Life long lesson: Only give advise and/or make suggestions if you are asked to contribute.
On the money.
Friends hi-fi system not very good, what do you do or say?
So you're going over to someones home and they give you a tour and they have a hi-fi system in a room. And while visiting of course they turn it on for you not knowing that you have a very nice system in your home and you notice immediately it's just not very good. But then you're used to the very in you're listening experiences. So what do you do when they ask you what you think?
Do you say sounds really good?
Do you make suggestions?
Do you feel a desperate need to tell them about your system?
Personally, I try not to mention any details about my system. If I'm driving around in a Lamborghini I would prefer to be invisible so I don't get stared at when I get out of my car. If they had a really nice system with interesting components I would probably mention a few of the things I have and then we could bond with our common interests. Ideally, it would be cool to be in the presence of someone who knew a lot more than I did and a real learning opportunity.
Audio systems tend to be private affairs I guess. I don't necessarily want to hang out with someone and listen to tunes. Those wonderful College days where it made a lot of sense are long gone.
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@jsalerno277 (above, page 1) You offered several tactics I can use with my students with whom I struggle to communicate. Very helpful. @emergingsoul The only advice I can offer is that people are more important than gear. Treat your friend as you would like to be treated yourself. Golden Rule and all that.
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I liked @norcalal response (there were many others as well), but his I thought was really functional and effective, and also a leading call to action for the friend. I have been having a similar struggle with a relative who has a VERY NICE system, and a great sized room....but the sound is just barely mid-range and higher: there is no depth, no feeling, NO BASS AT ALL. To me it sounded so bad that I literally couldn't listen for more than a few songs at a time. To him, it was incredible and the best he has ever heard, and he's been an audiophile (legit) for over 30 years. Age has a lot to do with it, sensitivities can have a lot to do with it for him, and frankly I think at some point people just like what they want to like and can't be turned unless led by themselves. Which brings me back to @norcalal comment. Encouraging the person to WANT to experiment will help them to simply discover on their own that things can in fact sound better even with just speaker placement moves maybe some furnishings, sitting position, etc. That can 'usually' trigger wanting to test and tweak and hopefully LEARN all one can objectively to then apply subjectively. In my situation with the family member, I had to show him REW measurements to illustrate what he was missing, what issues he had: objective. For me, personally in my own system I try a lot of different things from time to time just to shift HOW what I hear sounds. I'll turn off my subwoofer for a few days, change it's frequency cut off and volume, I'll do some tweaking with an EQ for the main system and change response curves, use REW to record measurement of what I change and mark ones I really like and why, etc. I also listen to a lot of live acoustic music of all kinds, in different spaces small and large. I am also blessed with muscian and other audiophile friends who help me to want to hear differently or help point out things I should be hearing that are present but I might over look. |
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