AudioBanter.com - View Single Post - Home theatre with hifi recommendations sought

wrote:

No one ever said High End audio was rational.

But it could be. There is no reason why somebody could not
intelligently shop around for REALLY good speakers, REALLY
good surround processors, and REALLY good ancillary gear,
and then install it in a REALLY good, dedicated room,
possibly built from scratch. (Yep, that is me.) That would
be true high end, and not the baloney behavior we see in
most situations.

It's obsessive
compulsive behavior!

Only with certain individuals. There are those who follow
the guidelines noted above and get GENUINE high-end
performance and not fantasies. Fantasies are not high end.

It's a relatively harmless outlet for OCD, as
opposed to some others.

Yes, it probably is harmless. However, it does result in
certain individuals making suckers out of others. While the
people who sell gimmick products are not exactly dragging
down our culture, they can, and do, sometimes do damage to
individuals who purchase overpriced gear. Also, there is
something about dumbing down any hobby that I find
offensive.

Mid-fi is more rational which is why it sells
more- a reasonable approximation at a reasonable price. You buy it,
hook it up, it sounds okay. Not super great, okay.

Agreed.

The same with a
hobbyist owning Snap-On wrenches, or HP/Agilent or Tek test equipment,
or a Hasselblad camera...no, you don't need it. That's the point.

What point? Again, a REAL high-end enthusiast (be audio,
tools, or cameras the point of interest) will work to get
stuff that does all that is required to satisfy certain
requirements. Yes, if he is loaded with money he can get
overkill items (I have done that myself in audio, tools, and
photography in some, but certainly not all, cases), but that
does not mean that he will get a performance edge that
matters in terms of reality.

Also, most of the guys who get upscale tools or upscale
camera gear (I once did weddings, portraits, and landscape
photography for money, myself) do not spend big bucks on
items that do nothing. This is not the case with audio
freaks, who will spend big bucks on power conditioners,
super wire, vibration control devices, and other goofy
gimmicks.

As an obsessive hobby, audio sits an irrational peg above
photography or woodworking or metalworking enterprises.

About any old speakers hooked to about any old amplifier in about any
room will sound about okay, to the average person on the street.

Ironically, a high-end package may actually sound worse. Not
always, but sometimes. Much high-end gear is overpriced and
overkill junk. (Read: SET amps, for instance.) Is someone
who purchases stuff like that in total ignorance and then
become pleased with results that are substandard in the
extreme a REAL high-end enthusiast? I think not. I think
they are a bit addled, and as you noted obsessive, but I do
not think that they are genuine high-end audio enthusiasts.
High-end audio enthusiasts, the real ones and not the fakes
that hang out here, know what they are doing.

If
you have a little money and tme and want the sound to be more
realistic, more, well, more...and you like well made things for their
own sake...high end audio might be a good hobby. Maybe you have money
and no time, just call the high end saloon on lunch break-even dope
defense lawyers and brain surgeons have to eat-and have them deliver
what they think is best. Have some time and curiosity and energy and
not so much cash? Building your own speakers and amps has to beat
watching stupid TV shows. Nothing in the world like flipping the
switch and watching filaments light up...even in 2005.

Not for me.

Howard Ferstler