Is it important to long demo or own HIGH END gear to have a fair accurate view about it?
I have heard a lot of opinions about high end gear on the forums but a lot of it comes from folks that don’t own it. They bash it because of the price. Which I understand on one end but many don’t own, haven’t long demoed or even heard a lot of higher end gear thoughts? Please no personal bashing just your opinion?
Easily the best sentence and one good explaining post to go with it i ever read in audiogon... mikelavigne say better than me what i try to say without having been able to say it simply and directly ... I admire him for his posts almost always if not always spot on ... merry Christmas to you ...🎄
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Beautiful system, great venue. The nice thing is that typically electrostatics do not mind things like a screen in between them. While they are finicky about a lot of things, there are a lot of advantages.
I can see how you could end up in such a sweet spot with a long term view with space. I was always space and financially constrained so the path would have been harder. But you have a very envious system. |
I dont know how people can think they had heard something in any room which is not their room , and with any complementary gear around it which is not their gear... They can have an "idea" about the quality of these something they heard somewhere in a showroom... A showroom is not a dedicated room created by someone over many years of work attentive to details ... To really hear the potential of a piece of gear we must learn how to couple it with the rest of the system and after that creating a room around it investing ourself in it and immersing ourself in all details ... But what makes high-end high end , is the dedication to embed it righfully in a specific room ... It takes more time than purchasing an upgrade which may be often only a side grade ... Room acoustics impact so hugely on any system , it is the main upgrade, it is unbelievable not just great...Especially if you had a relatively good system synergy, the room system relation is the key to audio ...Today we must add the BACCH filters of Dr, Choueiri ...
I had been lucky enough to had been captive with low cost components...Yes now i know it was luck for me... I would have never invest so much time to understood how to embed a system if i could have bought anything ...I am lazy... 😁 but i was deseperate by how bad all i had bought, even top speakers , sound not good ... Then i could modify my low cost gear and learn without being afraid to take the risk to destroy them ...😁 i did it but it was not enough... I realize that i must experiment with acoustics... All had begun there ... I think for 10 years that the low cost active well reviewed speakers i bought 10 years ago were just trash...I put them on a secondary computer and just forget them ... I sold my house and lost my dedicated room and my big speakers... Then i had no other choice one year ago then to learn about the way to embed these low cost active speakers this time rightfully and coupled them with the right component ...I was desesperate by the lost of my room and i work hard to recreate a room ... I did it , but was not totally satisfied...they lack bass and lack holography and the soundstage stay between the speakers etc .... I modified the porthole completely and the wave guide of the tweeter ...I add some acoustic devices and electrical controls etc Short story results : amazing... There is no relation between them right out of the box and now ...ZERO comparison... Then if one here goes listening to this small active speakers in a showroom he would have no idea about this gem at cheap cost ...And he will call me name because i dare to speak here about S. Q. with such cheap gear piece ...😁 High end is a state of mind and a state of learning as said mikelavigne ... My system dont compare with most here but i assure you it is not trash sound at all ... I am proud not envious...😊 I am sorry for many here in truth instead of being envious ( my ego for sure dont help me 😊 here) ... Thats is my state of mind AFTER learning for years how to work on any system at any price ... it takes time much time and dedication to acoustic among other factors ... By the way i called my audiophile experience : the minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold... I call it acoustical because all acoustic parameters pertaining to sound perception are relatively balanced and not overemphasized or lacking too much ... Any system at any price can give satisfaction or not , it is related to the way you work it and work with it ...
«the high end is not gear, it’s a state of mind» Mikelavigne
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@mahgister …”I dont know how people can think they had heard something in any room which is not their room , and with any complementary gear around it which is not their gear...”. I think you learn venues the same way you can learn to separate what the specific speakers contribute, versus amp, preamp, vs, source. Experience. The more venues, live music, and equipment you experience you can start separating them out. I remember the beginning of my pursuing the high end… my head was spinning. But over time I learned the house sound of Rotel, NAD, B&W, Threshold… etc. over the decades, I could tell what was venue, setup. I would often go to an audition and go adjust the toe-in or have the guys use a different amp. I found I started knowing much more than a lot of folks selling the gear. Also, I learned to quick;y spot folks that knew what they were talking about. We would instantly become fast friends and be able to exchange ideas and observations at a mile a minute. This is what makes the pursuit so fascinating long-termed. There is no end to learning. |
Thanx gh. It is not perfect yet, but we are making headway. First of all, I prefer the large presentation of line source systems. Dipole, line source, open baffle speakers have extreme advantages when it comes to room acoustics. Because they do not project sound to the sides, up or down there is much less room interaction. You only have to worry about what comes off the back of the speaker which is easy to deal with. I use 4" foam acoustic tile, three rows, floor to ceiling directly behind the speakers. Bass is always a problem for dipoles and I cross to subwoofers at 100 Hz relieving them of the problem entirely. I have four new subwoofers which are almost finished. They should easily outperform the current ones. The New DEQX processor should arrive in a week or two and I plan on biamping the ESLs using the crossover in the DEQX and a Bricasti M25 to drive the high frequency transformers. There are a few luxury Items that I might jump for in the future like the Channel D Seta L 20, the best phono stage made IMHO. The Dohmann Helix 2 is also on the list along with a Schroder LT and maybe a few more cartridges.
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