Critic's Corner

Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

RE: Cool. Thanks.

Posted by Stephen Mejias on October 8, 2012 at 10:48:21:
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-14
To 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-question
For 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.