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In Reply to: RE: Two questions... posted by bjh on October 06, 2012 at 11:05:32
>Since when has Stephen become a musician...
Stephen Mejias plays guitar, most recently in a band called The Multi-
Purpose Solution. He has mention this on a number of occasions in the
magazine; see the link below, for example.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Follow Ups:
Have you heard him on stage? Lead, rhythm? ... does he sing?Any good?
:)
"Can you support that with measurements?"
"Yes, I sit 3m from my speakers and definately hear that there is more bass." - anonymous
Edits: 10/06/12
JA has seen our band perform, but not on stage: He recorded our second album. I play mostly rhythm guitar and I don't sing. Though I've been playing since I was 17, and playing in bands since I was 18, I'm not technically skilled. I can't play a scale, for instance, and I can't play other peoples' songs. The band, on the other hand, is great (in my opinion), though I don't think we're JA's cup of tea. I've written about the band often enough, including in The Entry Level column, which we're currently discussing. See: http://www.stereophile.com/content/entry-level-14To answer a couple of other questions that came up in this thread: I'm 34 years old; I'm not in school (I graduated from college in 1999), but I've worked for Stereophile for 12 years; and I've written about gear, both expensive and affordable, since 2005.
From time to time, for reasons I don't fully comprehend, the topic comes up of whether I'm "satisfied" with my current position as reviewer of "affordable" gear. I've discussed that, as well, most recently here:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/stranger-questionFor all intents and purposes, I think I am qualified to review more expensive gear, except for the fact that I don't want to. I prefer listening to equipment that my friends, family, and I can actually afford. That is to say, I prefer listening to equipment that fits into my lifestyle.
I hear wonderfully expensive systems often enough to know that I'm not missing much. Before that sentence gets you all fired up, please try to understand what I mean. I visited Michael Fremer last Friday. His current system comprises the Wilson Alexandria XLF loudspeakers ($200,000/pair), Continuum Caliburn turntable ($150,000), darTZeel NHB-458 monoblock power amps ($144,500/pair), and a bunch of other enormous, outrageously expensive stuff. The music sounded excellent -- big, bold, present, powerful, clean, clear, compelling, everything you'd want -- but the sacrifices one need make in order to enjoy that sound are far beyond my limits and my lifestyle. I love that Mikey enjoys it, but, when I imagine such a system in my own room, I'm appalled. And, anyway, if you took that system and squished it into my 11' by 13' room, it would probably stink.
The system I've pieced together (Rega P3-24 turntable, Elys 2 cartridge, Parasound Zphono-USB phono preamp, PSB Alpha B1 loudspeakers, NAD C 316BEE integrated and C 515BEE CD player, and Kimber and AudioQuest cables and interconnects) is pretty much perfect for me and my life. I can come home after hearing a cost-no-object system, know what I'm missing, and still love the sound of music in my room. It sounds very, very good. Most people, including diehard audiophiles, are impressed by the sound of music in my room.
The last thing I'd ever want anyone to think is that you have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get good sound. That simply isn't true.
And, yes, in the future, I do see myself buying more expensive gear, but I would never -- ever -- suggest to anyone that they can't properly enjoy music on a modest system. That notion just strikes me as being cynical, close-minded, and even sort of sad.
Edits: 10/08/12
I could not agree more with ALL of this. I have heard many systems costing $400,000 or more, that don't come close to my humble system: VPI Scoutmaster tt, Benz Ruby 3 cartridge, Bob's transformer, Mystere CA 21 preamp, Audio Research D 70 amp, and my beloved Fulton J speakers.
A cool Man for the Masses.
Three cheers
Bill
This bit of wisdom is taken from your OP: "Perhaps there is a message in here that we all tend to upgrade in search of the musicality that we do not hear." LOL! We all?
Soul, sorry for that exaggerated statement in the OP.
A lot of Audiophiles seem to be constantly searching for upgrades. I feel there is a group of audiophiles that I would call as AudiophilePlus who can enjoy music with the humble systems they have. They dont need to upgrade. The way many reviewers who I like a lot write about small bookshelf speakers give me the impression they love those little cheap things enormously. This may also be a little faculty they possess but in some cases they love speakers that do not do too well in measurements. There are three budget speakers which were loved by the reviewers that I found pathetic. I guess it should be the music that rules, not the equipment.
Cheers
Bill
"A lot of Audiophiles seem to be constantly searching for upgrades."
I'm not judging.
"I feel there is a group of audiophiles that I would call as AudiophilePlus who can enjoy music with the humble systems they have."
Just one segment of audiophiles. AudiophilePlus is total nonsense.
"They dont need to upgrade."
They may not want to upgrade but understand none of this has anything to do with needs.
"I guess it should be the music that rules, not the equipment."
This versus stuff is just plain silly. It's about reproduction. Everything rules.
are you implying that false dichotomies are bullshit, not to mention reductionist? omg. good for you! next, move on to argueing for accepting apparent contradictions, and we will be well on our way towards a real discourse.
"are you implying that false dichotomies are bullshit..."
No, but possibly an asshole magnet.
"next, move on to argueing for accepting apparent contradictions, and we will be well on our way towards a real discourse."
I don't get it. Is this your perverse take on the road to hell?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Stephen, interesting as always. I guess when it comes to audio systems, ( to each his or her own ) works well.
Although I'm no longer satisfied with mediocre when it comes to my audio system, I have many friends with smaller systems and enjoy visiting and listening to them very much.
Regards Tim
Mr. Mejias:
I find it a sad commentary on the direction this hobby has taken that you were called out to "defend" your system and it's cost.
I am ten years older than you and VERY happily rolled with an NAD/Sony/B&W system through most of my 30's. I probably never enjoyed music more.
I now have a system that costs ten times as much or more than that modest system but my musical enjoyment has not increased by ten times.
Keep on trucking. Musical enjoyment and system cost generally have no correlation IMO.
Too many parlour audiophiles around here..ones that never leave their house to enjoy live music, can't listen on "bad" systems in social situations, and are generally party poopers. :)
"I now have a system that costs ten times as much or more than that modest system but my musical enjoyment has not increased by ten times."
So, relative to your audio journey, is ten times the threshold before becoming a fool's errand?
Don't you get tired of looking for answers where there are no questions?
Like you, I used a question mark. So, what's your response a statement?
A mole digging in a hole
Digging up my soul now
Going down, excavation
The vast majority of people here are well past the place that normal people would call the point of diminishing returns. That's why it's called an Asylum. :-)
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
No joke..I've actually seen listening rooms scarier than this!
You'd swear you were 20 examining some of the posts that appear here.
:)
"Can you support that with measurements?"
"Yes, I sit 3m from my speakers and definately hear that there is more bass." - anonymous
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