I'm here for the sharing, not the snobery


Just a quick note.  Things around here on Audiogon have been interesting over the past couple of weeks as I've watched a number of trolls shift the tenor of the discussions.

I wanted to say that I fully support information sharing, doing things ourselves, experimentation and ways to broaden who is among us.

The idea that you are or are not an audiophile based on what you have spent, or what exclusive line of products you have purchased is not one I want to support.  We should find ways to share, not exclude our passion and grow our dwindling numbers.

Building kits and systems with the younger generation is a fantastic way of getting them into STEM as well as into audio, not to mention builds light years worth of knowledge in very little time.  As I've said before, our hobby was built by experimenters, tinkerers and lovers of music much more so than by lovers of spending.

I'll support inclusive, fact based discussions and those who are intellectually curious every time I can.
erik_squires
@cleeds  I'm in philosophy.

@artemus_5  "One of the problem on any forum or discussion is "facts". Everyone is interested in the "FACTS" But facts actually say nothing until their interpretation. There is where the disagreement starts."

Excellent point. Sometimes it starts even earlier, since the question of *which* facts are relevant is an interpretive move which precedes the selection of facts. In conversations about religion this is sometimes called "proof texting" or, more generically, "cherry-picking." It's not about whether something is or is not a fact; it's about whether (as the Brits pointed out about US foreign policy a decade ago) the facts were being selected to suit the policy.

@erik_squires 
"We need to give more people latitude when they make a subjective statement, as personal taste and value systems can't be argued."

I have seen my own value systems argued against here and it has helped me. I said, at one point, that I valued a lot of clarity in the upper end. People questioned whether I liked "brightness" or "accuracy." I realized that I was not clear in my own mind about what I actually valued. So, them questioning me about my own senses and what I thought I valued helped me reconsider my own subjective "certainties." They were, it turns out, wrong. The result was that I got clearer about what I should value, instead.

That was a lesson for me, both about vocabulary and fineness of sensations. That's the hard part for a lot of people -- there IS such a thing about arguing about taste, at the very least, to help someone else discover what they sense, what they call it, and how that experience should factor into a larger, composite experience. (Just watch a parent try to get a kid to enjoy a vegetable. Part of the challenge is to get them to abandon certain predilections about what food *should* taste like. They are just too narrow and their tastes need to be expanded.
As an audio correlate, look at posts about how many, less expensive B&W speakers are bright; this quality helps make a fast impression, but for those who know more, it lacks some of the "sophistication" of other (better) speakers. That is about the sugar-high of brightness being taken as (subjectively) better than the air, clarity, non-fatiguing implementation of other speakers.
In anything there are two side for any coin...

It is simpler and deeper to recognize this fact...

Arguing after that is less attack and more complementarity...

Anyway most audio engineers are also artists for example...

Then all arguing about something comes less from being right than being forfgetful of something...

Save for being patently wrong or very "forgetful" here like thinking that for example "absorbing all reflections" is always good for acoustic impression...

Because some reflections are in fact and in truth good for the acoustical timing threshold control.... This is a fact....one side coin? No the coin is acoustic here, not only the reflection concept...

Then seeing two sides is possible if we look the encompassing perspective and not the details only...

it is more easy to love someone than hating it....Generally.... But for some case being "Christlike" is mandatory....

And anyway it is mandatory to become Buddah or Christlike....No choices here....

😊



«Give me your popsicle please and you will be Christlike»-Groucho Marx

All joking aside, this reminds me of my own reaction-formation process to room/acoustical treatment.


First off, I for years decried and dismissed those on this forum who rushed to any thread asking for component recommendations with cries for room treatment, often costing much more than some of the recommended components. Yes, I knew that room treatments DO make a difference, but I don't know and don't pretend to know how much or how little they do - my own room treatments being rugs, large canvas paintings, and boxy IKEA floor lamps in the corners.


And yet the room treatment members were, by and large, a knowledgeable bunch whose own systems and discussions reflected a deep and wide perspective of the hobby.


And while I'm never going to drop mad stacks on bass traps and corner thingies and vertical cityscape squares on the walls, I'm trying to get over my subjectivity on the topic and at least validate the objectivity of decent room treatment as a vital component of a good system.
Case in point, @mahgister's system. Take a look at it. It works for him. I  can't argue the objectivity of that.
Case in point, @mahgister’s system. Take a look at it. It works for him. I can’t argue the objectivity of that.
You cannot look at it.... The photo are too old and my dedicated audio room laboratory is "nuttier " than you think...

My " mechanical equalizer" for example include discarded tubes and pipes and straws and empty toilet roll papers ...And it is impossible for me to take a photo of all that...( light is not very good and all is distributed along the room)

Believe me it is nut....

But believe me my basic audio system could prove to anyone here at peanuts price that embeddings controls is almost EVERYTHING in audio...My system is not the best to say the least compared to most here.... But it is one of the best there is on earth for the ratio quality/price...500 bucks....

And which one of you control all acoustic concepts: imaging, soundstage, listener envelopment, source width, AT WILL with no electronic gear, costly "tweaks" or equalizer?

Who?

No one.... Save me, sorry to be immodest here with only some psychoacoustic basic facts among others.... At no cost....Then.... Look at my room but dont laugh too much.... Last laugh is for me when i see any audio system and after that his price tag and his sound on youtube sometimes... I am not deaf even if 70 years old...Not at my best but owning old "donkey" very long ears....
😊😊😊😊😊


I sell creativity not products...