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Do you agree with John Atkinson (and me)?

 

Point 1: In the recent thread entitled ’How much is too much to spend on a system?’, I contributed this comment: "The hi-fi shouldn’t be worth more than one’s music library." I said that half-jokingly, a wisecrack that I knew might be disagreed with.

Point 2: In the 1990’s I became a regular customer at the Tower Records Classical Music Annex store in Sherman Oaks, California. The store manager knew a LOT about Classical music, but also made no secret of his distain for audiophiles, whom he viewed as caring more about the sound quality of recordings than their musical quality.

Point 3: In the early days of The Absolute Sound magazine, the writers occasionally mocked audiophiles who had a serious high end system, but whose record collections merely consisted of a small number of "demo" discs. Those audiophiles collect records that make their systems sound good, rather than assemble a system that makes their records sound good.

 

I make the above points as a preamble to the following:

In the past few months I have fallen behind in my reading of the monthly issues of Stereophile that arrive in my mailbox. Yesterday I finally got around to reading the editorial in the January issue, written by John Atkinson (filling in for current editor Jim Austin, who is recuperating from surgery, I believe). The final two paragraphs of the editorial read as follows:

 

"Back in the day, I did an analysis of Stereophile reviewers’ systems. The common factor was that all the reviewers’ collections of LPs and CDs cost a lot more than their systems. The same is true of me, even in these days of streaming."

"Isn’t that the way it should be for all music-loving audiophiles?"

 

Well, is it?

 

bdp24
whart's avatar
whart
3,140 posts
 

@bdp24-We should absolutely get together if you come to Austin, have a meal, do some listening, go out and hear a band or two. I don't travel as much as I used to, but a little advance notice would be good.

One further thought that is indirectly related to the topic:

I realized at some point that my systems (particularly the main system where I've spent the most time and effort, leaving money aside) allows my brain/ear/gut to take in the music without as much "processing" to "fill in the gaps." Musicians are often able to get the gist listening to a boom box because their brains are wired for music. For audiophiles, whether or not you have music training, I think it is a little more passive being in listening mode and requires some degree of attention. In that process, I've found that a good system doesn't require so much imagination--the performance can be appreciated without as much "work." I've never formally studied psychoacoustics, but I'm sure there is some "science" relating to this. 

noromance's avatar
noromance
10,057 posts
 

@snilf You need better friends. 

Literally none of my most musical friends care at all about audio sound quality.

westcoastaudiophile
466 posts
 

(again) proposal to measure sound quality for many people in $$$ is ABSURD!

bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
10,106 posts
 

 

A lot of great comments here. In my case, the LPs and CDs I already possess would take me more time to listen to than I have time left on Earth. Yet I continue to buy more used and new ones. I love records! I also love good sound, but my system is now "good enough" for me, so I can just relax and enjoy the music. No more audiophile nervosa.smiley

 

An old San Jose band mate of mine (a bassist) visited me in SoCal in the mid-2000’s, and when he saw my pair of Infinity RS-1b’s said "Ya know, people don’t have big speakers anymore." I thought to myself "Most never did." I subsequently visited him in San Jose, and saw that he listens to music through his computer, including it’s stock speakers. Oy! He had seen my LP and CD collection, and told me all his LP’s were in the storage space in his carport. What a shame.

 

brev
52 posts
 

I completely disagree. What works for the goose does not necessarily work for the gander. Spend as you wish on what you wish. I don't know why people have to make a right or wrong way of doing things.

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