"George M. Middius" cmndr [underscore] george [at] comcast [dot] net wrote
in message ...
Let's start with the obvious. Consumer audio is rife with high-priced
stuff. A lot of it is "overpriced" if you define that to mean "priced out
of proportion to its utility", where the baseline for value is set by the
lowest-priced stuff.
Now we've established that simple fact, let's get to what's wrong with you
'borgs. Of course you can't afford the expensive stuff.
How many of them have you met?
Neither can most
people. Guess what? $10,000 amps and $30,000 speakers aren't marketed to
the likes of you.
So therefor we have no right to assess their value as equipment or to
determine if they do ANYTHING different than cost more?
You don't want that stuff and the people who sell it
don't want you as customers. (It's true you don't want it, right?)
I don't want tobe patronized and lied to about how much better my better my
system will sound if I buy $100.00 per ft, cable. I don't want some
ignorant schlub to try and convince me that things that aren't capable of
happening are possible with the newest tweak.
We know you can't afford it. Tough.
Irrelevant to the stuff being as advertised.
We also know you don't understand the
luxury goods market.
When you buy something considered a luxury, it has things that can
objectively be considered better than the plain vanilla version. A more
comfortable chair, a longer lasting engine, whatever, it means improvement
other than cosmetic.
All you understand about value is how much something
costs.
The people who engineer and record music want and expect that their work
will be given the courtesy of playback on equipment that will accurately
reproduce it. To that end, audiophiles try to get equipment that doesn't
audibly distort. Once you have a device that achieves that end, anything
more is not luxury, it's window drressing. While some may think it nice to
have gear that looks as good as it sounds, for most of us the sound comes
first.
All your bleating about "tests" and "proof" and "claims" is a
smokescreen. Yes, we know marketing talk is largely BS. But it's you
'borgs who can't accept that the same hype happens in audio as in every
other luxury category.
Which other luxury categories market things that can't do what they are
claimed to be able to do?
Best Buy, as an example, sells hundreds of low-priced boxes out of each
store each week. A high-end salon sells a few boxes each week. "Amps is
amps!" shriek the 'borgs. Then how do you explain the fact that high-end
salons have a steady stream of customers, many of them repeat customers?
"Ripoff!" intone the 'borgs, showing their abysmal ignorance.
And the evidence to the contrary is where? Aside from the possiblity of
better quality speakers, what besides the better digs is there to recomend?
You 'borgs don't get it. You're clueless. You're completely lost. You
believe with all your metronic hearts that audio should be utilitarian.
Bull****, we beleive it should do what it advertises it can do. If it can't
do that they shouldn't claim it does. If it can, it's worth then becomes
something to consider.
Well, guess what -- it's not. As long as there's a segment of the market
that will pay for fancy nameplates and toadying service, some suppliers
will go into business to satisfy that demand.
Nothing wrong with excellent coustomer service, it's the bull****
advertising that's the problem and the belief that things that cost more
sound better when they only look better. Most people are smart enough to
know that if they buy expensive cologne, it doesn't mean they get to sleep
with a supermodel. If audio companies want to adverstise sex appeal as a
reason to buy their stuff so what? When they say it sounds better or
different, then they ought to be willing and able to demonstrate it.
The high end is not for you.
The high end is almost completely the province of loudspeaker design, since
(assuming sound quality is the main goal), so any other claims aobut high
end are really confined to looks and features. I don't know anybody who
thinks you shouldn't be able to spend asa much as you want on your stereo,
but you should be aware, and lots of people seem not to be, that it doesn't
buy better performance.
Turn around and go shop where you're wanted.
So the audio salons should maybe put up signs: NO TECHNICALLY COMPETENT
PEOPLE ALLOWED?
**** you, snob.
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