My rant; we don't know what we don't know

I don't disagree with your points, but I think that small differences in sound can be very important.  One may not  even be able to name the difference, but that small difference can be the difference between sitting in front of your stereo bored and really enjoying it.

...once upon a time I was blissfully ignorant.

Then I learned that I was merely ignorant, and lost my bliss.

I've finally learned that I was ignorant to lose my bliss.

I also learned the meaning of 'conundrum'.....;)

@audioman58 -   EXACTLY!

@ fsonicsmith-   A good man recognizes his own limitations.  A smart man doesn't imagine everyone else to be likewise limited.

it ain't what ya don't know that will get ya!

its what you know that just ain't so that will get everytime!!


I have re-learned an enormity of information from this site alone across the years. Or from it been directed to other pertinent applicable resources for further education.

Being inflexible or closed minded. On any subject will disadvantage me eternally.

@Fsonicsmith

> 98% of what you read in this forum about the qualities of an amp or preamp will not help you obtain better sound.

Strike one..

> If you have a good amp or preamp and you feel the itch to upgrade, chances are, again, 98%, that the amp or preamp you presently have is not the impediment to your achievement of great sound.

Strike two.

> if you rely upon others’ posts for finding just the right piece of gear that will suddenly part the Red Sea

You’re Out!!. next batter.

If the word ONLY were in that last sentence, you may have just hit a single off an 0 – 2 count.

A political humorist once said about learning, education and knowledge, “some people learn by reading.

Some folks learn by paying attention to others and leaning on their wisdom

Then there are those who just have to pee on the electric fence.
Will Rodgers

IMO, audio is exactly like that.


As for jumping in a car and driving for hours, unless you are trying to get merely a glimpse of a loudspeaker system, and some inkling of what it can do in a context other than yours, you may be wasting a lot of gas.

Once there you left your room behind. Likely only one of the pieces if not speakers, being auditioned are in your cross hairs of desire, and the entire system then masks itself to what each component provides.

Yep. Drive a lot. Listen to stuff ya ain’t heard before. Then drive back. After all that you are Just about as clueless as you were before you gassed up the car regarding how one of those pieces will fit in your home, and system.

Even if you took something integral of your’s along. The input that unit provides is questionable too for it is out of context and we’re back to semi suppositions and conjecture.

It would have been better for the dealer to have sent the thingy to you instead of you going to it. If a definitive outcome was the goal in the first place.

But it is here we find how crucial and integral discussions about this or that piece can actually be.

My EXP so far, and it may well have been 100% luck, 100% of the time almost, each piece of audio hardware I replaced with decidedly more expensive but very similar audio hardware, improved the sound quality of the system. Invariably.

What has meant more to me in the decades I’ve been involved in music and audio is using the experiences of others and good judgement to try getting from one place to a point farther along the line.

The biggest impediment I have found is not the absence of knowledge at all.

Its what I know that just ain’t so! That gets me into trouble everytime.

Contemtpt prior to investigation. Biases. Prejudice. Thinking I know best in areas I know just enough to be dangerous.

Trial and error, a whole bunch of wrong turns if experienced and remembered equate to knowledge. A whole lot of knowledge adds up to wisdom. It often takes any number of failures to achieve a single success.


In as subjective a past time as is what we call high end audio, science often does not have the last word.

It don’t matter how the gear arrives in your home. By rep. by review. By anecdotal suggestion. Listening to a system just to see what one of its devices adds to the mix… or takes away from it, if a likewise unit replaces the former unit during the event.

It still has to get there. Get turned on and heard.

Its all about separating the wheat from the chaff. Well meant, ignorant insane, or arbitrary observations or insights as well as the hardware itself, all will require filtering.

There are a number of paths to our perception of the destination we would care to arrive at eventually.

It’s a long winding, very broad road. There’s plenty of room for geeks and freak shows, rest stops, ball parks, attractions of all kinds, detours, nonsense, creeks that seem to flow uphill, 12 feet tall ball of twine, zoos, ‘gator farms, foot long hot dogs, root beer floats, hazzords, and obstacles. Its what makes up the trip.

Usually, there is IMHO, no single path above all others to which everyone must adhere to achieve their own subjective victory , in this hobby or for that matter any other.

A few Exceptions might be firewalking. Contested divorces, Dancing with sharks, Sky diving, tax evasion, bull riding, sword swallowing, forgetting your significant other’s birthday, running with the bulls, running against the bulls, and lastly snake charming (or as it is referred to in the south, as getting a lawyer to take the case on extended re[payment terms).

unquestionably greater hazzzards exist in other hobbies..

… and that is why we chose this one, right? Right.