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I Think I Am Becoming An Audiophile



I listened to and mostly enjoyed Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” yesterday. This is a 1st for me. I’ve had the disk for 10-15 yrs. But I’ve never been able to stay awake through it. Then I listened to Harry “Sweets” Edison & Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis “In Copenhagen” (MFSL) last night. And I enjoyed this too. Both these were experiments with the Triode Mode on amp engaged. My system has been improved lately and really sounds good. But I still didn’t expect to finally like jazz . It still doesn’t touch my soul like classic rock. But it’s a start. Though I’ve never cared for jazz (or female vocals. Yuk) I’ve not belittled it because musical taste is highly subjective. Quite honestly, I’ve noticed that as the system sounds better, more genres become enjoyable for me. I suspect this speaks to the situation where you see a band live, and like them, though you have never cared for their recordings

On a side note, even though my system is at its best I STILL want another amp!! This has gone on too long. I can see that I will not be satisfied until I get another amp!! My wife, OTOH..... Well she was an accountant.....................nuff said.

128x128artemus_5
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5 OP
1,970 posts
 
@jbrrp1 

 I hope you are not faced with such!
No I am not. My wife is pretty reasonable. Both of us are pretty frugal but I spend more because I can always justify it & I have more hobbies. I'm trying to justify a new amp now, even though my system sound better than ever. So far my only reason is that the switch is on the back & I have to lean over the rack to turn it on. Hey, I'm old. but I've used that to justify my need of a digital player/streamer/Dac.  FWIW, We have been together 45 yrs this year. I surprise her now  then just to keep her entertained.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
artemus_5 --
If there's a Carmen in the collection (composer Georges Bizet), pull it out and begin on side one.  Carmen is the opera that launched my love for the genre.  Great tunes...and not just the ones you might be familiar with.  High Emotions.  Unruly crowds that sometimes seem to be wanting to murder the stars.  Will nerdy soldier Don Jose be a mensch and marry the sweet-voiced girl he left behind or will he live dangerously and let the sultry Carmen get her hooks into him?  Meantime, the town's imperious Matador also has his eye on Carmen and, in general, just enjoys throwing his weight around.  The proverbial chaos ensues. The version I have is on DGG (conducted by Claudio Abbado and featuring Placido Domingo), and it suffers from that slight metallic feel that afflicts the label.  Nevertheless, the sound is still excellent, and there's no denying the sheer oomph that these six sides convey.
n80
2,117 posts
 
@ericsch said: "A good way to ease into classical music is to listen to chamber orchestras/music rather than big symphonic pieces."

You might be correct but for me it was just the opposite. Chamber music just put me to sleep and never hooked me in. It was big symphonic stuff that got me into classical. Brahms, Beethoven's later symphonies, Dvorack's New World Symphony. That sort of stuff. However, I was coming from a classic rock and prog rock background which is often symphonic in nature so that might be the reason it worked for me.
ericsch
753 posts
 
n80,
Yes you could say that chamber music is the easy listening version of classical music. However, better for the newbie not to start with something like "Pictures At An Exhibition".

edcyn
1,876 posts
 
I dunno Eric.  If the newbie were a metal head or a progressive rocker, I actually would start them off with something noisy, aggressive and probably Russian, like Pictures at an Exhibition, Petrushka  or the Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla.  If they're into jazz, maybe Debussy or Ravel.  If they only listen to Johnny Cash or the Drive-by Truckers, I'd be at a loss.
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