Where do you draw the line???

Ozfly you might be right. I was trying to get to the core beliefs about which people are unwilling to compromise, at least until proven wrong as Tom suggests.

All of us have to approach this hobby with certain ideals that allowed us to even purchase the first product. Elizabeth mentioned the riaa curve and the fact that she looks for products (LPs) without this abomination. Her ideals and beliefs prevent the purchase of post riaa LPs. This is what I'm trying to learn.

Many of us must have similar ideals which determine what we buy and even how we shop, listen, or interact. I would not be interested in a tube system using B&W speakers and employing CDs as the main music source, but this doesn't mean that a system with that makeup cannot sound good, or that it's owner is some kind of mutant. These are just my prejudices, ideals, or beliefs.

What are yours???

I believe for the price that Difinitive Technologies puts out a very good product. I believe these sound fantastic for 2 channel music as well as HT, and i disagree with the thought that bi-polar / di-polar speakers are a fad or inferior to other speakers. They have an incredible saoundstage and can you can still pinpoint musical sources away from the speaks. The sound is cleanly reproduced, the lows are strong, commanding, yet not overly booming. If you believe these are dull, smeared, faded, and blurred, then you did not set them up correctly. Alot of people say these are terrible for music, but i listen to them every day, and every day they impress me just as much as a set of vandersteens, or B&W, or Martin logans, or KEFs, or any "High class" lourdspeaker ive heard set up by professionals in high-end retailer stores.

I dont believe that anything made within the past 20 years is crap. I like BB King and Jonny Lee Hooker just as much as i like Limp Bizkit and Eminem. I dont agree with the politics of rap stars, but if thier music gets my foot tapping, thats all that matters. New does not mean Bad. New means expansion and different. I feel bad for people who cannot accept new music. I understand thier love for the old, i hold that love as well, but i feel like i have a better love for music because i have more available to me.

I believe Blues is better than Jazz. Blues to me is one of the purist forms of music.

Techno does suck.

I see no point in bi-wiring. I have never heard any sonic improvement.

I believe Home Theater and 2 channel music setups are as different as day and night. I also believe that powered Recievers are an excellent product in value and sound, however, high end audio is a seperate world with a seperate class of sound.
An AV reciever is comparable to a heavyweight champion boxer capabable preforming its tasks to a considerable degree of satisfation.
A high-end amp/Preamp setup is more comparable to a Shaolin Monk who has been studying martial arts from the time he could walk and now retains a very refined and accurate ability combined with precision-power.

In that analogy as in life, the AV reciever can kick some serious butt and impress the best, but the preamp/amp can outpreform it with little effort and show people something they may have never seen

CD's Rock

If you buy a $1,000 for audio cables then you wasted your money

you can build a system for $10,000 that sounds as good as a system for $30,000.

Bose is a terrible prroduct for music (exceptions always exist)

I am hungry too. Im going to go get a sandwich!
THANKS!

I have seen a lot of people who suggest that a $10,000 system can sound as good as a $30,000. I have yet to see this actually happen. Too often statements like this are made, but they are never substantiated.

What would the $10,000 system consist of, and what $30,000 system are you taking about? Does equipment go down in quality as the price goes up? Are cheaper Revel speakers better sounding than the more expensive models. Do smaller and cheaper amps sound better than the next model up in the companies product line?

I am opposed to spending money for the sake of spending money, but every time I have bought a more expensive product it sounded better than the cheaper product it replaced. If it didn't sound better I would not have made the purchase!!!

What does all this mean.

Nrchy, I'll go to even further extremes. I argue that a good $15,000 system is comparable to some $75,000 setups. I include a specific example. It's an old thread, but it got some interesting responses.

click here

Onhwy61, Comparable in what respects? In the same way a boom box plays pretty much the same music as a cheap stereo?

I have never heard the two systems mentioned in the TAS article, but if the $75,000 system sounded even remotely similar to the $15,000 I would eat it!

How is it possible that two people who know this industry and what is available would be incapable of getting the right componants to put together a system that would not be drastically different from each other.

I understand if a person closed their eyes and randomly picked products that there would be no continuity to the system, but this is true at any price range. How could that system sound great? I think it would sound good, but it would not be great.

What are these "some systems" that you mention? I guess this whole discussion is meaningless without particulars!

I don't beleive that one person could put together two systems with a $60,000 price difference that would sound close to one another. If a moron went out with $75,000 while a true 'audiophile' went out with 15,000 it is possible that the systems might, possibly, maybe, not exhibit a huge difference in sound quality, but otherwise this is a foolish analogy