My thoughts about Hifi

[goraman]

My system is complete,I am very happy with it and enjoy listening to music.
And already I started thinking of the Boarder Patrol DAC , then Sennheiser headphones 800S to replace my much loved AKG Q701's then I realized something being an Audiophile means never being happy with what you have, I mean how many times have we put together something we love only to change everything for example we get a good set up change amp or speakers then start all over in another direction.
Single ended Triode and horns, Big bruiser amp and large electrostatics , tubes and Radial speakers, low efficiency then high efficiency. Analogue, Digital then back to Analogue.

Average music listers don't do this, for us it is the journey, trying new gear, moving speakers around,rolling tubes,changing wires , we are odd because we just don't listen to music we shape it's sound to our liking while claiming it is transparent and sounds just like it did live all while having no idea if it is even close to what the engineers intended much less what it sounded like live.

I am thankful for a very understanding wife "why Nosheen puts up with me"? I will never know.
I have decided to leave it be.

Anyone else think we are a little odd , I mean if we are honest it dose have a lot to do with the gear.

Lets be honest when I was a kid I had a purple transistor radio to take to school so I could listen to music during recess, I always had a radio at my bed side paying all night even while I slept and when I was 11 or so I would come home from school and listen to the RCA EL84 tube stereo for hours, then I moved with My Mom and Step father who had a late 60's Kenwood SS system a BIC turntable with a Shure V15 cartridge, KLH modle 6 speakers and a Akai Reel to Reel and Superex Pro B headphones. I would come home and listen to music till late then go from speakers to headphones and on breaks and week ends I would listen with the closed headphones all night till dawn. 1981 I had saved $500.00 and my parents matched it, I went to Macy's and bought a Studio Standard Fisher system 100 watt per channel integrated amp, direct drive turntable, cassette deck a,tuner and a pair of 12 inch 3 way speakers. I then bought a AT11e2 and later got the 12S Shabada styles for that cart. I was never really happy with the whole system after spending $1,200 on it as it just didn't sound as good as the KLH 's I was used to.
In high school I got a Sony Walkman and hated the headphones as they where shrill, The Superex where to big to be potables so I listened to every over the ear headphone I could audition, I found the 1982 Audio Technica Point 0.1 just 50 grams and they where pretty neutral sounding, they only went to 35 hz. but they has a nice midrange and a softer top end than most small headphones back then. 1984 the Koss portapro came out and I had 2 pair.

I mean I remember in high school passing around over the ear headphones and listening to every ones trying to find a pair i really liked and discovering no one cared how any of them really sounded but me half the time ,even pointing out the differences . For most people it was how they looked more than how they sounded.

I never heard the term Audiophile in those days and some people hate that name but there are those of us who are a little different and it seems to define us like it or not.

Share your thoughts and journey please.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

That's great you have reached a plateau so to speak

Regarding " Average music listeners don't do this " well I can't be average. Where your post describes changing everything
I do this quite differently with much less cost - see changes described here to the biasing of T2 and CR2
https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...-Upgrade/page3

[goraman]

That's great you have reached a plateau so to speak

Regarding " Average music listeners don't do this " well I can't be average. Where your post describes changing everything
I do this quite differently with much less cost - see changes described here to the biasing of T2 and CR2
https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...-Upgrade/page3

Very nice work, and when you move it on ,you will probably make money on it.

[Puffin]

I had a tidy up recently, same system, same components except that cables of all kinds were disconnected and reconnected. Doesn't sound as good, a bit edgy. Point of post? Don't have a tidy up

[Pigmy Pony]

Yes I think audiophiles are mostly a bit odd, but I'm unsure whether the hobby just attracts odd people, or whether it takes normal people and makes them odd.

I don't do very much chopping and changing of equipment, in fact next to none - but then I consider myself to be one of the normal ones - we're a rare breed!

[Macca]

I also started with a Fisher Studio Standard system (well, amp and speakers). I was also not happy with it thus the journey began.

The odd people for me are those who don't care about having top notch sound quality, or even odder, don't listen to music at all.


Am now at the point where I could stop if I wanted, I'm happy. Only took 30 years. If I can help someone else get there more quickly I will. But don't think I'll stop trying to improve things, after three decades it's become a habit I can't/won't break. Part of the fun for me, like tuning your engine on the driveway on a Sunday morning. The car might be fast already but why not try to make it even faster?

[karma67]

i seem to have that 'what if' tendency. i mean by that i seem to never be happy with my lot,as soon as iam there's about a month of feeling content and then the 'what if' thing slowly creeps in
an example thats happening right now is with my amp. im more than happy with it and dont have any plans to sell it on. case closed as bill hicks would say,but no thoughts of a stepped attenuator or tube rolling keep chipping away......
one day i will just leave things alone and be content........wont i?

[Bigman80]

i seem to have that 'what if' tendency. i mean by that i seem to never be happy with my lot,as soon as iam there's about a month of feeling content and then the 'what if' thing slowly creeps in
an example thats happening right now is with my amp. im more than happy with it and dont have any plans to sell it on. case closed as bill hicks would say,but no thoughts of a stepped attenuator or tube rolling keep chipping away......
one day i will just leave things alone and be content........wont i?

No you won't mate.

None of us will. We're all addicts but while we aren't hurting anyone, what's it matter?

I suppose the goal is to have a few pieces you like or a bit of spare budget so you can dabble without having to sell on things you like to scratch the itch.

[Macca]

The most frustrating period for me was when I knew I could get better sound but I just did not have any money at all to chuck at the problem.


Then once I could chuck a bit of money at it, I didn't know where to chuck it. Not enough experience, not enough knowledge. So I span my wheels for a fair length of time and got nowhere.

[Lawrence001]

I had a tidy up recently, same system, same components except that cables of all kinds were disconnected and reconnected. Doesn't sound as good, a bit edgy. Point of post? Don't have a tidy up

That's supposed to clean up the connections, remove light oxidisation etc. Sounds like you enjoyed or got used to the softening this might have produced and now you're hearing the system closer to how it should sound, it's not so much to your taste. If it's a new thing wait a few weeks and see if you get used to it. If it's been a while and you still don't like it get some new cables that soften the treble a bit, or have more bass.

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