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HiFi satisfaction and/ or Musical enjoyment

Have you ever asked yourself if these are the same or different objectives?

For me I had an epiphany after over 25 years of chasing perfection that enjoying music is different than owning the best hifi gear. This happened when I grabbed an a used Pathos integrated, BS Node and Forte IV for my second system in my open floor plan.

I found myself listening much more to my 2nd system and nowhere near as much in my dedicated treated room with a reference level system costing >25x the price of my downstairs system.

 

After I realized my behavior I began a self assessment:

A.) Lower expectations are more easy exceeded

B.) The system is less resolving therefore average to poor recordings are still enjoyable
C.) I listened to entire tracks or albums that I wanted to listen to vs what sounded the most impressive on my reference HiFi system. Damn it is nice to listen to the music that you love.

 

Does it matter how you become satisfied with audio reproduction or just that you get there?

For me it just matters that I am happy and if I can get there with modestly priced gear and in this economy be subject to far less of a depreciation hit… hey that is a win win.

 

Below are a few other things that I learned about “my” preferences

1.) I prefer high sensitivity large speakers due to their ability to create realism (no replacement for displacement)

2.) Paper cones over any exotic materials

3.) High tech cabinet materials are great but I have no issue with properly braced MDF or plywood

4.) Wide dispersion designs (look for Klippel data on a speaker that you are interested in and see the horizontal dispersion)

5.) Soundstage scale and tone take the cake for me… throw a huge stage due to #4 above and nail tone and we will call it a day

 

So what did I do about this Audio crisis of mine? Sold all of the HiFi gear and grabbed some Cornwall IVs and some used gear to drive them at a fully depreciated price. Are Cornwalls perfect? Nope. Is any speaker? Nope. Screw it I am now a man free from HiFi BS and listening to music.

xp200dr
ghdprentice
6,957 posts
 

OP,

 

Congratulations on your destination. My journey has been similar. However, I never dropped back to musically satisfying equipment I moved up and laterally to change the focus from details and slam which was excluding the music to musical with all the details and black backgrounds in proportion to live music. But the same fundamental epiphany that I had chased the wrong characteristics and ended up in the wrong… albeit enjoyable place.

toro3's avatar
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toro3
331 posts
 

The two variables that seem to be holding me back from feeling content are:

1. Identifying preference (historically)

2. Curiosity (currently)

I don’t necessarily think this takes away from enjoyment, but I often wonder how a different component or speaker would sound. This curiosity is often tampered down through music discovery and finding an artist that I really appreciate, but hadn’t known. Having a decent system to turn up and lean into when listening to this new find usually takes me away from this frame of mind. That’s just me and my personal journey, though! Mileage and paths (and destinations) always vary.

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,895 posts
 

A lot of this gels so much with my experiences so far. It’s been a struggle, at times. Paper / pulp / fiber midrange cones rock! Done right, they sound so natural. I love (some) Tannoys, and my favorites all have that paper midrange cone. I also really like the smaller Acora floorstanders - again, (advanced) paper cones (ScanSpeak).

A.) Lower expectations are more easy exceeded

Very much so. In other less audiophile-friendly groups, the mantra is "you spent $$$$ on xyz, of course you’ll convince yourself you love it". It seems you and I have a bit of the opposite problem. A big spend makes me more critical - it has a lot to live up to!

mglik
907 posts
 

For me, it all started when I was 5 listening under the covers to Elvis on a transistor radio. I adored him and that little magic box. 1958.

Don’t think I ever recaptured that feeling.

jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller
1,399 posts
 

Great thread. I’m not sure why folks at the top reacted to it the way they did. I like hearing all perspectives. 
 

Someone above (too lazy to quote here) noted how you might go in one direction and learn far later that your hunt was in the wrong area altogether! I’ve done that way too many times.  But we live and learn. 
 

I still love discovering gear that gets me deeper to seeing Oz without remortgaging my home!  Just picked up a cute used Sachs preamp that has been such a fun time! 

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