Confronting your own realities...

[Dominic Harper]

Someone said to me the other day that when you get into hif, you are forever chopping and changing. My point was that if you buy something but then 6 months down the line, you see and hear something that sound different, you want to change it. Why can't just be happy with what you have got. Their point was, that hifi is all about change, tinkering, fiddling and upgrading or just swapping things about to what you can get out of your hifi. Thats what hifi is, as this is a hobby for a lot of people. I agree with what they said and took their point on board as this is why people get into hifi in the first place. But it doesn't stop me getting a little fed up when I am happily listeing to something and Dom comes along and starts tweeking. Oh the joys of hifi.

Natalie

[Rare Bird]

Natalie
You have to draw a line weither some say it's part of the hobbiy or not, i stopped all that a long time ago, i just rebuild my old stuff, plug - play & forget now..I don't get anymore headaches & my bank account doesnt suffer anymore, & as Alex & Mike proven at the pie show, their cheap systems are apparently better than some very expensive system that have obviously had lots of money injected into them..

[Dominic Harper]

Hi Andre, tell me about. I am a big believer in costing more doesn't mean better. I have heard some top of the range hifi, arm, cart speaker etc etc. But you would be hard pushed to find something cost more sounding better than something cheaper. I am also a big believer in saving people money. Sometimes, less can be more and vice versa. Thats what I say. Dom is also a big believer in costing more doesn't necessarily mean better. You have to trust your own hearing for the sound that is coming from your hifi. Dom's a tinkerer because he is constantly testing carts repairs or upgrades. I shouldn't moan really because I get to hear a variety of hifi stuff. Recently, Dom serviced an L75 for a customer who has just got back into his vinyl, for the money and what he has paid, the lenco sounded superb.

Natalie

[Joe]

To quote the Beach Boys:

'Reality is not for me
And it makes me laugh'

[keiths]

For me, the Hi-Fi is a hobby and nothing more (all be it one that's been with me for 36 years) but music is just an integral part of who I am and I couldn't live without it.

The tinkering aspect will always be there, but it's not very strong with me at the moment. For instance, I've got a couple of cartridges that I want to try (a Stanton 681eee and a Shure M75 ED), but just can't be bothered at the moment of going through the whole rigmarole of swapping, aligning, VTA etc. etc. as I'd rather spend the limited amount of free time I have listening to music (and my Nagaoka MP11 sounds just fine anyway).

[Dominic Harper]

Sometimes it's just really nice to sit down and have a good listen to some great music. Just a little point I want to make and please dont all shoot me down. I asked a question on here a couple of weeks ago asking why do hifi enthusiasts/diyrs/hobbiest need have so many different things like various carts etc. Now if some of you guys are saying that you just enjoy listening to the music, then you obviously don't need a variety of different pieces of equipment, because you are obviously happy with your system as it is and have no reason to change anything. So why do people have so many diffrent pieces? Gotcha

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea that you can swap and change things about. I also enjoy listening to various sounds from different equipment. But if everyone or most people are saying that they just enjoy listening and don't bother tinkering, then why have something you are not going to use. I will tell you why, because you hifi buffs love having bits and pieces, you just enjoy having your items just incase you fancy changing and tinkering.

Natalie

[Marco]

Some of us enjoy changing cartridges, whereas for others, it's dressing gowns

Marco.

[Spur07]

Sometimes it's just really nice to sit down and have a good listen to some great music. Just a little point I want to make and please dont all shoot me down. I asked a question on here a couple of weeks ago asking why do hifi enthusiasts/diyrs/hobbiest need have so many different things like various carts etc. Now if some of you guys are saying that you just enjoy listening to the music, then you obviously don't need a variety of different pieces of equipment, because you are obviously happy with your system as it is and have no reason to change anything. So why do people have so many diffrent pieces? Gotcha

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea that you can swap and change things about. I also enjoy listening to various sounds from different equipment. But if everyone or most people are saying that they just enjoy listening and don't bother tinkering, then why have something you are not going to use. I will tell you why, because you hifi buffs love having bits and pieces, you just enjoy having your items just incase you fancy changing and tinkering.

Natalie

because it's a thinly veiled quest to once more experience that idealistic and blissful union with the maternal figure.

[Puffin]

you just enjoy having your items just incase you fancy changing and tinkering.
Natalie

Absolutely! I have umpteen CD players and Dacs. But that didn't stop me buying a Marantz CD63 at the last Tonbridge Audio Jumble

Looked like it had gone 10 rounds with David Haye!.....But......I knew there was 1500 page thread on Diyaudio for mods to it.

A quick re-spray and lots of cheap (yes really) internal mods and now of course it is the best CD player I have.......until.......

[WOStantonCS100]

Sometimes it's just really nice to sit down and have a good listen to some great music. Just a little point I want to make and please dont all shoot me down. I asked a question on here a couple of weeks ago asking why do hifi enthusiasts/diyrs/hobbiest need have so many different things like various carts etc. Now if some of you guys are saying that you just enjoy listening to the music, then you obviously don't need a variety of different pieces of equipment, because you are obviously happy with your system as it is and have no reason to change anything. So why do people have so many diffrent pieces? Gotcha

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea that you can swap and change things about. I also enjoy listening to various sounds from different equipment. But if everyone or most people are saying that they just enjoy listening and don't bother tinkering, then why have something you are not going to use. I will tell you why, because you hifi buffs love having bits and pieces, you just enjoy having your items just incase you fancy changing and tinkering.

Natalie

It's in the aproach. On cartridges, yes, I have several; but... even on the T3 arm, I ordered a bayonet. That means cartridge swaps take all of 2 minutes from start to finish. So, there's not a lot of time involved in that "tweak". I'm back to listening to music in no time. Why do it? The answer to that lies in the fact that not all masters were recorded the same, not all vinyl pressings were created the same (microgroove, mono, "normal modern stereo", hotly pressed 2lp sets and/or 12" singles, not to mention 78's). If one gets to know his/her carts well, there's not a lot of guess work. One pretty much knows which cartridge is best suited for the task.

I look at tube rolling the same way. It's a 2 minute tweak (preamp tubes). I knew the EH 12au7's weren't giving me all I wanted and knew the general character of JAN's I had. I rolled them in. It's been two years now. So, I agree. Some of us do tend to have a lot of "stuff" hanging about; but, that doesn't necessarily mean that tweaking needs to be or has to be relentlessly on going. I can only speak for myself, though.

I would hate to be without options. I would equally hate for those options to control me, hinder me or paralyze me. It has gotten easier to find that balance the older I've become.