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.
@erik_squires , lol. You're probably not far off.... I'm sure we'd all have Dartzeel or Dan A'gostino amps if we could afford them. But alas.....I'll have to be content with my British convertible sports car and my modest Canadian amp/preamp. I figure I'll be OK. |
Spend some time with your room acoustics, speaker setup and choice of listening position. More than half of what you are hearing is your room and rest assured, hotel rooms are not ideal so there is reason for hope. Optimize what you have, you will be surprised. Drop a six figure system into poor room and you get poor sound. |
@ghasley +1 You don’t need more money, you need more knowledge. A far less expensive system than many in those room set up with care, knowledge -- synergy between components and room acoustics -- can bring you bliss. Your system can be great, but you’re going to have to figure it out, not sell a kidney. |
I run KEF Reference 1's, so I will agree with you! I attended AXPONA this year and heard some great systems, but mine still sounds great to me. |
