What's it all about?

[bikezappa]

The following is part of an interview with the editor of The Audio Critic.

"Q. Some time ago you published a very funny cartoon that, in many ways, captured the irony of the hi-fi scene. It featured an audiophile with a very expensive “high-end tweako” system demonstrating it to a music-loving acquaintance. After the listening session ended, the gearhead wanted to know his friend’s opinion. The music lover thought a minute, then replied, “He conducts it a lot faster than Bernstein, doesn’t he?” Since oftentimes the music seems to take a back seat to the equipment, but since the music is really what our hobby is all about."

I'm in that trap sometimes I must admit.

[obieone]

IMHO, It's all part of man's evolutionary process. It doesn't seem to be that the music takes a back seat, but that we want to hear it at it's fullest potential. Cleaner, fuller, LOUDER! Just my $.02.
I went 20+ years w/ out caring about music. I bought a house, got some A/V, and now I appreciate music a lot more. Bands that I never got into b4, I appreciate now because of the sound QUALITY.
But, everything in MODERATION!

[movtarget]

You do the hokey pokey, and you turn yourself around...

That's what it's all about!

On a more serious note. Guilty as charged. I admire musicians and the art they perform. Just as most would present their treasured art (like a painting) in the best lighting, in the most focal of settings, and in consideration of distractions from their prized display, I would like to treat my 'display' of music in the same way. I seek (from my perspective) a perfect display.

Movtarget

[bikezappa]

I would like to think that I spend 90% of my energy on the music side, that is looking for new music, finding new tunes from people I like, exchanging music and buying music. I maybe wrong however.

Instead of trying to get that 1% more from a tune with a better line cord for an examle.

Some times we lose all perspective.

[Jstas]

I find myself with kind of a dual-appreciation.

On one side, I will just listen to the music and lyrics of a song and just enjoy it. Doesn't matter if I am sitting in front of the Carvers or listening to earphones at work. It's either background music or some form of entertainment. Even if I'm sitting at a bar with a friend and just listening to the jukebox and calling out song title and artists and even lyrics to a song. Music appreciation isn't just about the snobbery of critical listening whether it's live or recorded. There is so much to music that to just limit yourself to critical listening is foolish.

On the other hand, have an extensive technical background and an appreciation for art forms that most people don't see as an expression of creativity, I cannot help but get lost in the hardware sometimes. The shear effortless reproduction of the full frequency range on the Carvers just baffles me sometimes and I try to find whatever music I can to push the limits. Even my Polk R15's that I'm using for my computer speakers will mesmerize me for hours just looking to see what little tweaks I can do to bring out a certain aspect of the speakers. I'll listen to a certain song, hear something I never heard in it before and then I think of another song where I heard something similar and play it back and it just pops into a new life and becomes a completely different song! I've even disconnected a woofer to see if the sound is coming from a tweeter so I know where in the frequency range it might fall. (yeah, that's kinda nuts).

But yeah, there is music appreciation and then there is hardware appreciation. Music is the ultimate expression of man because it can convey so much. Music reproduction hardware hell bent on the best possible sound is probably one of the greatest achievements in engineering for the sole reason that it is meant to convey as best as possible what music already contains. Most of the audio companies at the upper ends of each level of the market are in it not to make money, that's secondary. They are in it because they love it. The customers that get that are the ones that they call "audiophiles" and group them all, good and bad, into the same stereotype. Those that don't understand the hobby really don't get the idea behind the music and the passion that the products that these engineers design and produce embodies.

But the example that bikezappa gave illustrates the idea that those high end companies are looking for. In my view, the comment about Berstein's conducting is not a negative, it's a positive. The listener was listening to a stereo that reproduced the recording accurately enough that the listener did not even think of the quality of the recording which allowed the listener to focus on the music and comment on something as abstract as the conductor's style. That right there is what audiophiles try to explain as the goal of their hobby but can not put it to words well enough. You can't describe it but you know it when you see (hear) it.

[ninerbj]

Alfie!

[bikezappa]

The listener was listening to a stereo that reproduced the recording accurately enough that the listener did not even think of the quality of the recording which allowed the listener to focus on the music and comment on something as abstract as the conductor's style. That right there is what audiophiles try to explain as the goal of their hobby but can not put it to words well enough. You can't describe it but you know it when you see (hear) it.

Well put!

[cfrizz]

For me it's always been about the music. I got the equipment that I want to play in on, and the next time I upgrade will be if something breaks.

The only time I critically listen is when I get new music.

However, my system gets turned on every single morning so that I can listen either to a cd or through my mp3 player before I go to work. Sometimes I will turn it on when I get home at night.

On the weekends it gets turned on when I get up in the morning & shut off when I go to bed at night.

I don't mind putting quite a bit of money into the gear that plays the music, because I know that I will get my money's worth out of it by the time I replace it years later.

[treitz3]

All I care about is what's written in my signature. If a Wheaties box tube amp gets me there, then so be it.

I am however still looking for that female remote control. [You know who I'm talkin' 'bout]........Whooooo-Hoo! :D :D :D :D :D

[mulveling]

For me it's always been about the music. I got the equipment that I want to play in on, and the next time I upgrade will be if something breaks.

The only time I critically listen is when I get new music.

However, my system gets turned on every single morning so that I can listen either to a cd or through my mp3 player before I go to work. Sometimes I will turn it on when I get home at night.

On the weekends it gets turned on when I get up in the morning & shut off when I go to bed at night.

Cathy, in this respect you are a role model for many of us. Unfortunately our stupid man instincts - to analyze, tinker, and mess with a good thing - keep getting in the way :D

[dkg999]

All I care about is what's written in my signature. If a Wheaties box tube amp gets me there, then so be it.

I am however still looking for that female remote control. [You know who I'm talkin' 'bout]........Whooooo-Hoo! :D :D :D :D :D

Just make sure you buy the extended maintenance plan with the female remote control

[bikezappa]

Just make sure you buy the extended maintenance plan with the female remote control

And extra batteries.

[cfrizz]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!:D

Oh well, maybe someday you all will get a clue!:p;):D

Cathy, in this respect you are a role model for many of us. Unfortunately our stupid man instincts - to analyze, tinker, and mess with a good thing - keep getting in the way :D

[obieone]

I had 1 of those remotes:D Take the bikini top down & there were some more buttons!