|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
130.226.56.2
In Reply to: Assembling a Good Audio System – black art or not? posted by John C. - Aussie on March 1, 2006 at 19:08:28:
It's hit or miss + luck and experience.We are rarely aware of our sound preferences until we hear something we like better than the sound we are used to. A "new sound revelation" experience can be a painful experience if we have recently maxed out or credit cards to buy equipment that produces our old favourite sound.
This is why going slow, doing a lot of auditioning and being patient about making purchase decisions pays off in the end. My experience is that if you do this, you will go through several "new sound revelation" experiences without buying a thing and you will make better decisions about the most cost-effective way to reach that sound.
Luck plays a big role. Being in the right place at the right time to hear something new that jolts you closer to musical nirvana.
Two rules i learned in the Navy:
1.) Indecision is the key to flexibility
2.) Never make a decision, now, you can put off until a future date.
Follow Ups:
Your "rules" remind me of an old episode of the Andy Griffith show where Buddy Ebsen guest starred as a lazy hobo who's maxim was "Tomorrow is the most wonderful day of them all. There's nothing a man can't do.... tomorrow." To paraphrase to your thinking - "There's no stereo gear a man can't love tomorrow."On the show Buddy was a terrible influence on Opie and he was eventually told to "hit the pike". I can't see your plan working any better.
I think your idea would be appropriate for people who care more about the gear than they do music, but otherwise I could not agree less. It's like saying "Why marry the girl you love? Keep tasting every new one that comes along..." Well OK, fair enough, that sounds like sailor talk.... but it's never going to make for a happy home.
I agree that initially one needs to try the field. As I said in my post I think speakers are the most important because they are the one thing in the system actually "speaking" to you, they are the things you "marry". Find ones you love and then LIVE with them. If people have an incessant need to keep auditioning gear at that point it clearly means they have a bigger problem, not unlike a man who can't remain faithful to his wife. Sadly they are driven by something else entirely and will never find happiness because "permanency" is something that does not bring them happiness.
So they'll have a fling with the audio flavour of the month and then be completely miserable until the next fling, which will not be far from coming. They become great sources in our hobby to buy used gear from, but I wouldn't want to be one of them. Most who are like this are because they are simply like that, however constantly doubting ones own ears and listening too much to others talk about "the next big thing" can drive a happy man to this ruin.
The first is a joke that us JOs made up in the ward room about our indecisive XO in the 60s. The second is serious and has served me well all my life. It simply means explore all angles and if the problem does not go away on its own then deal with it. So many perceived problems are not problems at all, but the products of our distorted preceptions. Often problems are overtaken by events we can't change that change or solve the problem.How many speakers and cables am i glad that i haven't bought when, in reality, i did not have speaker or cable problem and only became apparent because i did not rush into the solution but did my research.
Do you think that those that constantly switch audio equipment are also less likely to be faithful to their spouses/significant others? Hmmm.
While it is essentially the same condition, obviously being unfaitfhul to a wife is far more severe that cheating on a transistor. I wouldn't be surprised if unfaithful men were also gear swappers, but to assume gear swappers are unfaithful is I think going too far.Then again, they might be faithful to their tubes and not their wives. :^ )
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: