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The downward spiral.....

I've loved listening to (and playing) music for the last 35 years. I was trained as a pianist and suspect that my ears are at least decent (even if they do stick out
a little more than I'd like...)

Like so many of us, I suspect, I have assembled more high-end systems that I can remember - heaven only knows how much money I've spent, how many
reviews I've pored over, how many times I've labored over cable-matching, AB comparisons, toeing in massive speakers just that final 1/16 inch to get the soundstage
just right, rearranging living rooms to minimize that nasty hump at 56 Hz etc etc. I'm sure many of you can relate...

Being a bit of a contrarian at heart I recently have been conducting the Ultimate Experiment - the Final Downgrade. A few months ago I came into possession of an
old pair of Quad 57s (now being rebuilt) with matching 303 power amp. As those who know these things, the sounds emanating from these devices was sublime.
It made me think. Here I was listening to simply beautiful music through some of the cheapest components I've ever bought. What if I continued my downward financial
progress?
Out went some very expensive tube amplification, German turntable, carbon fiber arm, expensive MC cartridge, Nordost cable, tube output SACD player etc. In came a Thorens TD125,
complete with SME 3009, V15III, and the cheapest decent CD player I could find (the original Rega Planet). For the phone/preamp I chose a pair of Pro-Ject components,
As soon as I can find a Quad 33 I'll grab it and do a little renovation, esp on the phono section. As the speakers were being now rebuilt I acquired an old pair of
Maggies (12QR) to tide me over. The interconnects are strictly mid-fi, and the speaker cable less than that. The new (non-ported) subwoofer was relatively expensive - about
$450, but not well-known.
I anticipate the cost of the whole system will be around $2300. The average age of the components will be 35 years old.

What am I losing? Certainly not money, that's for sure! Perhaps a few Hertz at the bottom end. Perhaps. What surprises me daily (I listen usually for about 4 hours a day to everything
between 12th century plainsong to rap and everything between) is that this relatively cheap and certainly very old-fashioned system does so much that is absolutely right. I feel no
pressing needs to upgrade anything; no tweaking necessary. The music comes through as I want.
In my spare time I still haunt the local high-end stores and listen to some ultra expensive gear: not once have I gone home with an axe to do The Right Thing to my '70s
system.

So, my question is a simple one. How much progress has there been since 1970? For the last thirty years I have firmly believed that each year has brought some progress.
Now I question this. As I write this I am listening to a record pressed in 1975 (Neville Marriner) and my happiness is complete. Am I losing my grip?
--
57s4me
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Good to read that you reached sonic nirvana in this life-time: most people do not! Also, like another member wrote, you've realized that it's about the music & not about the electronics/equipment. Two important things to realize about this hobby & then one can make some very reasonable, good sounding purchases.

I believe that there has been plenty of progress since the 1970s but IMO it has been in the digital arena & in the materials area. Since the advent of CDs, people are steadily & gradually getting a better understanding of how to make better sounding CDs that have less digititis in them. Materials technology has also had a vast improvement whereby passive & active components are more reliable & more importantly more transparent. Older architectures of power amps, preamps (that are very solid sonically) sound way better if many/all of the components are replaced with today's better quality components. The architectures of yester years' electronics are solid & often carried on even today. No reason to change as humans still listen the way we used to in 1970.
Like George Bernard Shaw once wrote (I think it was him): too much of anything is bad!
Don't take your downward spiral to the limit - you'll crash..... There has to be a cut-off point beyond which you leave hi-fi & enter mass-fi.....
patrick82's avatar
patrick82
13 posts
 
I used a $200,000 system and now I'm using a $1000 system and get better sound than ever before. I have found that high-end is just about side-stepping into different flavors and there aren't any true improvements. When gaining something you always sacrifice something else. I have found that true improvements come from reducing wattage consumption, it makes it sound silkier with more microdetail. I have also bypassed all Nordost Valhalla cables and just use cheap male/male RCA adapters between DAC and amp, the improvement was huge. I have also removed Virtual Dynamics Judge and Genesis power cables, PS Audio Premier Power Plants, two Acoustic Revive RTP-4 Ultimate, I replaced all with battery powered netbook undervolted to 4 watts in playback using Puppy Linux = best sound ever.
My DAC has a AC/DC adapter that plugs into the wall, no power cables needed, best sound ever. I have removed all audiophile gear and tweaks (except my own) and it has never sounded so good.
1markr
594 posts
 
Very timely thread... I too found myself on the "downgrade" slope, but having applied all the knowledge and lessons learned from previous systems, my current system provides me with more musical enjoyment than I've ever accomplished before in my room. Maybe it's psychologically rooted because of the money taken out of the system, but it's certainly all about the music now. It's a good time to be an audiophile!
inna
7,296 posts
 
Maybe it is time for you guys to buy JVC boomboxes and be happy. It's all about music, remember?
david12
1,454 posts
 
The answer I am sure, is that things have moved on, in some areas more than others. I think tube and SS amps, particularly the former, have improved greatly, Pre amps maybe more so, also CD players. Speakers maybe not so much change.

What happens, I am sure, is your priorities and hearing changes. I have always believed the biggest dichotomy in our hobby, is between HiFi and musical priorities. Some components, particularly speakers, seem in the HiFi side. I am thinking of Wilson and BandW speakers. Both are excellent companies, making carefully researched products, but I listen to them and hate the sound. I can see the point, detailed, neutral, great dynamics, but the sound is flat and sterile, to me. Not denigrating the company or enthusiasts, but it is not for me.

Consistently, I go to shows and listen to Megabuck systems, with state of the art full range speakers, 500watt solid state monoblocks and I find the result painful. People blame the room quality, I don't buy it at all. Cheaper, tube based systems are much more enjoyable.

To me, many in the industry and reviewers are pushing into an area which is not for me, ultradetailed, dynamic, great base, but it's not music
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