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Good Advice

As an old mid-fi'er seeking to upgrade both my old Onkyo receiver and Boston Acoustic speakers, it was great to find this advice in Epinions.

"Dancing on the Diminishing Returns Curve: Choosing Stereo Speakers
Dec 15 '05 (Updated Feb 18 '06)

The Bottom Line Don't go overboard and turn into a "tweak." Buy something inexpensive but good, dial it in, and enjoy the music.

It happened again the other day.

I was at someone's house and they were showing me their $20,000 stereo. Tube amplifiers. Elite CD player. $6,000 speakers. It sounded...great. And boring. Precise imaging. Tight bass. Unbelievable delicacy. And the whole was...less than the sum of the parts. I was unmoved by the music.

And so was the owner, I think.

He had the furrowed brow of someone with audiophilia nervosa, obsessed with achieving audio nirvana and spending his listening time noticing imperfections that could only be improved with a different amplifier, or different speakers, or maybe different interconnects or speaker wires.

He could never be satisfied with his system, and he could never slow down and enjoy the MUSIC.

At home, I have a modest but good system consisting of $1000 speakers, under $1000 worth of solid state amplification (and a $600 tube integrated amplifier which I sometimes use), a modest CD player, turntable, tuner and subwoofer. And the thing is DIALED! It sounds great to me.

Yeah, the imaging is a bit diffuse, inner detail is only good, and the mid-bass is a little round. But who cares? When I listen to music, I enjoy the music. And I'm not thinking about what component to get next, even when I'm sprawled on my bed reading Stereophile magazine.

What did I do right?

I gave up on finding sonic perfection and found components that work well together. And I made sure the cost of each component was on that part of the diminishing returns curve where things flatten out: where large increments in amount spent lead only to small increments in sound improvement.

The bottom line is this: You can have an excellent stereo system for a fraction of what the "tweaks" are paying, and you'll probably enjoy your music more than they do. The speakers are probably the most important component in a home audio system, so shop around and figure out what kind of sound YOU like.

Then have fun assembling an inexpensive system that's 80% or 90% as good as the best out there. After that, forget about the system and enjoy the MUSIC."

Truth is, whether you're spending a 1K or 100K the bottom line (or what should be the bottom line) is the MUSIC and your enjoyment of it. If you lose sight of that, then I would really wonder "what are you spending your money on and what are you trying to accomplish?".
cleaneduphippy
bdgregory
1,580 posts
 
I think it depends on what your hobby is. If your hobby is the music, then it's good to remember that and follow the advice of the first post. But IMO, there's absolutely nothing wrong if you realize your hobby includes active participation in the delivery and facilities required for music. my personal experience is below for those who want to read on . . .

For years my primary hobby has been boating and water skiing. I pursued that with obsession, not only dealing with new Boats, Skis, upgrades and tweaks, but also buying lakefront property and building a house and dock to maximize my enjoyment.

Similarly I now actively pursue a hobby that I consider to be "audio", which is not only the music, but also the delivery, and facility. I have always been passionate about music, and it's always playing. BUT, I'm a geek, and I enjoy the active part of the hobby as much as the passive part. I find every tweak, and new piece of equipment invigorating. Not only the active part when I install it; but I'm almost always thrilled by the results when I sit and listen.

Just as my enjoyment of boating has evolved, and I no longer tweak, I'm satisfied with the boat I have and simply go out and drive it; I expect this will happen with the audio part too. At that point I will passively enjoy just the music, but will probably have some other hobby to satisfy the geek in me.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
cleaneduphippy is correct. i have known 100's of serious music lovers over the years as well as audiophiles. i have been lucky to have friends too, that are both. generally speaking, the two groups have nothing in common. the guys who spent the most time listening to, purchasing, collecting and studying music, always had modest systems, with no special wire or tweeks.
the_kid's avatar
the_kid
465 posts
 
Great thread! I too have a couple of friends who cannot sit still and listen to music. They are always making changes in speaker positioning, trying a different tweek on every song, and even coloring CD's with markers to compensate for the recording.

To me, it gets annoying after a while. Not to mention, they will only purchase CD's that are "good recordings". The Artist and Material have gone to the wayside. It is kinda ridiculous if you think about it. I mean who wants to sit around and listen to every Patricia Barber or Norah Jones Album over and over again? I would rather watch an episode of the OC which is what I consider torture..

While tweeking can be fun and I have heard the differences, for me, it is all about the music and escaping into it for enjoyment. I love sifting through my collection. The stuff I listen to is rarely recorded perfectly and I accept that. Some stuff sounds better than others.

My system now consists of a Simple Tube Integrated, a moderately priced pair of speakers. The Digital Front end has changed from time to time but the core stays the same. I have own more expensive setups but they did not give me the level of enjoyment I currently have. Go Figure..

Chris
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
I'm kind of surprised I didn't get flamed for my last post. It seems more A'Goners than I realized have the awareness to recognize that it is also about hifi and the equipment for us audiophiles. Of course in varying proportions.

It's interesting that I'm not very critical about the quality of the music playback while in my car or at work. I'm just glad to have music in those environments.
eccbo
24 posts
 
I think most of you have good points, but this statement I dont agree with;

'i think itms is true--it's the music stupid.

a two part study in stereophile showed that sound quality was not a guarantee of satisfaction.

you can get just as much satisfaction listening to your favorite music ona $300 personal stereo as on a $100,00 stereo system'

No matter the quality of the recording, a good system makes it 'sound' better.

I will put it this way. When I was very young (six years old maybe?) It was discovered that I had a vision problem. So I got my eyes examined and spectacles were prescribed for me. The day I got them I was astonished as to all that I was not seeing before, but the night was the most dramatic, as I finally saw the stars for what they were for the FIRST time! I only saw blobs of light for the brightest stars previously.

For me its the same with equipment. You have a little radio or boombox and you listen to music and its fine. BUT, when you step up to a good system and listen to the same music, it's like you have never heard it before until then. I am not saying that the $100,000 dollar sytem is what' need to do that either, but if the gear makes my music sound more enjoyable, more enticing, more real, then I will get that gear.

In the end, the gear is part of the music too.

To end, try thoroughlly enjoying the 1812 Overture or even Maroon 5 or Dido, on a transistor radio or a cheap mini system. You might like it until you hear it with a very good setup( that only needs to cost maybe $1000). Then you will LOVE it!

D
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