I've finally got my room setup so that it sounds "good". The bass is under control now, and the overall presentation is quite exciting. The system is currently CDS2/82/Super/250/Albions, with the 52 delayed due to shipping errors.
Even without the 52, I was revelling in the music, jumping from CD to CD. As a blast from the past, I decided to play Supertramp's "Crime of the Century". This was an album that I fell in love with in my early teens, and I know it inside and out. My system was doing a great job of reproducing the music just as I remembered it.
All of a sudden I realized how ludicrous this statement was. I originally listened to this album using a portable, monophonic, 8-track player. This was about as low-fi as you could get, and it took a $30K system to "reproduce" the same level of excitement and pleasure.
At the same time there are many people out there who still get much pleasure from equally low-fi systems. It seems that our brains are quite amazing when it comes to filling in the details. If the system isn't up to par, we easily imagine how it should sound. This begs the question of whether we need hi-fi at all.
I'll often comment that I spend big bucks on stereo gear so that I can enjoy the music more, yet is that all there is to it? Am I just more discerning (i.e. picky) in my old age? Does the audio quality really have anything to do with musical enjoyment? Is it just expensive male jewellery?
I get great pleasure from my system, yet I also realize that I could enjoy far less. (Hell, any music is better than no music.) It makes you wonder about the real reasons for climbing the upgrade ladder.
-=> Mike Hanson <=-
[This message was edited by Mike Hanson on TUESDAY 03 July 2001 at 18:25.]
Posted on: 03 July 2001 by Stephen Bennett
I too listened to a lot of music I love on old, often home built players. On my system now, some of these sound very exciting still, move me in the same ways. What's surprised me more is how I 'get' a lot of music I didn't before. This is especially true of acoustic type music. Guitarists now seem to be the right 'size', I can hear the clicks & thumps of real players.
What's also amazing is those records I thought destroyed by my home brew garrard (or worse!) are just dirty!
Lovely
stephen
Posted on: 03 July 2001 by Mike Hanson
quote:
Buy a turntable .... you will realize that, at last, you have effortless music playing through your room, and that is an enormous gap from the low-fi of your youth!
The question is not whether my system is acceptable. (It is!) The issue is whether high-fidelity is necessary at all, and what the real reason is for all of this upgrade madness.
BTW, I've heard a number of really good turntable setups. I understand the effect that they have (i.e. very smooth and natural), but the CDS2 does that just as well.
Speaking of turntables, I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of my RegaPlanar3/Dyna10x4mk2. It is a moving coil cartridge, albeit a high-output one. I realize that it doesn't compare to my CDS2, but we'll see how much I listen to it. If it's getting lots of play, then maybe I'll upgrade to the P9. I don't like fiddly setup, so I'll likely never go for an LP12, on the grounds of convenience alone.
-=> Mike Hanson <=-
