Talk but not walk?


Hi Guys

This isn't meant to start a fight, but it is important to on lookers. As a qualifier, I have my own audio forum where we report on audio issues as we empirically test them. It helps us short cut on theories and developing methods of listening. We have a wide range of systems and they are all over the world adding their experiences to the mix. Some are engineers, some are artist and others are audiophiles both new and old. One question I am almost always asked while I am visiting other forums, from some of my members and also members of the forum I am visiting is, why do so many HEA hobbyist talk theory without any, or very limited, empirical testing or experience?

I have been around empirical testing labs since I was a kid, and one thing that is certain is, you can always tell if someone is talking without walking. Right now on this forum there are easily 20 threads going on where folks are talking theory and there is absolutely no doubt to any of us who have actually done the testing needed, that the guy talking has never done the actual empirical testing themselves. I've seen this happen with HEA reviewers and designers and a ton of hobbyist. My question is this, why?

You would think that this hobby would be about listening and experience, so why are there so many myths created and why, in this hobby in particular, do people claim they know something without ever experimenting or being part of a team of empirical science folks. It's not that hard to setup a real empirical testing ground, so why don't we see this happen?

I'm not asking for peoples credentials, and I'm not asking to be trolled, I'm simply asking why talk and not walk? In many ways HEA is on pause while the rest of audio innovation is moving forward. I'm also not asking you guys to defend HEA, we've all heard it been there done it. What I'm asking is a very simple question in a hobby that is suppose to be based on "doing", why fake it?

thanks, be polite

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net


128x128michaelgreenaudio
Thank you Elizabeth!

"Everyone IS selling something".. either an attitude, or an idea, or a notion. Every post with any effort is selling it’s ideas.
So yeah, we ARE all selling something.
And it is sold cheap! All you have to do is read the post!"

I’m in absolute shock over some of these responses others have made. As I said above I even showed some friends of mine tonight. They couldn’t believe it. I asked them, if they thought I have been what folks here are saying and their response to me was that I’m the opposite from what I am being accused of.

It’s very strange to me. Thanks again Elizabeth!!

Michael Green
www.michaelgreenaudio.net
Elizabeth and Michael Green,

As poetic as "everyone IS selling something here" may appear to be, it is far from correct. Especially in early posts (mine included), there were some views and some thoughts, but there were also plain questions with not much else added to them. I am not sure if they were simple as people who posted them seem not to be satisfied with clarity of answers. Maybe those asking are out of tune with those answering. Putting attitude in explanation how everybody is selling anything definitely opens the door for not allowing further questioning by those who question, but has nothing to do with reality. I repeat, there were at least a few posts with questions without any opinion and those people were clearly not selling anything, not even attitude, if that can even be sold. Elizabeth's post reminded me of the way many of my friends in their early twenties were trying to charm girls with deep intellectual thoughts that, in the end, had no meaning. Parallel worlds on two different energetic levels and such.

It just happens that I showed this thread to a friend whose comment was "what is this, some paid advertising forum, the guy is trying to push his thing without answering any question when asked directly". Just like to your friends, who may be a bit biased because they are your friends, other friends with no bias (I just showed the thread and made no comment about anything) may have a different view.

It comes across as your friends mocking retired people, but they are not completely correct. For my part, I am not retired. In some way, I do have to agree with your friends as, many posts ago, I did mention that having Planck, Einstein, and Kim Jong Un in a thread about nothing existentially important (at least to those who had no interest in selling anything) shows we all have too much free time and should go back to doing something. It would be interesting to find out how many of your customers are retirees. I do not have even a wild guess.



Is reading Tuneland supposed to make people converts to whatever is there? OP was not even about Tuneland. Nor was it about Planck, Einstein, or Kim Jong Un, for that matter. It seems that things take turns to unexpected directions originally unrelated to the post.

In this particular thread, I am not taking any side and give a benefit of the doubt that some things may work (tuning) while having some doubts about the extent and usability/practicability of such approaches. I may never know. However, I do notice that thread started seeming more of a sales pitch and, for a lack of better word, ridiculing those posters who are not full believers.


On a completely different note, is there any use in demoing tuning system in a room in Las Vegas and believing that different equipment thousands of miles away will get the same benefit?
Even myself, a self-described audiot who doesn’t know a mosfet from a misfit recognizes the validity of tuning a room, as well as many of the other tweaks and suggestions that I’ve read about over the last five years since I’ve joined.  

Why do musicians express appreciation for the acoustics of certain studios?  That answer is obvious.  Does toe-ing speakers qualify as tuning?  Unscientifically speaking I’d have to offer, yes. 

If I fail to preface my opinions with the ubiquitous “ IMHO “ it should be taken for granted that everything I offer in the various threads I follow is tendered as such. And yes, Virginia, I’ve known that drums are tuned since I was...younger.  

Real world “in my house” applications of improving stuff may not always be practical given time, financial constraints, etc., but I read virtually everything with an open mind toward doing so.  

Some of the attempts at bettering my system were immediately tangible, others not so much.  Most of these, cables, conditioning, moving speakers to and fro were employed after reading posts throughout the site.  I’ve kept everything modest in comparison to some of the enviable systems I’ve read about here,  but I’ll be damned if I begin ignoring informative posts intended to share knowledge.  

When I joined here five years ago I was still using speaker wire from Radio Shack for pete’s sake!



oblgny,

I am about the same as what you describe yourself in level of non-sophistication except that I still use my Monster Cable ($30 for a long long spool) bought in 1994. I doubt anyone would argue that the room makes a huge difference and it can be improved to some extent. What caught my eye earlier in this thread is suggestion that there are no bad recordings and they can all be made good by tuning of something. OP was neither about room tuning nor about quality of recordings, but it morphed into it.


I did go to MG website and got puzzled by one of the statements. "Sound shutters organize the laminar flow that travels along the wall and ceilings" Isn't laminar flow organized one and turbulent flow more disorganized one? Wouldn't something placed in the path of the laminar flow make it less organized (turbulent)? At least that is how it goes in my line of business. I am not trying to question validity of any or all such treatments for the purpose of making the room sound different (better or not, your choice), but just wonder if that was an unfortunate choice of words.
Glupson: your last post reads like a classic "I am almost (not) apologizing but I don't know why, so I'll just make a lot of angst ridden noise". LOL

As for bad recordings..
As I move up the food (stereo bits) chain, I notice maybe a third of recordings just do not get any,( or if any, only a tiny amount) better than what they were.
Where other recordings astonish me with their deeper and better sound. Sort of the TAS HP's list thing. And the amazing thing is there is no rule of label, or artist, just almost random luck.

Since I listen to a LOT of 1930 and 1940's Jazz on cheap EU CDs. The limitations of the recording can easily be heard, yet for most, the joy of the performance is all that matters.
(wish I owned all those clean 78's..)