In the meantime, neurotic audiophiles spend fortunes on things like "extension" "air" "resolution" and and "transparency" making themselves miserable in the process and then spending another fortune on corrective measures like overpriced cables and silly tweaks.
Miserable? Not quite. Some of us just happen to like to hear the detail brought on by the great percussionists, pianists, guitarists, vs. a blob of midrange grain or attenuated trebles so evident in the electronic designs of the 1980s and before. Drop in any number of modern preamps in place of the SP-11 and you will not only hear significantly more clarity and dimensionality in the coveted midrange but much new information that has been hiding in your system all this time. It's on the LP or CD, you're just not hearing it.
... as well as most high priced "audiophile" speakers manufactured today.
That's quite a generality. And how many of these have you actually heard directly compared to each other in the same system?
This is why Magneplanars, LS35a's, Quad ESL 57's, Celestion 600's and precious few others are legendary speakers, many years after they were first manufactured.
Or are they legendary because they do the mids so well but so much else is compromised that the listener is solely focused on the mids. And for many of us, this is the most important range for a system to get "right". But once you hear a speaker do this and so much else, these "Legendary" speakers often get boxed up AND put in the attic. Oh, and you forgot to mention Spendor.
There's too much focus on rolled-off or attenuation and not much about resolution and clarity. The Magnepans I owned and heard at the dealer were never rolled-off....but they were mediocre at best in resolution compared to the SoundLab A1s I run with now.
Sorry Cwlondon, it's not neurotic --- it's magic.
