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Any other lone audiophiles here?

By "Lone" I mean you have no other local audiophile buddies. That describes my experience. My wife and I usually listen together. I have no other friends to borrow equipment or to audition theirs. In spite of that I believe I've done a pretty good job of putting together a system which is very good. I've done it strictly by reading reviews, etc and lots of research. I see the situation as both an advantage and maybe a curse. The advantage is that Maybe I don't know what I'm missing. The curse is may be that I often wonder IF I need to upgrade? Or am m missing something.? Like right now. I just bought a CJ CT5 preamp which is silly good.So now I wonder about my amp? The CJ retails for 8x more than my silly little tube amp...a Bob Latino ST-70. Yet I believe that amp is fully pulling its weight while hooked to a preamp which is silly good. Surely, this amp can't be the be all end all. However It did replace an amp which retails for 4x its price. Who knows? maybe its the ST-70 which needed a better preamp to show off its stuff. Nonetheless, I enjoy the music  immensely. and all the advice I've gotten from people on the forums over the years. FWIW, I also play drums  and have played live. So I DO know what live music sounds like. So, maybe I'm not shooting totally in the dark.
128x128artemus_5
melvinjames
416 posts
 
Not a one. Fortunately, I have several acquaintances who are music whores, one of which is a borderline audiophile. He's also a musician who does some recording and put together a pretty nice audio system (mix of old/new components, Elac UniFi towers). He's great fun to chat with and we intend on having some listening sessions in the near future.

artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5 OP
1,992 posts
 
Interesting thread. Looks like most are lone audiophiles. And why wouldn't  that be the case? Music has become so devalued that anyone spending $$$ on it must be weird. FTR, I live in a tri-city area of 3 towns @ about 60k population apiece. I haven't looked in the club forum lately. But the past times I have, even a club 2-3 hours away in Charlotte or Knoxville didn't have any posts that were newer than  4-5 yrs old. 
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5 OP
1,992 posts
 
BTW @douglas_schroeder  The dedicated room talk was 10-12 yrs ago. had some health issues which actually took that out of play. I took about a 3-4 yr sabbatical from music during that time. Now, I'm old & broke (well, not broke but badly bent). I wish I had done the room back then. But, life goes on. You never know what the future holds

douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
artemus5, ah, water under the bridge regarding the room. Ok, so build the rig! Yup, LOTS of upgrade potential for all audio systems, except perhaps the top 1-2%. There are dozens, at least, of potential improvements to sound quality, many impressive. If you have the itch and the means, for sure work on a few upgrades. Or spice up your life with some alternative components to swap out occasionally. Get something additional like a new DAC, cables, amp or speakers. Get some speakers that are completely different design so that you can have two very different rigs. Lots of fun! 

If you have a CD player that has a digital out, get an outboard DAC and be shocked at the improvement. Get two or three different ICs - better yet, try the Schroeder Method of IC Placement. You won't believe how much more there is to gain in a rig. Your biggest enemy is the thought, "It can't get much better". It can get WAY better, and then better still. 

larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,015 posts
 
A lot of them will one up you and make you feel bad.  Best not to keep up with them.
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