You own the Bose perfect wave radio/cd combination. |
find yourself lying in bed unable to sleep thinking "have i isolated all my cables from vibration when i was crossing them at right angles?" |
You find yourself in a plaza that has a Best Buy or some other 'Stereo in a Box' store and you either:
a) are tempted go in;
b) scoff and smile while driving away but wish you had went in;
or
c) actually go in to see if they finally got something that could meet your snobbish tastes, but walk out quickly with an approaching salesperson after you are noticed milling about in the 'high end' section...
....and you actually found some stuff that would be 'good' for your 2nd bedroom system if you had the money or impulses of your youth... |
When you agree with WAY too many points mentioned previously in this thread.
When you would rather participate in forums like this rather than check your fantasy team or social networking site(s). |
Distracting thoughts that enter your mind while driving are about some new cables or accessory you're trying to get a hold of... |
You FINALLY have everything just right & the first song you play(one you've heard a hundred times) sounds so bad that you spend several hours trying to track down the problem only to realize that horrible sound is an instrument in the recording that you've never heard before. |
You see a photo of a hot naked woman in front of some gear and you spend all your time trying to figure out what gear it is. |
1. You have to sneak in the new piece of equipment so your wife/partner does not say "is that a new ....?"
2. You can only replace your $3k power conditioner with a $10k power conditioner because they have identical faceplate so your wife/partner does not know you have just blown your month's paycheck on the upgrade.
3. You start shopping at Wal-Mart so you can save for a new upgrade.
4. You have a tube amp next to bed so you can see the bulbs glow to fall asleep.
I have been thinking of this idea...What do you think of this idea?
Have a closet (no doors) with shelves full of junk equipment (bought from Goodwill and craigslist), bring home a new piece to add to the shelf. One day I make announcement after dinner that I am going to try out an old piece from the closet in your current set-up. |
gji, thumbs up, as they say, in jest the truth is told. |
Your wife tells you she is filling for divorce and you next thought is
"far out, now I can have my system cranked 24/7." |
A melomane is one who is in love with music. It is from French, although I'm sure it is in the OED.
Arthur |
Hi Arthur, I looked up "melomane" in two dictionaries and could not find a description.
Bob |
if you've ever considered selling off your stereo and getting out of the "hobby." Otherwise, you're a melomane, just like me.
Arthur |
You know you're an audiophile if- spending $800 on a 1 meter pair of IC's seems like a bargain! |
Boy, I read some of these and I say that, "atleast I am not that bad"! Then I sit here looking at four components brisling with Vacuum Tubes, next to a Solid State Universal Player, next to a Turntable, and next to a Computer. What's wrong with this picture? Nothing, but there might be something very wrong with the guy sitting next to this stuff! Don't think that I am going to try having sex with it though, sounds painful! |
When you dream of your stereo. Or a power cable like last night. A POWER CABLE! The whole time! I need help. |
you have far more cables in a box than you have cables in your system.
OR
you have far more spare tubes than you have CD's. This just makes you a pack rat!! :) |
you have far more cables in a box than you have cables in your system.
OR
you have far more spare tubes than you have CD's.
OR
you spend four hours determining just the right bias setting for your amp.
OR
you spend another four hours eliminating all but one dither setting to feed your DAC -- and the one that remains is the one that the DAC was designed to uptake (20 bit). |
When you start thinking of moving to be closer to a transformer on a quieter power line. |
I fit some of these -- cables especially. Never went truly high end on the interconnects -- just trying to match. As a result of the Audiogon auctions -- I have interconnects from Ridge Street Audio, Boulder Cable (with inline bybees) a host of bybees as well just for other applications and now -- have three more pairs of interconnects, plus one more digital cable on its way.
So yeah -- I guess I am an audiophile.
Not to mention that I just spent three hours determining the right dither setting on my Audio Alchemy DTI Pro32 to feed into my Muse Model 2 Plus DAC. Turns out -- the 20 bit setting (which is what the DAC was designed for) is best to my ears. Still -- I wouldn't have known except for the fact that I went through an audition of each setting multiple times in a double elimination tournament format.
Yeah -- I guess the hobby is where it's at. |
you take funeral leave from work because your amp died |
Pepperg73.... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! yeah. I feel that way sometimes. |
Speakerwire and interconnects turn you on more than women. |
When you return home from a party you comment on how bad the sound was there. |
You can't make love to your wife without the stereo on!
You stop in the middle of making love to flip the record! |
You finally finish putting together that perfect system and you already know what you are going to replace each piece of it with in the future! |
Within days you tell your wife that your system has never sounded better only to counter with but last night i knew hwat could make the system better as you beg her to let you buy xyz device. |
Your gear sounds great for a few months and then needs to be replaced one piece at a time until you locate the source of the less than pleasing sound you are now hearing.
In many cases, the culprit cannot be found and an entirely new system is born! Sadly, after much turmoil, you wish you had kept your old equipment! |
If you're beginning to feel like "Red Green" |
You judge an amplifier on its current delivery capability, damping factor and input impedance instead of its pretty flashing lights. |
One of your toilets has a turntable on it (over slabs of concrete and maple of course) so as to isolate it. You've drilled holes in your wall so you could have the shortest interconnect run...and you don't care what female guests think of it..... |
your frame of reference for time, i.e. history, is forever linked to the components you used to own, such as: I recall that September of '98 when I got that killer buy on a $3k new Sony XA7ES CDP for $1000 as Sony was closing out production on it...or that July of '99 when the first of many Plinius SA100's arrived to adorn my listening room, and how days later that same amp that had arrived just days earlier with thoughts of great anticipation now had me on a mission to find a fan that was inaudible enough not to have an audible influence from my listening position...and how just months later that same Class A amplifier kept me warm and cozy throughout the winter...I could go on and on, but somehow I'm left with the feeling I'm preaching to the choir ;) |
You go to your doctor and ask if he can check your frequency response. |
You've "upgraded" and "upgraded", selling the "old" stuff on Agon or Ebay....only to wind up buying a piece you used to have because it is SS but sounds like Tubes. Because you're afraid of the "Tube" hassles. |
If you own a separate bank account linked to PayPal to manage your buy/sell transactions.
Well, if the account was not initially known to your spouse but later got revealed, then ... |
You look around the house for things to pawn to buy audio gear. I'm thinking the lamp is worth at least fifty bucks... |
When you hear things like "lets set the record straight", "off the record", "he may have set a new record", you envision those round vinyl thingies... |
you've finally assembled your system and the new focus is wire and interconnect management--how to hide the mess... |
...you write weekly to Classic Records for re-mastering a
1000 gr Reissue "Chet Atkins in Hollywood" |
As the number of coins in your coin jar grow you think you're getting close to 1/4 the cost of a new power cord. |
If your current sound system is larger than the first house you bought.
If you have a car audio system that you realize is not even going to fit in your car. |
You put the record back in the sleeve/cover with side A facing forward. |
"You buy an album and clean, then play, the sides in numerical order."
Actually, probably just buying an album alone these days qualifies you but, yes, the cleaning and playing parts are likely then as well.
Also, if you actually spend time reading a thread called "You know you're an audiphile if-".... |
besides your main 2 channel system, you have a 5.1 in the living room, and NAD/Athena system in your wife's office and wake up to a JBL clock radio. Then you buy a 2nd home and put a nice stereo in one bedroom, and some nice little Kef's under the TV. |
I think the "audiophile" thing is because most of us are "project focused" (I would say a "man" thing, but I know there are women "audiophiles" out there). I spend more time reading/buying for the "project" while the music plays in the background, than "listening". I know the music / system is good when it distracts me from the "project". |
You start wondering, if it would be possible to create a device that could actually clean one side of a Record, and play the other side at the same time. O.K.- who makes and manufactures it, I know that I wasn't the first one to think of it! Where can I get one, and it better cost more than atleast $5000.00 or it is not even worth concideration! |
Ok I got new one I'm just finding out about. You have an extra pair of speakers - good speakers. You were going to sell them because you already have two systems. You decide you can't do that and start thinking, what amp and equipment do I need to buy to set up a third system. And in what room. |
"You buy an album and clean, then play, the sides in numerical order."
Audiofeil - seriously, you mean there's another way?!
Gosh, I got some good laughs from these. |
When you listen to your rig at 6 in the evening and think "Thankfully it will sound better later when the HVAC system turns off."
When you refer to your $900 MRLP family room stereo as your "bad system." |
When you decide everthing else in the house matters too, and you begin selecting household goods based on how they might possibly affect the stereo. |
