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Am I right for this forum?

I’ve been an Audiogon member for some years now; I remember (fondly) "millercarbon," for example, which will mean something to some of you. And I’ve been a lover of audio equipment since high school—so, for over 50 years (I graduated in 1973). And yet...more and more, I find myself alienated from this forum, even though I do still read it regularly.

I do have what I consider a very "high-fidelity" system. I’ve written a very long account of my "audio journey," complete with many photos, but not "published" it on this site. I’m also a member of our local audio club, which includes several very well-heeled members who have systems costing more than most homes (one of them owns equipment valued at nearly a million dollars, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg: his system is housed in a separate structure purpose-built for it that cost well over a million). I play cello and guitar; my wife plays piano, my daughter piano and violin. We play those instruments in the same room occupied by my main audio system, and so I can attest to the "fidelity" of that system’s reproduction.

And yet...my system cost me less than $3,000 in total. I don’t lust after any particular "upgrade," even though I read reviews and all the many accounts of improvements in "SQ" documented in this forum.

So...am I an "audiophile," or not? Do I belong here, or not?


I’m listening right now to a wonderful bit of Mozart. I also love Tool. And Christy Moore. And Eva Cassidy. And so many others. I agree with Nietzsche: without music, life would be a mistake. But am I an audiophile? Do I belong on this forum?

Any sympathy here? Anyone else feel alienated from the "audiophile community" despite loving the miracle of audio technology?

128x128snilf
immatthewj
1,187 posts
 

@snilf 

I am not familiar with the actual equipment that is listed for your system, however, I am familiar with some of the brands listed (NHT, NAD, Maranzt) and you have a TT and a DAC and a line conditioner . . . I am thinking you got some pretty good bargains to get all that for 4k?

immatthewj
1,187 posts
 

@larsman  , I vaguely remember that character . . . wasn't Al Franken the one who portrayed him?  What I was wondering was how Stuart Smalley got into the conversation?

@immatthewj - Stuart Smalley was a character on Saturday Night Live in days gone by.... 

 

tylermunns
590 posts
 

I find it dubious to presume any person other than themselves is best equipped to determine whether they “belong” somewhere.  
We go where we think we’d like to be, we determine whether that assumption was accurate, then proceed accordingly. That’s it.  
If you like Agon, cool. If not, also cool. Simple.

I’ll tack on the end here that I have very much experienced the problem of going from, “I love music (end of story)” to, “I love music but now I’m spending the vast majority of the listening time fretting over fidelity-related minutiae” (the latter being to the great detriment to the former).
Just my personal experience.  
A long break from the expensive cartridges/tonearms/turntables/speakers/cables/preamps/amps scenario (and the expensive tools needed to properly calibrate/align the stuff and the accompanying tedium of the many processes of all the above, even fretting over a very slight degree of speaker ‘toe-in’) has done me well.  
Sort of a “shaking off” of the negative effects of the whole thing, now able to really appreciate the ways the stuff…makes beautiful music sound more beautiful!

tylermunns
590 posts
 

Al Franken indeed did Stuart Smalley. The Michael Jordan episode of “Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley” is a gem (“repeat after me…‘I don’t have to…dribble the ball fast, or…throw the ball into the basket…’”).  
Franken was a writer (occasionally a performer) on the original ‘75-‘80, then came back when Lorne Michaels came back ‘85. Stayed on the show ‘til ‘95.

erik_squires
15,766 posts
 

If you dont mix Fuel in your listening habits I’d like you to leave.

 

😆😆😆

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