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Am I a burning out audiophile????

...or am i simply a music lover to begin with???

Disregarding the debate that could potentially be born from the statement above, I sit here in my 18x18x8 room listening to Diana Krall's 'When I look in your eyes' through a pair of Totem Winds powered by a Krell kav-400xi and Jolida JD100a source. It sounds great, it truly does! It does so many things right and so little wrong! Why then, do I have the question in the back of my mind - 'is this system as musically engaging as my past system was?'

Tonally, it's better. It goes deeper. It's more accurate, smooth, well balanced, etc. etc. etc.

The prior system the back of my mind questions is that of the Totem Arros powered by a PrimaLuna Prologue Two with Cairn Fog source in a 9x11x8 room. If memory serves me correct - pure magic! What I thought at the time (and am wondering now) was the epidomy of emotional involvement!

Q.1 - am I only remembering the 'good times' with the prior system? (like how we photograph only the good times of our life and wax nostalgic about how great things used to be)

The move to the upgraded system was initiated by my desire to listen to more music with my wife. Today, (and last night, and the night before...) I still find myself listening by myself. Regardless of the extra chairs in larger space!

I also wanted to simplify and combine my seperate systems (5.1HT and 2-channel) into one higher-end 2-channel dual purpose system. The result is great sound, but perhaps not the most musically enagaging two-channel nor the most enveloping, impactful HT either? As a dual purpose system it performs great, but it isn't send ingtingles down my spine or have me toe-tapping like the smaller Arro system did.

Q.2 - have I gone too far??? Have I treaded into water where I have to think about the music too much to enjoy it??? Am I asking too much of a single system???

The road from system #1 to system #2 has had a lot of in-between systems that have just led to frustration and/or musical dissatifaction, but too much too get into detail here...

Q.3 - which brings us back to where I started; am I a burning out audiophile??? Am I simply thinking about this too much???

I don't know what I expect in response to this babble? I don't know if these questions are even 'real' or simply part of a rhetorical rant? Anyway, thanks for listening and feel free to post and thoughts or comments....
jh2os
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Viridan, You beat me to it! Diana Krall for Pete's sake. Small wonder Jh2os is getting bored. As for Patricia Barber, great recordings, in monotone! Lets talk real jazz, my jazz that is. :-) No offense intended.

For Jh2os, FWIW I'm driving Tylers with Primaluna stuff and loving the hell out of it. No more anal fiddling for me. My big stuff is all tucked away in the closet for now except I might get a phono stage for my analog front end.
bossjay
16 posts
 
You are not burned out Sir. I agree with Eldarado. You are a Audiophile. Thats not good. Being a Audiophile is like being on drugs. You get high and then you need another fix, only you are using stereo electronics for your fix. Your system is fine. You have very nice equipment so chill out and enjoy it. For the record, there is no perfect system so stop looking. If you get tired of your equipment dont listen to it for three or four weeks. Get out while you are ahead. This can be serious. I know cause ive been there. I wasted alot of money. Good luck.
soundlogic's avatar
soundlogic
51 posts
 
sounds to me like you've traded a tubed amp for a solid state amp...could this be where your emotional connection was lost?
erasmusj
14 posts
 
I have to agree that the room is the most likely culprit. In time as you listen you may identify the room resonances that may be present. There is lots of material on this site about room treatment. There is a simple way to test the theory. Cover three walls of the room with blankets, duvets, drapes, carpeting, whatever you can lay your hands on. You will then be listening to your system without most of the room effects. Most find this quite an eye (ear) opening experience. Then you can plan more appropriate treatments to get the required effect.

My listening room has one wall naturally covered in curtains because it is all glass. Two more walls have curtain rails fitted along the top with curtains that are drawn into the corners normally. When I do serious listening I simply draw the additional curtains across the walls. The effect is amazing. The carpeting on the floor also helps.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Let me hazard a guess....

Perhaps you are facing diminishing returns...a good $1000 speaker (Arros) can do a pretty good job when well placed in an appropriate small sized room with unchallenging material like female vocal and acoustic guitar. Under certain conditions the LF cutoff of a smaller speaker gives better balance than a full range one (because LF room modes can get out of hand easily and boominess can cloud your ability to hear the lower midrange).

My experience: I still like my Energy 22's from 1983 (less than $800 new at that time). Do the Energy 22 have huge dynamics, startling mid range clarity and ability to play at all levels (including extremely loud) whilst maintaining balance, low distortion and without sounding compressed and boomy? Can Energy 22's fool me into thinking I am at a live venue with realistic live SPL levels? The answer to both these questions is absolutely NOT. However, do the Energy 22's still sound great and pleasing at moderate levels on most source music ...ABSOLUTELY! Would Energy 22's still be enough for me if I lived in a small appartment with neighbours that I had to respect...ABSOLUTELY!

Your old Arros were a great speaker and still are. If you don't feel the Totem Winds are a huge improvement you may want to check your room modes out (test CD & Rat Shack meter). Or simply just crank it up a bit...that is where a higher $$$ design will shine giving you crystal clear sound even at realistic music levels. Also try something a bit more challenging and get yourself some excitement rather than the ever so pleasant (boring) Krall....like Tower of Power What is Hip (Soul Vaccination Album) or Seal "Crazy" or something from Mahler or dare I say it, try some Angus air guitar kicking circles around the floor... "Back in Black".

Like a Barchetta sports car...if you use it for groceries at 30 MPH the benefits will not be very apparent....let it rip on a challenging winding country road...ahh Sunlight on chrome, The blur of the landscape, Every nerve aware....
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