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It's time to open our eyes and close our wallets!

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As an AA lurker for more years than I care to admit, I have finally found cause offer up a post. I have had an epiphany regarding this hobby of ours and what we expect from it.

Over the past 3 months I have gone to many, many live music performances in and around Cleveland. I frequent one of the finest jazz clubs in the country 2-3 times per weeks. (The Cleveland Bop Stop is a purpose built club, accoustically designed, interestingly shaped, treated with ASC, etc. The finest sounding jazz venue I have ever been in. Oh yeah, the level of musicianship is absoluteley fantastic as well.) I heard the Cleveland Orchestra perform at their outdoor venue over the summer. I have heard the Cleveland Orchestra open their season in Severance Hall for the past few weeks. I heard the Pittsburgh Symphony last Sunday. Well, I have been listening to a lot of live music lately.

As an audiophile who is thankful and grateful that I am able to pursue this hobby to a pretty high price-point, I have owned many different types of systems over the years. I have had a Theil/Spectral sytem, and Audio Research/Martin Logan sytem, a Cary/Silverline SET system, an Avalon/Spectral system, a Lamm/Kharma system and currently an Avantegarde/Lamm system.

While sitting in Heinz Hall last weekend I came to the realization that NO system I have ever owned, or have ever heard, even remotely approaches the SOUND and FORCE of live music. I mean I always knew that but I guess I didn't want to admit it to myself because of my love for the hobby. And that's really what it boils down to: my love for the hobby of playing with new toys and seeing what changing a cable here or a tube there will do to my system, reading the magazines and internet reviews, etc. I was more interested in the playing the game that us audiophiles do than in the MUSIC itself. I lost sight of the fact that I was interested in music in the first place.

Lets face it, it's impossible for two boxes to reproduce the size, power and detail of a live band or orchestra. No matter how good those speakers are they will never sound like live music. I currently have Avantegard Trio's and the Lamm ML2, the most dynamic system I have heard. However, it doesn't sound like REAL music. It sounds like reproduced music which is played back dynamically. The key word is REPRODUCED. I played a few cuts of some tenor sax and thought it sounded great. I then had my 13 year old nephew come into my listening and play his tenor sax. My system can not even approach the sound of a live instrument and my system is about as real as you can get. Its a joke. All recorded music sounds compressed compared to the real thing. CD, SACD or quality vinyl played back through my Walker turntable...it all sounds unnatural. Better equipment only yields better sounding reproduced music, it does not yield real sounding music.

As of last month I was on the verge of ordering a pair of Kharma Exquisites. Thankfully, I have come to my senses and am about to get off of the audiophile train. Honestly, I get just as much pleasure listening to my friends modest Von Schweikert VR4/BAT VK60 system than I do my own. It's all artificial anyway, so I am now just resigning myself to the fact that spending all kinds of money to try to get the sound of a live band playing in my room is no different than a dog chasing his tail...only much more expensive. I played my system last night and cringed when I look at a slew of $3000 cables laying on the floor. I got sick to my stomach when I added up the cost of what I was listening to. As Romy used to say, its all just "audio porn". How true. Euphonic distortion of my brain!

Anyway, I just read in some audio rag when someone said that instead of spending a huge amount of money on a piece of equipment, he would rather take a vacation to the great concert halls of Europe and listen to the real thing. I couldn't agree more. A $5 cover at the Bop Stop gives me 3 hours of great jazz in a cool building with my wife and friends...I've even become friendly with some of the regular musicians. Can't beat that.

I'm selling my ML2's, my L2, my Trio's, my CD12 and my cables and will put the money in the bank. I'm going to buy a pair of Cain & Cain double horns, a nice pair of used 300B or 45 amps + preamp and spend no more than $1500 on CD player and be happy and content until I need to replace something because its broken. I must confess that my Walker and Lamm phonestage will not go anywhere. If I want to pursue the "hobby" maybe I'll try to build a SET amp or a pair of horns just for the fun of it. It's time to just enjoy the music.

So there you have it. I'm off of the high-end merry-go-round because there is no reason continue this rediculous game. No more worry about a little extra midbass warmth or a treble that was just a bit too bright. Give me a break! I've heard the best systems money can buy in my home, in stores and in other peoples homes. The bottom line is that not one of them sounds like real music...and sorry, neither does yours. See you at the symphony where for $100 I can get a soundstage that extends 50 feet behind, above and to the side of the orchestra. My six-figure systems soundstage extends to the back wall and to the sides of my room...you do the math.

-Free at last!


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Topic - It's time to open our eyes and close our wallets! - Revelation Man 10:15:14 10/03/03 (58)


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