Talk but not walk?


Hi Guys

This isn't meant to start a fight, but it is important to on lookers. As a qualifier, I have my own audio forum where we report on audio issues as we empirically test them. It helps us short cut on theories and developing methods of listening. We have a wide range of systems and they are all over the world adding their experiences to the mix. Some are engineers, some are artist and others are audiophiles both new and old. One question I am almost always asked while I am visiting other forums, from some of my members and also members of the forum I am visiting is, why do so many HEA hobbyist talk theory without any, or very limited, empirical testing or experience?

I have been around empirical testing labs since I was a kid, and one thing that is certain is, you can always tell if someone is talking without walking. Right now on this forum there are easily 20 threads going on where folks are talking theory and there is absolutely no doubt to any of us who have actually done the testing needed, that the guy talking has never done the actual empirical testing themselves. I've seen this happen with HEA reviewers and designers and a ton of hobbyist. My question is this, why?

You would think that this hobby would be about listening and experience, so why are there so many myths created and why, in this hobby in particular, do people claim they know something without ever experimenting or being part of a team of empirical science folks. It's not that hard to setup a real empirical testing ground, so why don't we see this happen?

I'm not asking for peoples credentials, and I'm not asking to be trolled, I'm simply asking why talk and not walk? In many ways HEA is on pause while the rest of audio innovation is moving forward. I'm also not asking you guys to defend HEA, we've all heard it been there done it. What I'm asking is a very simple question in a hobby that is suppose to be based on "doing", why fake it?

thanks, be polite

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net


michaelgreenaudio
glulpson,

Agreed on all counts.

The idea of "tuning" my system continually per song, or even per album, is a complete turn off to me. I don’t want listening to music to become that much work! To me, that isn’t to enhance the listening experience; it’s to detract from letting the music take over.

Earlier, I finished listening to Goblin’s Tenebrae soundtrack (followed by some Fever Ray) on vinyl and it was bloody GLORIOUS. Not only did it sound incredible - full, gutsy, organic, spacious, palpable, toe-tapping - but the music gave me a plastered on grin for the full album. It was heaven for a soundtrack fanatic like myself. (The Fever Ray LP also: incredible!)

I didn’t feel the need for a moment to tweak anything and I’m glad I didn’t! Everything sounded wonderful. Could I have made some of it sound different? Sure. But I wanted to listen to music, not continually think about how I can "tune" my system to make things sound different.

But...well...gee...since I wasn’t "tuning" I guess I don’t get to say, like MG does, that I was engaged "in the hobby of listening!"

Drat. Not in that rarified club.

Oh wait...maybe I am, because MG actually told everyone earlier that EVERYTHING we do with our system is performing a tweak, even choosing a component or turning it on.

Well then. I guess I AM in the club of listeners. I’m "walking the walk."

But then, wait, if EVERYONE is engaged in tweaking....who is it again who actually ISN’T engaged in "the hobby." If we take MG seriously that we are all tweaking when listening to our system....how can any of us not be "doing it" vs just "talking about it?" If we are all tweaking, then everyone on this forum is "walking the walk" of empirical experience. So...who are the fakes again?

Puzzling questions to be sure. But you have to wait until the Guru is in the right mood before being graced with the answers. And be sure not to be too uppity and question the answers. That gets The Guru mad - no more answers for you! ;-)

BTW, this idea of recordings have a "code" to unlock and tune for - aside from being what seems to be just semantic flourishes on the unremarkable idea that you can do things to make many recordings sound better (hell, mastering itself is predicated on this), it may be desirable to some audiophiles, but it’s also anethema to many aspects of music and sound production (I work in post production sound - and have my work mixed in many varied, millions-of-dollars mixing theaters).

In this case you really do have to have some concept of "accuracy" where you aren’t "tuning" your system to the defects of any track, or particular sound etc. You really NEED to control variables - that is have a consistent and unvarying sound in your playback system (hence most are professionally constructed for accuracy, rooms pinked by acousticians etc)  because you NEED to hear the differences, and deficiencies that actually ARE characteristic of a recording. If dialogue for instance is thin - on the recording! - you WANT to know it, and have it sound thin on your reference system, so you can correct that problem. You won’t want to re-tune your system to make it sound better - leaving the recording itself unchanged - as if changing your system has "revealed" the code in the recording. That is a recipe for disaster! And the FACT it’s a recipe for disaster actually calls in to question the very claim of there being this "code" to unlock, as if every recording is potentially a good one, in the first place.

The other thing is that the Tuners continually depict themselves as "listeners" and just off listening to music all the time...you know..unlike those "audiophiles" who spend all their time thinking about their equipment.

Except...whoa...have you seen the systems of some of these tuners?
Components all taken apart, strewn around sitting on wood blocks between the speakers etc? And we think some of OUR systems are a wife’s nightmare! ;-) . And of course...they are tuning, tuning, tuning.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that ;)

Anyway, if people want to continuously "tune" their system via MG’s methods and find it gratifying I say MORE POWER TO YOU. I’m not about calling any other audiophile’s pleasure "not walking the walk" or "not doing the hobby" or whatever. No, that would be arrogant on my part. And I don’t go in for the common audiophile tit for tat "you aren’t really into the music, I’M just in it for the music!" Because you know what? Most of us have to admit we don’t just love music, but have an interest in sound quality and high fidelity equipment and getting the best sound we can manage. If some people tilt more towards tweaking and being really in to playing with the equipment side of things there’s nothing wrong with that! Whatever floats our boats. But it’s disingenuous for some people to try to pretend they are more "into the music listening" - as if it’s some audiophile version of being more pious - than other people, all the while clearly spending much time and thought on the hardware and set-up side of their hobby.




@jf47t or Michael or who ever you are pretending to be. Your answers are becoming more like a personality change. Quite erratic.

I didn't contribute to this post to be told the OP didn't want to talk, and we were not walking as he expected us to viz the title "Talk but not walk?"

If you/he can't deal with a push back, asking questions of your/his "technique" then perhaps the provocative opening to this thread, telling readers that they are "Faking" ""IT"", should not have been made. Is it any wonder why quite intelligent people here are asking for an expansion of ways we can "UN-FAKE IT"?

It was you who said

"Prof amg or whoever your getting angry at a guy who is doing nothing more than tuning a guitar. Michael might as well be tuning a piano, guitar or any other instrument or a stereo."

I simply asked in the same analogy, show us. To which you flippantly told me to find out my self. Are you running out of ways you can answer an honest question with out being evasive?

Enjoy your tune life. I'll enjoy mine hugely. At least I will be able to commune with people who wish to partake with intelligent responses.

Sounds to me like some of the combatants, especially the more vociferous ones, are pretty satisfied with the status quo, in a self congratulatory kind of way. 🙄 One can’t help wondering why they’re here still demanding answers. If you’ll pardon me for saying so they don’t seem to fit into the definition of audiophiles desperate or at least striving for better sound. For some folks like your friend and humble scribe there is no stopping place. There is no audio Nirvana. You need look no further than the fuse threads and the new Graphene contact enhancer thread to get a glimpse of the future. Well, maybe not your future, but the future for more uh, active audiophiles. 😬
@geoffkait Your "audio Nirvana" is not necessarily better or worse than mine. Just different.
amg56
Not to be combative but I suspect you might have misread my statement. I said there is no audio Nirvana. By that I mean there is no Absolute Sound. This concept of No Absolute Sound is closely linked to the concept of the Audio Hierarchy I described somewhere the other day.

Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side