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The Horror

After getting  back home from “The Show” in Costa Mesa, California this past weekend, I walked over to my stereo system and turned it on. And silently wept. I had held out a feint hope that my cross-over modified 1.7i Maggies and mighty Parasound A21+, fed from a Prima Luna 300 tube preamplifier could somehow manage a slight shimmer of resemblance to the robust setups I witnessed at the SHOW. Not—- on— your —-life. Not even close. I slumped into my over-stuffed couch and stared long and hard at the thing I created: an anemic concoction of false hopes and wishful thinking. The horror, the truth: entry into serious audiophile listening begins with purchase of speakers that cost the price of the car I had to finance for 4 years, closely followed with the added expense of beefy sophisticated electronics and wiring, not a gaggle of cheap wanna-be plastic and tweeks. I so wanted to belong, but that’s turned out to be just a fever dream I’ve got to wake up from. Maybe one day, if ever I have the nerve to rob a bank, find Jimmy Hoffa, or survive a head-on collision from a sleepy Amazon driver, I might make it. Maybe. Feel free to play the violin with two fingers.

128x128audiodidact
audiodidact's avatar
audiodidact OP
79 posts
 

@roxy54, @toddalin

What I saw and heard from the start was the Gryphon room, off to the right in the lobby. Talk about setting the bar right from the start! Honestly, though the Gryphon’s total package wasn’t really that obscene, (I mean it’s a Tesla, for chrissake. Doesn’t everyone have one of those?), it was still outside my reach. And the sound. Well, to cut down on the hyperbole, it was sound I’d not heard until that day, alerting me to the naked truth: This, this sound, is not what I do at home. Not now. Maybe never. I stumbled out of that room in trembling recognition of how real speakers sound. Then, of course, I heard the Vandersteens and the $57,000 Boenickes. Slam! Bam! And on it went. I was reeling. There were certainly some mighty mouses doing their best to take on these giants, but as good as many of them were, they could not drive the sound of those giants out of my mind. I appreciate @roxy54’s heartfelt encouragement. Rest easy. I won’t jump. It’s just a sad day.

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jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,173 posts
 

After returning home from one of the old NYC Audio Shows around 1993 I was happy to listen to my current setup using KLH Nine full-range electrostatic speakers. The sound was so much better than anything I heard at the show, despite those systems out-pricing mine!

audiodidact's avatar
audiodidact OP
79 posts
 

That was my fantasy, Jason. Yeah, I fancied I’d be driving home with whistling delight about how my modest system would wipe the floor with those big dogs. Ludicrous.

 

grislybutter
2,994 posts
 

I did not really understand your post. Your system costs 5 times what I spent on mine. I don't think I will ever have half your budget and I think mine sounds absolutely amazing and riveting. I guess we have very different perspectives.

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