Latest Absolute Sound

Do I want to see reviews of a new minivan, or the new McLaren? Answer: The McLaren. High performance car reviews often put the cars through some tough driving you are likely never be able to do  unless you live near a track, but audio stuff sits there and Mister Reviewer listens and thinks up ways to describe the sound…which is a personal preference subjective activity. All one can do I suppose, but when I sit in front of MY rig I generally don't wish for different things like "man, I wish I could go 217 miles an hour"…unless something in my rig breaks. 

IF you don't have a stack of money in a briefcase for expensive gear,
there is another alternative.  Like climbing a staircase one step at a time, you gradually upgrade over a period of time (in my case over 20 years) and pay in small increments while trading in what you already have.  Waiting for the right deals to come along is fairly easy- you can
usually find at least one component becoming available every year or two that you feel delivers very refined sound but, in the case of an amplifier for example, has a scratch on the back where the speaker wires go.  Used wire is fairly inexpensive also, and so on..  
    BUT, prices have become totally unreal.  My 1st really great amp cost about $5K and THAT was crazy enough (as everyone i knew kept repeating to me).  But it really made a big difference in the sound coming out of my speakers. So i was really happy about my decision, and for several years afterwards.  Now i am on my 5th amplifier,
but i kept learning more and more as the years went by. But YES,
there is definitely a limit to what anyone would need in what most
people call home.  OTOH, If you are wealthy and have a LARGE DEDICATED
SOUND ROOM, then you don't need a magazine to tell you what to get- you fly to New York, visit all of the audio salons by appointment,
and choose whatever you want.  
   Or you buy the equipment with the most impressive appearance
and/or matches your decor.  

Audiogon, and the High End in general, would not be where it is today, if not for magazines such as TAS and Stereophile. Let us not forget those fortunate enough (I am not one) to afford these pieces of high priced gear. Don't like it, don't read it. Same could be said about the many forums out there, including this one. Happy holidays to all. MrD.

People should read more books.

Good reviews can be found online. It's so easy to narrow down reviewers nowadays that have tastes close to your own. That, and it's easy to contact them for further elucidation.

Every once in a while I'll skim a review at one of the bigger sites but always end up content with what I have. Going to audio shows and hearing the stuff that passes for great audio, praised in the reviews, makes me even more content. All excuses aside for bad rooms at audio shows, a good system will overcome the limitations of a bad room enough for one to make a valid and informed opinion of the gear.

As nice as the gear seems in rags like TAS, they really don't bowl me over at the shows. Quite the opposite, in fact.

All the best,
Nonoise

No noise,

i feel the same way. When I go to the shows and hear the really expensive gear I read about in TAS I am usually disappointed. On the other hand when I hear some of the budget systems I am blown away how good they sound. I remember a setup I heard at the Newport Beach show a couple of years ago that retailed for 500k. I thought it was just so-so. Then I wandered into a room with a pair of small monitors and a sub and it blew me away. It was just so musical where as the 500k system just made over the top sound with no musicality.