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My system has just received the ultimate insult

The girl I have been seeing recently has shown complete indiffrence to my system. (Melos MA-333, Adcom GCD-750, Oddesy Stratus, ML SL3's) Yesterday, I brought up the subject while in my car and she mentioned that she had bought a pair of speakers for $100 that sounded the same. How I wish that were true! I mentioned that she (like others) has no ability to hear or appreciate the difference. She of course disagreed. I said, that is like saying "all people look just about alike and are equally attractive". She again could not see my logic. When we got home, I played a track for her on my $150 sat/sub with a $20 portable CD player and asked her to listen to it. I then played the same track for her on my system and to my amazement, she said it sounded noticable WORSE! She described it as sounding like a radio station that was not tuned properly with lots of static. What I am assuming is that she has never heard a system that had any kind of hi-freq extension and likened it to "static". Others have heard my system and are completely blown away with every aspect of how it sounded. We have much different tastes in the music we listen to. I have 2 questions to ask, 1) is it possible that she could enjoy listening to 'Her' stereo as much as I enjoy listening to mine? 2) may I continue to be involved with her and still have the respect of my peers?

For the record, I listened to it last night after the insult, and it sounded as wonderful and envolving as ever!
pmwoodward
ellery911
549 posts
 
I think audiofile 9 may have nailed it on the head...at least I liked the answer given...anyhow, dont worry about the perceived insult. The real insult is when your girlfriend/sister goes out to a department store and spends $1000+ on a rack system with a dual cassette deck, million disc changer, turn table, lighted eq etc etc when a much better 2 component + speakers system could be had for the same price. Hope it all works out.
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
Women are generally more sensitve to high frequencies acording to some scientific/anthropological studies. Women tend to notice the digital glare of many CD players more then men. Maybe this is a good excuse to try an analog turntable rig!!! Also, many people are used to drinking crap soda-pop like cheapo wines and actually think these taste great (lacking a trained pallate and the ability to deal with fine wines' complexities!) I'm sure that the same holds true for the audio world.
dbw1
161 posts
 
There is one more 'scientific' possiblity. Given your system's higher resolution than hers, she may be hearing actual static on the recording (older, poorer recordings?) that she couldn't hear on hers. As to whether she can enjoy her system as much as you enjoy yours...unanswerable question. How do you quantify enjoyment? It's impossible really, but there are some points to consider. First, which would you enjoy more - music you hate on your system, or music you love on hers? Probably the latter, right? Proper reproduction isn't everything. Some people just don't really care about that, and just love the music. If she is one of those types, I have a theory. Most mass market systems are actually quite well balanced. Not too bright, not too warm - it's an unavoidable part of their inherent suckiness. Once you have a system that has good resolution, it stands out of it's out of balance (too bright, too thin, too much mid-bass, whatever). This would probably sound worse to a person such as your girlfriend than a system which wasn't that great, but which was unobtrusive in its character. I've put cables in my system that made it just sound awful, even though each individual component is allegedly an audiophile piece of gear. Anyway, I'll refrain from giving advice about the relationship. What the hell do I know.
tubegroover
2,279 posts
 
"I have 2 questions to ask, 1) is it possible that she could enjoy listening to 'Her' stereo as much as I enjoy listening to mine? 2) may I continue to be involved with her and still have the respect of my peers?"

1) Absolutely
2) God I hope for your sake she never gets a hold of THAT question. (if she means anything to you, that is)

dbw1...Right On!!

On a further note...if you have to crank it up for YOU and your audio cronys to enjoy, chances are good she might think it's a "guy" thing. It you "transcend" towards low level resolution where you don't have to listen so LOUD yet still enjoy, maybe she'll eventually come around...just some food for thought. Not saying you do, but do you?
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
run, don't walk
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