Law of Accelerated Returns


I think back over the many decades of pursuing high end audio and I realize some of the most inspirational were listening to state of the art systems. Systems I could never dream of affording. I occasionally would get up early and drive the two hours to Phoenix in hopes of finding no one listening to the state of the art system in “the big room” at one of the four or five high end audio stores there in the early ‘90’s.

One such time I was able to spend over an hour with the most amazing system I have ever heard: Wilson WAAM BAMM (or something like that… all Rowland electronics, Transparent interconnects). The system cost about over $.5 million… now, over a million… although I am sure it is even better (I can’t imagine how)..

 

But listening to that system was so mind blowing… so much better than anything I could conceive of, it just completely changed my expectation of what a system could be. It was orders of magnitude better than anything I had heard.

 

Interestingly, as impressed as I was… I did not want “that” sound, as much as I appreciated it. It still expanded my horizon as to what is possible. That is really important, as it is really easy to make judgments on what you have heard and not realize the possibilities… like never having left the small town in Kansas (no offense).

I keep reading these posts about diminishing returns. That isn’t the way it works. I recently read an article by Robert Harley in The Absolute Sound called the Law of Accelerated Returns that captures the concept perfectly. March 2022 issue. The possibilities in high end audio is incredible. Everyone interested in it in any way deserves to hear what is possible. It is mind expanding. 

 

 

ghdprentice

😁😊

First: i always insisted here on embeddings control method, mechanically, electrically and acoustically for any system at ANY PRICE...

Second: mocking me friendly is welcome you are very polite and i appreciate your post... but I never pretend that my 500 bucks system could compete with costly one on an engineeriung point of view....I am not totally stupid... 😁😊

Third : yes embeddings controls especially acoustic make miracles for any system at any price mine included...BUT CANNOT TRANSFORM A LOW COST OR BAD PIECE OF GEAR IN A BETTER ONE COMPETING WITH HIGH END DESIGN.... i wrote it with big character to be understood...

So great it is NOW i am satisfied by my modest system in his optimal controlled environment and dont dream about a better one... WHY ?

Is it because i boast about my system? Not at all it is because my ratio Sound quality/price is over the roof...I know that to upgrade really my system it will cost me around 15,000 bucks... I dont want to go from 500 to 15,000, even if it will be better and it will be better because i know precisely what i could buy to do it... Because of all my embeddings optimized controls i know the LIMITS of my actual system...Most people upgrade WITHOUT knowing what their actual systemn can do at his peak or optimal working ....guess why?

But most people here at least half of them own system way better than mine.... Often unbeknownst to them they put them in a not so good controlled room acoustically...

This is the reason why i spoke about acoustic importance...

I discovered that myself by years of listening experiments not by plugging gear in the wall...

Is it clearer?

I am not Jedi i read about acoustic and Helmholtz and some other less known facts in audio thread...then read about Helmholtz resonators and diffusers...I will not spoke here about all others devices...The main important one are created after Helmholtz...Then instead of calling me a Jedi with magical power, call me a humble student of some acoustic science and psycho-acoustic one...

 

my deepest respect for you.... i like your humor....😊

Too bad @mahgister is the only one who knows how to make a $500 system sound better than most (all?) $100K systems with careful placement of a shag rug, pillows, and some tapestry 😭

This hobby would be so much easier if only this valuable knowledge had been taught in school! I have literally never needed to find the volume of a sphere via double integration, but I still remember that useless crap :(

mahgister - is this more of a sith power, or jedi?

Anybody with a mid Eighties Delco AM/FM radio replaced by equal $ Jensen Coax w Pioneer deck has, HAS experienced BEYOND accelerating returns….

 I don't begrudge anyone with the means to pursue the ultimate. 

That said, I can't help but wonder whether it's not true that "ignorance is bliss".

I can be very obsessive and am not at all sure that being exposed to 100K systems would make me happier, knowing I could never afford one, myself.

Furthermore, as I'm not engineering-minded, were I able to spend 100K, there's no guarantee I'd end up withy a system that I'd enjoy more than my current 25K system. 

I actually haven't heard many systems. I attended a couple meetings of a local audiophile society and felt very out of place, as the emphasis was very much on gear. No-one wanted to talk about music. 

 

 

Interesting experience indeed that reflected a fact which can be verified here in Audiogon...

The ignorance of acoustic and psycho-acoustic science is proportionate to the perveived attention FOCUSING on the gear "tasted" sound...

People in acoustic experiment focus instead  on timbre perception and music perception  to create the best audiophile environment in their house/room/system...

Ignorance of acoustic is the common link among the subjectivist and objectivist complete underestimation of the power of acoustic control to deliver and TRANSLATE the recorded initial acoustic event in another acoustic event in your room  ...

We listen to the seaker/room relation not to an amplifier ALONE....Or to a dac alone....

 

It is the reason why i dont feel i am a "normal" or the regular audiophile....

I dont mind about the gear after i chose a very good one to begin with... The audiophile work begin AFTER the gear is chosen... Upgrading is a deception BEFORE you can control the mechanical, electrical and acoustical embeddings  working dimensions of the system...

 

 

I actually haven’t heard many systems. I attended a couple meetings of a local audiophile society and felt very out of place, as the emphasis was very much on gear. No-one wanted to talk about music.

 

@mahgister 

"We listen to the s[p]eaker/room relation not to an amplifier ALONE....Or to a dac alone...."

Yes!  And along with synergy between room and gear, there is synergy between components. For these reasons, I never buy anything I cannot try out in my room and return, if necessary.