How good does it have to get?

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The audience who may be really skilled at listening. This is a seperate skill and not one shared by all musicians.

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I think that being skilled at listening is something that can be learned or naturally aquired. But we all have a passion for listening and thats the most important thing.

Just this week I attended 4 live performances.First, a Bigband Jazz night at the University. It was great. Second, a school music festival of stage bands wherein my daughter played french horn: excellant. Third, the same festival where my daughter sang a duet: unbelievable.(I am a litte prejudice) Forth a accapla competition called "Canadian Idol" held in the Shopping Mall: Great.

Live music is fantastic, but almost every night I came home and listened to my Naim system and enjoyed it.

I quess that might be a good test as to whether your system is good enough and to what degree you are a music lover.

Music is in all of us.
Chris

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Originally posted by J. A. Toon:
I'm probably going to sound like some bourgeios, arrogant, boring twat now, but despite this risk, I really do hate most students.

The typical student of today is completely unsophisticated, an interminable bore with no interests other than getting permanently pissed.

Honestly, I'm not joking. This may be a stereotype, but it really is very true. Most people here use University as an excuse for nothing more than a three year drinking binge. This gets really boring very quickly!

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The students on the course I teach on don't resemble your description at all. What university are you at?

If you really want to listen to music all you need is enough of a system to allow emotional involvement. Most of the rest is just boys comparing dick sizes which ultimately gets rather tedious.

Alex

Many years ago a local hi-fi club asked my Naim dealer to give a presentation and he invited me to attend. It became obvious pretty quickly that this was serious anorak wearing country - these people were more interested in the science than the music. One of the reasons I frequent this forum is because I believe that Naim owners in general are interested in equipment as a means to an end.

I am passionate about music. I used to sing in my pram. When I was 6 I was selected from my year to receive free violin lessons. When I was 8 I begged to stay up if there was an Elvis movie on. When I was 10 I practiced the yo-yo until I got good enough to win the local championships and then stopped just short of the leader to come second, all because second prize was a record player. When I was 12 I started guitar lessons. When I was 16 my brother and I used to fight over who's turn it was to listen to Steely Dan's Aja on the family 3-in-one's headphones ..

The boxes could be made of cardboard for all I care, in fact one of the things that pisses me off about the new gear is that to get the marvelous music that it makes I have to pay a bunch of cash for fantastic build quality (the 500 was milled on Mars; try turning the volume knob on a 552) that I don't need.

How good is good enough ? I am in the process of upgrading after 6 years of buying new music and listening (yes really listening) to it on a system that has served two purposes : to give me enormous pleasure on a daily basis, and to gather dust. I arrived at this system after many years of owning equipment that was irritating, fatiguing and sometimes painful and that did not allow me to get intimate with the music in the way that headphones could. My system was good enough for me because I never stopped being excited by what it did and because there was nothing to fix. Why upgrade then ? Because, protected by what I thought was a thick shield of skepticism, I allowed myself a peak at the new equipment and was taken a quantum leap closer to the heart of the music and now I can't go back.

Bottom line is that my old system was good enough for me and I am upgrading anyway, but it's not about the boxes or dick size and I would hope that there are others out there that feel the same way.

[This message was edited by Minky on MONDAY 14 April 2003 at 04:58.]

If you want 'musical insight' you play records. Anyway, how's your XPeniS3 extension?

Alex

Pseuds Corner

Guys, just read what you have written.

If someone likes music, what they like and how, and on what equipment, they listen to it is entirely a matter for them.

cheers

Nigel

Stallion,

Could you give us some specific examples of musical insight you have recieved while listening to your hifi that was not available on lesser systems. I'd like to check if my stereo is any good or not.

Thanks,
Matthew

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Originally posted by Top Cat:

Save me now...

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Well John I've heard your system and since then it's had significant CD player and room upgrades. My view is that you should be happy where you're at and perhaps find some new toys to spend your money on.

I've been happy with my humble system for a while now which has freed me to buy lots of new toys. In fact I was out looking at one at lunchtime and I think I might well have another new toy soon. Considerably more expensive than a hi-fi (well mine anyway) at over £20K but I hope it will be just as much fun...

Regards
Steve

Painful (or Pleasing) As It May Be...

No matter what way you slice it, we all want the highest level of equipment we can possibly buy, BECAUSE each upgrade removes another layer of distortion and takes you closer to the music. PERIOD. EXCLAMTION MARK!

I wonder what one of our naysayers would do if he arrived home after his holidays and found that in his absence someone had broken into his house, nicked his old gear and replaced it with a CDS3/552/500/NBL's/Fraims, all nicely run in.

If our man was a music lover I suspect that he would put his favorite album on and after about 1 minute his answer to the question "how good does it have to get" would be "this good".

Tom,

Yes, a really rich tooth fairy loved up on E.

"replaced it with a CDS3/552/500/NBL's/Fraims"

I'd flog it buy a perfectly brilliant hi-fi and keep the £20k left over.

Matthew

Sorry, my one died shortly after his last delivery.

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Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:

I'd flog it buy a perfectly brilliant hi-fi and keep the £20k left over.

Matthew

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OK, but in the meantime you may as well use it ..