Perhaps we should stick with midfi...


I just bought a $60,000 system with big names like krell, Audio Research, Mcintosh, B&W 802 D speakers, Sony SACD, Transparent wires, etc, and I get more enjoyment from my sub $1000 I put together used with ADS speaker, NAD monitor pre amp, Onkyo Integra M-504 power amp, Toshiba SD-9200 DVD player (as CD and DVD).

I am thinking I should have stopped with my midfi system now...

Anyone else have similar sentiments, or is my ear not golden enough to hear the difference yet?
gonglee3

Showing 1 response by oblgny

Nothing wrong with sticking to “mid-fi.”

I’ve been in the wine biz for 35 years now. Sometimes the best glass of wine is just a glass of wine - and ought to be. I taste/sample thousands of wines in any given year so I have a reference point for what I’ll deem personally acceptable at any price. 

I don’t have a $60k stereo system, but it’s better than what my girlfriend has. I wouldn’t hesitate spending that or more if I could, though.

I gave her two stereos, both vintage receivers. A Pioneer SX1050 & Meadowlark Kestrels for her living room, Marantz 2250b & small Ushers for the bedroom.  The Meadowlarks are truly excellent speakers, $400 used from a fellow member. 

They both sound fine.  We have yet to NOT enjoy listening to music at her house. My home stereo is a Modwright integrated paired to a pair of Vandy 3A Signature speakers - not too shabby. 

I could easily swap the reviews of sound equipment here with wine reviews.  Much of the language used to convey the impressions is interchangeable.  That’s the fun of it.  But I think we all come to a point where we find ourselves questioning the validity of what may please us and what we may spend to get it.  Since joining this site about 5 years ago I’ve had more gear than I owned in the previous 40 years combined!

Has it been fun?  Hell, yes!  Has it been worth it?  Hell, yes!  I got into it because there was that ONE time when I discovered something that I never knew was there before - something within a very familiar tune that better equipment revealed. Voila!  Hooked!

Back in the 80’s I began collecting wine. Within a few years I had a modest assemblage of Bordeaux and Burgundy, perhaps 25 cases or so, with some California as well. When I had the disposable income I bought, when I didn’t, well, I consumed. 7Couldn’t help it. Then a nor’easter wreaked havoc in my house and what remained of my collection was rendered undrinkable.  Poof. Back to the drawing board. 

Just last week I was hanging support rods for sun shade curtains around my girlfriend’s patio when, on her cheap, yellowed,  white plastic am/fm cassette portable “Life Is A Carnival” started playing. Now that’s one busy little mother of a tune that I often find myself repeating ad infinitum on my home stereo, but there in her backyard through that ridiculously cheap, low-fi, weather-beaten p.o.s. it sounded GREAT.  It would sound great through two cans connected by a piece of string. 

It’s the music, not the gear. 

There’s hi-fi, mid-fi, low-fi, and now wifi. 

New one:  “My-fi.”