My bits and pieces

[dantheman91]

what you gonna do with that eagle then..

[hoopsontoast]

The Eagle is being kept for a second system, I need to replace a few components in it as it developed a few issues.

[Gordon Steadman]

Wow - fabulistic

... but do you really think you can just switch off the boxswapping bug? - I reckon it cannot be done!

Just don't get it in the first place. Its a separate hobby, if its the music you are after, get a system that does the job and sit and enjoy what its supposed to be all about.

[dantheman91]

The Eagle is being kept for a second system, I need to replace a few components in it as it developed a few issues.

Hi

Fair..Would of been i pain if i bought it first time then..

Anyway nice looking system

[hoopsontoast]

Just don't get it in the first place. Its a separate hobby, if its the music you are after, get a system that does the job and sit and enjoy what its supposed to be all about.

The main reason I have done so much 'box-swapping' is previously I had been in rented houses and moved just about every year so the room was changing every year which meant what worked well in the previous room did not always work well in the new one.
I have been fortunate enough to buy my first place last year so have gone a bit over board in trying stuff that I have always wanted to hear as I know I wont be moving for a good while!
This current system is a 'greatest hits' of stuff I have had and really liked, so there is some sort of method to the madness!

[jandl100]

Just don't get it in the first place. Its a separate hobby, if its the music you are after, get a system that does the job and sit and enjoy what its supposed to be all about.

Yes, you do get it.
-- well, partly.

You are spot on - it is a separate hobby. Although the two hobbies of music and hifi are mutually supporting.

Why am I only allowed 1 hobby?

Anyway -- getting "a system that does the job".
Now that's an interesting view - but not one that I share.
No system or component is perfect - all shed different lights on the music. It's like looking at the same thing from different perspectives and in different lighting and from different distances.
For me, varying the hifi increases my appreciation of the music. It helps give a more rounded view.

I don't think anyone who has visited Jerry Towers and seen my music collection would doubt my dedication to music.

And boxswapping is good fun, too.

[Gordon Steadman]

Anyway -- getting "a system that does the job".
Now that's an interesting view - but not one that I share.
No system or component is perfect - all shed different lights on the music. It's like looking at the same thing from different perspectives and in different lighting and from different distances.
For me, varying the hifi increases my appreciation of the music. It helps give a more rounded view.

I don't see this at all, if my system sounds exactly like the musical instruments I make, then why would I look elsewhere? One can only assume that the system isn't 'doing the job'. I am no objectivist but I need my hi-fi to tell me what is happening, if its not telling me the truth................

Perhaps you just haven't found it yet so you'd better keep swapping

[MartinT]

if my system sounds exactly like the musical instruments I make

Not possible. A very good system can approach tonally the sound of certain instruments (although piano is notoriously difficult, and I would add to that voice) but I know of few which can even attempt the dynamic range of acoustic instruments performed live. Ever heard a sax close up, for instance?

We all strive for the best approach to that perfection within the envelope of budget and our room environment. Most of us make occasional big steps. Jerry makes frequent small steps. Our objectives are the same, it's just different methodology.

[Gordon Steadman]

Not possible. A very good system can approach tonally the sound of certain instruments (although piano is notoriously difficult, and I would add to that voice) but I know of few which can even attempt the dynamic range of acoustic instruments performed live. Ever heard a sax close up, for instance?

We all strive for the best approach to that perfection within the envelope of budget and our room environment. Most of us make occasional big steps. Jerry makes frequent small steps. Our objectives are the same, it's just different methodology.

Well, it seems its an afternoon for disagreeing

I play piano and classical / bass guitar, repair brass,woodwind and the viol family. Believe me, I am 'intimately' acquainted with the sound of all these instruments. I have heard systems that claim to be able to reproduce enough of the frequency range to reproduce them accurately and have yet to hear one that I a) liked and b) got anywhere close the the fundamental sense of the real thing that I get at home. Just reproducing the noise does not reproduce the music anyway.

I have had the same system for 25 years (just changed the amp but the sound is basically the same just adds a few degrees of bass) as it consistently gives me the same answers and so I can judge the nature of one piece of music against another. If I keep changing the system, I would have to reassess every piece of music I had ever listened to.

I am well aware that we all have different priorities and attitudes to the hobby so there is no one 'correct' answer. However the fundamental fact remains that the idea is to reproduce music and for me, to quote Hoffnung, "I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about me", any spare dosh is better spent on music that constantly making micro adjustments to what is probably a perfectly decent system.

[MartinT]

We may be violently agreeing!