Should people who can't solder, build or test their speakers be considered audiophiles?



  So, if you bought that Porsche but can only drive it and not fix it do you really understand and appreciate what it is? I say no. The guy who can get in there and make it better, faster or prettier with his own hands has a superior ability to understand the final result and can appreciate what he has from a knowledge base and not just a look at what I bought base. I mean sure you can appreciate that car when you drive it but if all you do is take it back to the dealership for maintenance and repairs you just like the shape with no real understanding of what makes it the mechanical marvel it is.
  I find that is true with the audio world too. There are those who spend a ton of money on things and then spend a lot of time seeking peer approval and assurance their purchase was the right one and that people are suitably impressed. Of course those who are most impressed are those who also do not design, build, test or experiment.

  I propose that an audiophile must have more than a superficial knowledge about what he listens to and must technically understand what he is listening to. He knows why things work and what his end goal is and often makes his own components to achieve this. He knows how to use design software to make speakers that you can't buy and analyze the room they are in and set up the amplification with digital crossovers and DSP. He can take a plain jane system and tweak it and balance it to best suit the room it is in. He can make it sound far better than the guy who constantly buys new components based on his superficial knowledge who does not understand why what he keeps buying in vain never quite gets there.

  A true audiophile can define his goal and with hands on ability achieve what a mere buyer of shiny parts never will. So out comes the Diana Krall music and the buyer says see how good my system is? The audiophile says I have taken a great voice and played it through a system where all was matched and tweaked or even purposely built and sits right down next to Diana as she sings. The buyer wants prestigious signature sound and the audiophile will work to achieve an end result that is faithful true to life audio as though you were in the room with Diana as she sings. The true audiophile wants true to life and not tonally pure according to someones artificial standard.

 So are you a buyer or an audiophile and what do you think should make a person an audiophile?
mahlman

Showing 13 responses by asvjerry

*S* Well 'stated', MC....+1

Jack of all trades, master of some....but no all-encompassing knowledge that allowed me to have intials follow my name.  Been up to my elbows in many things (except PG testing a cow....one has to have limits...)....

Am I an audiophile?  I work at it.  An audio enthusiast?  Better...*S*

I enjoy the many forms I listen to.  I enjoy 'tweaking' (in my own fashion) what I listen to it with.  I challenge myself with my DIY Walsh project.

Between that and the 'day2day' and half of a FT business....

I've enough ongoing.

Oh, I solder too.  Heat clips, desoldering, long-nose pliers, shrink tubes...
Do helluva 'tribal burn scars' if anyone's interested....;)
@hifihandyman...I suspect not....K would be all over us like stink on....

'nuff said....;)
"Top Gear"; audiophile version, amateur division....brought to by your friends at Furutech.....*click*

....we've sawn this $20,000 speaker in half and will now restore it to Perfect Working Condition with Miracle Mystery Mending Tape!*click*

...absolutely no experience or special skills needed!  You too can build in one weekend a fully functional flying sau*click*


@tomic601, a Lotus would be my ride if I hit on a Lotto tix.....;)

I've always prefered 'nimble' vehicles,  and P/W ratios is what makes a sportbike leaves most watching you disappear...

....and why the Elise was in the top 5 of TG's track times....above a Ferrari *tsk*L*

Enjoy the test drive. 👍

BTW, some fella got the NY>CA non-stop down to 25 hrs. recently...
Solo.  In a rental car....'heavily modified'....

I'd loved to be there when he turned the car in...*LOL*  He'd installed tanks totalling 150 g. of fuel....gravity fed....trunk, back seat and passenger seat removed....

'Extremists'.....;)
"It's in the water....that's why it's yellow!"

That, and snow where the huskys' go....

Face it.  Every day, you drink recycled urine that has also 'transported' poop, noxious chemicals, used dish water....and that which you'd rather not think about.

'Purity'...is relative.

'Gay'....is subject to description...and use.

'Audiophile'....subject to 'whom' is referring to 'whom'....and WHY.

Does it matter in the greater scheme of 'things'?

No.

Enjoy your music.

However you percieve it needs to be done.

Bottom line, message ends.
GK, how about those who are sans Baracas?  Do we serve?  Do we wait for serve?  May we swerve to avoid?  Or are we doomed to the void, being neither or none, anon....

Shall we serve by swerving this forum into the virtual ditch?  
nonoise....😏....but like your selection, the stake keeps getting pulled out for the hammer function....;)

The ? remains:

Are they having fun yet?
"It should come as no surprise that audio, like other hobbies, has a bottom. "

....🤨....y'all have been lividly living up to That nadir rather effectively imho...

...but don't let me interrupt...I haven't seen this level of carnage around here for awhile.

OK...."Lord of the Flies, 'Audiodefiled Version', take 355....

ACTION!"
Soon to be a Major Malestrom of Immoral Madness.....Brought to your tiny cellscreen in noxious novelty...

WAR OF THE 'FILES

"I couldn't understand WTF they were on about...."
(Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times)


Well stated, mahlman & noble100 both....

Can we all go home now? 
I've got some soldering to do on some speakers I built...
"Meanwhile, back on the ranch....."

While y’all are having such a Wonderful Ses’, picking @ each other in such a thoughtful way....*wry glance*....

Have a sneer @ what’s now tempting the non-solder/build/test crowd. ;)

Taking a straw poll on which could be considered the most unattractive (physically only) of the group....

https://soundstream.com/home-audio/
A wristwatch?

Quaint....in a world of 'personal wrist gadgets', something that just registers Time...?