp would have made him want to leave early and not come back so your on the right track. =8^)

Gumbydammit. I think you should cut Ghosthouse some slack. He simply said that music played on even a less perfect system can still evoke joy and tears because it is music. I am sure that hearing it more clearly will more likely produce that response than if it is heard on less synergized systems. Your friend may not have issues. He just may be emotionally willing to let the music sweep him away. I can cry when Eddie Fisher sings "Oh My Papa" or the Hollies sing "He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother" or Madeleine Peyroux sings Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love." And then there is Hiliary Hahn's play of Vaughan Williams "A Lark Ascending". Tears because of the beauty.
I think you have arrived because, if it is reproduced well, that is all the better and even may be the key to releasing the full emotion... but I think like Ghosthouse that it's ultimately about the music.

I cried inside the first time I heard Parson's. I wanted that crap turned off(I have the same reaction with Beck, Bjork and Steely Dan).

I almost cried when my daughter wanted to bake her cookies in my brand new DVD player. DVD survived that assault only because the cookie could not fit in the "oven".
My wife thought it was a tear of joy and comely laid her head on my shoulder while I almost fainted from blood pressure.

Gumbydammit, which Benz MC are you using? I have the Grado Ref. Sonata and was thinking of a posible change to MC. BTW, being brought to tears while listening to any music should not be considered embarassing. It happens to me every now and again, just depends on my mood. I can listen to the same piece one day, and feel all of the emotions swell up inside, and on another day, it's just another good track.

Crying over Alan Parsons? I would gently slide further away from any guest and say in a Seinfeld voice "Good luck with all that."
Was your frined listening to "Break Down" and had to get back to the home before a community alert was posted?

I dunno if your system and room are good or not but it may very well be and thats fantastic but I suspect as others this guy has issues and maybe a bit lonely......could also be that he does not often sit and focus on just music and its message but good luck with your sleep over and please dont poste pics!

The LP12 must surely be the most classic piece of hi-fi.Ever.
Music should always move the soul. Just imagine a live performance, you may require a mop and bucket. Nothing wrong with showing a bit of emotion.

Ghosthouse, you "object"

What is it you object to?

I find it funny that there are a number of posts to the negative on this. Are you trying to suck the life out of others? Do you get angry if others feel joy?

You think a painter from the 1800's, when optometry may not have been as advanced as it is today, who finally got a pair of spectacles that allowed him to see his work clearly for the first time never shed a tear?
Someone hiking the Appalachian Trail who saw their first cloud cover dissipate to uncover a flawless valley with a herd of whitetails running below with a roaring stream in the distance, never shed a tear from the simple beauty of the moment?

You do not think a passage of music, truly heard clearly for the first time cannot produce this kind of emotion?

If you cannot understand how this can happen to someone, stop coming to this site, by a Bose Waveradio and take up beer can collecting.

'there's no crying in audio...unless ups did a number of your stuff.'

Nice move Tobias.

That sounds like a wonderful moment. Thanks for sharing. I only wish a great setup and great music (and maybe a great deal) were all it took to make me--and apparently your guest--feel as strongly. There are, for better or worse, other factors involved, as Ghosthouse says.

It has happened to me once or twice. The most embarrassing time was when I installed a budget system I had purchased for a friend and played it for the first time. She wanted to hear Joni Mitchell singing "Both Sides Now". (Gee, with that song, maybe I should have seen it coming.)

We didn't know each other as well as all that so when the tears started to flow I felt pretty awkward. The system was a Rotel RCD-855, a Harman-Kardon HK630 from the 70s, and a pair of Energy 2.1s mounted on the wall.

Sorry - and I do not wish to offend - but I have to object. I'm not sure hardware should be credited more than the music itself. Being moved to tears by beauty doesn't require a high end audio system.

Or the motor
or the dustcover
or the belt
or the suspension

Yes, from the 70's...as is my table.
Well, not the bearing.
...or the power supply
...or the trampolin
...or the interconnects
...or the...

A Grace tonearm? now that is old! From the 70's?

if it works again, trade mark it, write a book about it and have some politicians to sit down and listen to it!

LOL, no it was completely audio driven.
I told him not to worry about it, it had happened before...but only during a very involved opera piece that the individual was very familiar with, and after a few glasses of wine.

This morning, there was no mind alterations of any kind. Being embarrassed, he even said to me that he had never been brought to that level of emotion by a piece of music.

He knows the music well.

It is the anadisq 200 gram repro they did about 10 years ago or so. I had to have it, being one of my A Parson fav's.

Waiting for the next process to run, I checked my voice mail and he had left a message. In calling him back, he made me an offer.
He asked if he and his wife could have supper with us. Also, they want to stay "the night" to have me spin some records for them.

I do not like to brag about my system or my sound.
I know there are fellows reading this who have spent more than my HOUSE cost...hence I do not want to look the fool.
That being said, this Benz MC in the Grace tonearm/LP12 has taken things to a whole new level.
The detail and left to right stage that has been revealed, is in a realm I did not even think my Sequerra's could approach. I knew they were good, but not THIS good.

I have been on a 6 day listening binge, but I can safely say in that short time that I will not be looking for a new cart for quite some time. I only wish I had known this was possible. I would have skipped the last Grado I bought and gone for one of these.

Tonight, I will have a box of kleenex handy. :)

Get new, more comfortable couch
& loosen the ropes. :)

P.S
your name sounds familiar..........

Cheers

Gumby: Was this a result of playing the original or remastered "special edition" CD?

If it was the remastered one, is the 2-disc set worth the price of admission?

I've never heard this recording? Tell us more about it.

thanks,

If your system can help you to learn to appreciate music passionately like this then you have not arrived at all.

Your journey has just begun...

Congratulations. I think this is certainly good news.

What was the exact track?

My only caveat is that Alan Parsons might deserve more of the credit than your latest tweak.

It sounds to me like your friend has deep personal issues that should be addressed outside of this forum. You may have arrived "at true high end" but based on what's written above, I wouldn’t based that decision on the reaction of your friend

Cheers