Audio tip for aging male audiophiles


Frequent viewers on the Audiogon forum have the opportunity to read many, many suggestions on how to improve the sound of their audio systems. As a rule, the suggestions are directed at the general membership. Well, I can't resist starting 2002 with a suggestion for fellow 'philes who are -- how do I put this delicately? -- closing in on their golden years".

One of the best "tweaks" I have found for for improving the sound I hear (as distinct from improving my system) is (trumpet salute...): trimming my ear hair!

If you think that this public suggestion reflects a total lack of good taste, or that references to personal grooming habits are totally inappropriate for such an august forum, please consider: excess ear hair blocks the transmission of high frequencies to the inner ear.

Come on, guys, you all know you've seen gaffers with shrubs sprouting from their ears! If you happen to be an older audiophile with hirsute ears, then try this simple experiment: listen to a recording with good high-frequency content, then trim your ear hair and listen again to the same recording. I'm willing to bet money that you'll quickly hear a difference.

Yes, there's a story behind all this. For Christmas 2000, my wife gave me a "gag" geezer gift: a battery-operated, Conair ear and nose hair trimmer. Initially, I was offended, but when I actually used the trimmer and got rid of the excess ear hair, I noted a distinct improvement in the sound I heard from my audio system. During the past year, the trimmer has become a regular part of "tuning" my personal audio system.

So, a word to my fellow, older audiophiles: lose that ear hair and hear what you've been missing. It may be the best, low-cost "upgrade" you can make to your system at this point in life!
sdcampbell
:o) Helps to clean the wax out of your ears too.

One suggestion please consider the younger crowd at night. Its hard to sleep with the music screaming in the background.
Sd, for whatever reason I don't have hair in or on my ears and at 40 I guess I may never sprout it. I am fanatical about cleaning my ears though, do it daily to make sure they are squeaky clean. Q'Tips are very cheap tweaks.
Yeah, I've been using that $6 Conair for a year...every month or so. Seems that it's so friggin LOUD though that I wonder how long I have to wait for my auditory apparati to recover from this artificial Toro razing my canal?!
Truly, I think the temporary masking effect may WAY overwhelm any hf extension...at least in the short term.
So how long should one wait post-trimming before settling in the EZ chair?
Happy 2002 to all...it's GOTTA be a better one! Ernie
scott: most excellent thread to which i can very much relate. about the only place on my body where hair doesn't grow is the top of my head. that's why i've sported a full beard for the past 30 years. got tired of gettin' screwed at the barber shop. now, as i too move from silver centrum to gold, i have my barber trim my ears and eyebrows. in between visits, i use a panasonic nose and ear groomer. much higher quality and not as noisy as the conair. ernie, you ought to change brands, too. -cfb
Ernie, it takes 80-100 hours for the ears to "adjust and stabilize" to an "ear job" by Conair :>)-- sort of like breaking in ICs. Cheers. Craig