Diminishing Returns

i’ve been active on various audiophile and music forums since the late 90’s. honestly Audiogon has evolved more away from my audiophile sweet spot in the last 7-8 years but it still has value to me. so i do try to watch and participate.

why do we post on forums?

learning about how to improve our systems is part of it. or maybe helping others to learn. or just shooting the breeze too. and of course, hearing about new music is big.

if you are satisfied with how your systems sounds and that is why the gear talk no longer has any value i respect that. i’m different in that way as my curiosity pursuing better sound seems not to go away; i’m certainly less motivated to change things now after 25 years of system evolution.....but my quest is not yet dead. everyone is different that way.

but really for me it’s the sense of community and relationships that now are the biggest draws to participating in forums. it’s a hobby that is big for me. i have friends for life which began on audio forums. many have visited me and i  not as much lately here on Audiogon, but there was a time when this was bigger for me.

of course; to get something you have to give something.

be happy and enjoy. and if Audiogon gear talk has lost it’s value then best wishes.

Well said Mike.

What are the four conditions?

I’ve reached a point, after much tweaking in my system thanks to Audiogon, I’m moving away from the forum. I’ve gotten to a place where I’m so satisfied with my system that further improvements, while I’m sure they will work, I don’t care.  I used to read  with great interest the weekly listing of the most popular posts.  I’m now finding it boring.  I think It’s time to get off the Merry-Go-Round.
Aside from the “Music” posts” that will be it.

Congratulations. I'm getting there myself.

Stepping back, big picture, view from 30,000 feet, going back to the 1970's this is the third time I've gone through this. The first was in jr high when all my money bought JBL, Kenwood, Pioneer. That took a few years and many hours of work to assemble, after which I pretty much quit looking and just enjoyed what I had.

Until around 1990 when I remodeled and added a listening room. This time it was probably more like 5 years of searching, comparing, buying, and setting up.

The first time it was all speakers, amps, turntable. Nobody listened to wire back then, we all knew it just needs to be thick enough. The second time though was a whole different story. A huge amount of time and effort went into first learning to listen, then evaluate, and finally compare at home. This was still before the internet so print reviews and auditions were all we had.

Listening at this level got more and more intense. BDR Cones use little half inch threaded studs. I remember at one point comparing brass, stainless, and regular steel studs. When it gets to comparing the difference between the studs inside the Cones under your speakers- and actually hearing a difference- you know its time to step back and decompress.

Which I did. For probably at least a dozen years only stuff I bought was when something quit or glitched or whatever. Other than that is was pure enjoyment of music and movies.

Until about a year ago when my ARC phono stage now 20 years old was coming due. Another great thing about getting off the merry go round is technology really does advance and so a dozen years later, hearing how much more awesome a Herron is than the ARC, even though almost the same price (but inflated currency, so in reality much cheaper) vastly more performance. One thing led to another.

This site like most is 99% nonsense, misinformation, and banter. But its like diamonds, you only need one. The Swarm Distributed Bass Array concept alone makes this worth ten times what I paid. Okay, a million. What's a million times zero? Okay never mind. 

Point is yeah, little while longer, the wheel turns, back to just the music. 

Its like anything else I guess. To be good requires focus, concentration, and practice, practice, practice. But then to enjoy it you have to relax and forget all that. And so again, congratulations on getting there.