+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 41

Thread: Audiophile urban myths and legends

  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2010

    Location: Vancouver, Canada

    Posts: 2,166
    I'm Alex.

    Default Audiophile urban myths and legends

    A friend of mine, who is a hi fi salesman, told me the following incident that happened to him:

    He went to visit his steady customer (he calls his customers 'patients'), and the guy bragged how he had finally managed to make his digital system sound like a pure analog system. Gone are the issues with glassy, brittle tiring sound that has those unpleasant metallic overtones that people are always complaining about when reviewing digital playback.

    So my friend was curious to hear this new pinnacle of digital playback, sat down for a listen, and immediately noticed that something's off. He examined his patient's hi fi and realized that the guy somehow managed to blow his tweeters on both speakers. His hi fi couldn't basically reproduce any frequencies above 4 kHz!

    OK, that's a hilarious anecdote, but my point here is that later on I heard the exact same story that allegedly happened to some other guy in some other city.

    Hmmm, that looks like a perfect urban myth in the making.

    Then later on I heard a story about some therapist who was working with a blind and mentally disabled woman who was at that time in her forties. Part of his therapy was to play music while working with her. Well, the storyline goes that each time he'd put a CD on the patient would complain loudly, and if he would then switch to the turntable, she would smile.

    Another urban myth?

    Do you have any other such myths and legends, heroic stories that propagate through the community and then get retold as if they happened to a particular person?
    Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?

    Alex.

  2. #2
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Reading, UK

    Posts: 362

    Default

    Love it

    It's not really an urban myth as such but I was reminded of a funny occasion just the other day when I bought an old 1965 test pressing of an LP by Pepe Jaramillo. Now, for those who don't know Pepe Jaramillo was a Mexican musician who used latin rhythms and percussion - very much picked up later by the likes of Santana. In the 1970's my parents were starting to get comfortable financially and bought a state-of-the-art B&O stereo, the envy of their friends (and mine). I once came home to find them playing a Pepe Jaramillo LP and it sounded a bit manic to me - they had played a whole side at 45 instead of 33 RPM!

    Now, before we all fall about laughing at their antics, I also know hi fi enthusiasts who have done the same with 45 RPM LPs, playing them at 33 RPM and wondering late on in the side why the female vocalist sounds a bit odd

    My admission is I have wondered for a while why things sound quieter not realising that one channel is out. I also had a phono pre-amp for a while with a mono switch and would sit there for a while wondering why the stereo LP I was playing sounded a bit odd - I had not flicked the switch back!

    Cheers

    Phil

  3. #3
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: Chorley Lancs

    Posts: 14,592
    I'm Steve.

    Default

    A few years ago a friend bought me "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" by Amy Winehouse on vinyl.

    The first track I was "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and my first thought was "who's he?" Turned out to be Amy, singing at 45rpm, and being played back at 33.

    The real sickener was that my LP12 had no 45rpm adaptor, so Amy went unplayed for another two years.

    Going back another four decades, when me and my stoner friends had a listening session, we would sometimes deliberately play David Essex's "Rock On" single at 33rpm because we thought it sounded better that way.

    1973 was a strange year...
    I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in

    T/T: Inspire Monarch, X200 tonearm, Ortofon Quintet Blue. Phono: Project Tube Box CD: Marantz CD6006 (UK Edition); Amp: Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated.
    Speakers: Zu Omen Def, REL T9i subwoofer. Cables: Atlas Equator interconnects, Atlas Hyper 3.0 speaker cables

    T'other system:
    Echo Dot, Amptastic Mini One,Arcam A75 integrated, Celestion 5's, BK XLS-200 DF

    A/V:
    LG 55" OLED, Panasonic Blu Ray, Sony a/v amp, MA Radius speakers, REL Storm sub

    Forget the past, it's gone. And don't worry about the future, it doesn't exist. There is only NOW.

    KICKSTARTER: ENABLING SCAMMERS SINCE 2009

  4. #4
    Join Date: Mar 2013

    Location: nottingham

    Posts: 328
    I'm nigel.

    Default

    My dad was the only person who bought a copy of the Velvet Underground and Nico LP and DIDN'T form a band.....

    He trotted that one out every Christmas to little applause.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

    Posts: 3,451
    I'm Neil.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony View Post
    A few years ago a friend bought me "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" by Amy Winehouse on vinyl.

    The first track I was "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and my first thought was "who's he?" Turned out to be Amy, singing at 45rpm, and being played back at 33.

    The real sickener was that my LP12 had no 45rpm adaptor, so Amy went unplayed for another two years.

    Going back another four decades, when me and my stoner friends had a listening session, we would sometimes deliberately play David Essex's "Rock On" single at 33rpm because we thought it sounded better that way.

    1973 was a strange year...
    He he, same with Dolly Parton's Jolene, the 45 sounds great at 33.3.
    Mana Acoustics Racks / Bright Star IsoNodes Decoupling >> Allo DigiOne Player >> Pedja Rogic's Audial Model S DAC + Pioneer PL-71 turntable / Vista Audio phono-1 mk II / Denon PCL-5 headshell / Reson Reca >> LFD DLS >> LFD PA2M (SE) >> Royd RR3s.

  6. #6
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: A Strangely Isolated Place in Suffolk with Far Away Trains Passing By...

    Posts: 14,535
    I'm David.

    Default

    Best I can come up with is Isobariks sounding so smeared most of the time, it didn't matter what the wiring was to them. If you had them out of phase with each other and in a reasonable size room, it didn't seem to matter.. The active version could be even worse, as inverting the phase of the mids or tweets from the bass, made little difference in the large dem room our London store had...
    Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
    Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me

  7. #7
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Yomanze View Post
    He he, same with Dolly Parton's Jolene, the 45 sounds great at 33.3.
    Would anyone actually admit to owning a copy of that?

  8. #8
    Join Date: Mar 2012

    Location: London and Somerset

    Posts: 2,097
    I'm Dave.

    Default

    Yep me.... I own a copy. Great played at 33...
    Kraken, Saturn, Emotion, Flying V Rocket, Planets.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Apr 2015

    Location: Southampton, United Kingdom

    Posts: 619
    I'm Paul.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by walpurgis View Post
    Would anyone actually admit to owning a copy of that?
    Great record

    Love a bit of Dolly.

    There's actually a really cool dance remix of the track too and it's a GUARANTEED floor-filler at weddings.
    Wait till the women have started to hit the dance-floor, say around half nine, ten-ish, then lead it in with a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long intro-mix so they all pick up on the guitar.
    They'll be whooping with delight, dancing their wotsits off and singing at the top of their lungs before you know it .. all the while you stand there, beaming at each and every one of them

    Linn Sondek LP12, Ittok, AT-F7
    Schiit Mani MK1 Phono Pre-Amp
    Nobsound NS-08P Bluetooth pre-amp
    Marantz CD5004 CD Player
    Pure DAB tuner
    2 x Meridian 205 monoblock power amps
    Tannoy T225 "Mayfair" speakers
    www.paulridgeblog.com

  10. #10
    Join Date: Oct 2014

    Location: SW England

    Posts: 560
    I'm Richie.

    Default


+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •