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$$$ vs music enjoyment

The January 2013 Stereophile e-mail newsletter featured an interesting reprint of a 1994 article titled "R.I.P. High-End Audio?" The reprint generated interesting discussion, and I found one post in particular raising an interesting point.

"The article suggests there is some public good to spreading the high-end. I'd like it first shown that someone is happier listening to music on $20 speakers than 'mid-end' $2k speakers. I mean empirical evidence - hook up blindfolded listens to brain scanners and measure their neurotransmitter levels. If there were a correlation between musical enjoyment and price beyond a certain point I'd have expected my musician and conductor friends to own better stereos than they do."

A few points raised there. Does a more expensive system (a nicely set up, moderate system vs. a significantly more expensive system) indeed elevate the level of musical enjoyment? It would be very interesting to compare owners of all-out assault systems with average audiophiles who can't wait to fire up their systems on a Friday night to get themselves immersed in music. I believe I myself would in fact enjoy the music more if able to afford a more expensive system, even though my modest system has given me extreme enjoyment. But who knows...

And then, yes, why does the audiophile community feature relatively so few musicians? I must say this argument is actually not very convincing to me. The underlying assumption is that any given trade professional would necessarily strive to replicate or pursue the same standards or level of performance in his private life, which I think is a fallacy. Does a fancy restaurant chef have to always eat gourmet food at his home to enjoy it? Does a fashion designer have to always wear designer clothes lest they show high fashion is a sham?

Comments welcome.
actusreus
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
I was just in Vienna listening to opera and was fortunate to be introduced to a
few of the musicians. Some are audiophiles who listen to turntables and love
to collect LPs while others couldn't care less about listening to an audio
system. They did seem to have one thing in common though: They all
appreciate the fact that there are audiophiles and music lovers out there who
appreciate good music. They also appreciate that we care about listening to
and buying recorded music and that we care about the quality of the
recording and the quality of the performance.

The public in general does not buy and collect hard copies of recordings the
way they used to in the 50s and 60s and this is having an impact on the
revenue of these big orchestras. They record less, so they must tour more.

I happen to enjoy listening to music more as my system improves. I
remember when I used to read while listening to my system. Now I just listen.
I used to hear the system, now I listen to the performance and want to learn
more about music. I'm also not upgrading components the way I used to. I'm
even considering moving my virtual system to the "Done for Now" section. I
certainly enjoy listening more now, though I don't know if that is just because
my system has gotten better and it costs more. I don't know for sure, and I
don't really care. For me, it's more and more about the music.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Peterayer,

"I'm also not upgrading components the way I used to. I'm
even considering moving my virtual system to the "Done for Now" section. I
certainly enjoy listening more now, though I don't know if that is just because
my system has gotten better and it costs more. I don't know for sure, and I
don't really care. For me, it's more and more about the music."

I read your post and had a look at your system. I see 2 big things that I believe you are getting right. First is your system matching. Not only are your components excellent pieces by themselves, they are very well matched to each other. No corners were cut. Its easy to see that you gave equal consideration to all of your components. Second is your attitude to music and your system. As good as your system is, you seem to understand that no system is perfect and don't have any unrealistic expectations to what it should or can do. That's what really allows you to enjoy it. Well done.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,408 posts
 
"....you seem to understand that no system is perfect and don't have any unrealistic expectations to what it should or can do. That's what really allows you to enjoy it. "

Bingo!
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
Thanks for your observation, Zd542. You are right, I have no illusions about the
limitations of our audio systems. I do enjoy my evening listening sessions with
friends. My time spent listening to live orchestras has served as a reference
guide and has helped me to improve my system. It is a real joy.

I'd like to add to my post above about musicians in Vienna being audiophiles:
Nine (9) members of the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera own SME
turntables. They own the relatively less expensive Model 10, the moderately
priced Model 20 and the expensive Model 30. Regardless of the money spent,
I'm pretty sure they all get a lot of musical enjoyment out of their systems.
They collect records, listen to vinyl and obviously love playing and listening to
music. Interestingly, not one of them reports any pitch/speed issues with these
belt-drive turntables. And they all know what real music sounds like.
frogman
7,476 posts
 
Pete, your comments corroborate what I was saying. Now, let's take the number of members of the Vienna State Opera that own high quality gear (not just SME tt's), and as a percentage of the total number of players in that orchestra, compare that percentage to that of music-listening members of the general population who also own high quality gear. The percentage of musician audiophiles will be infinitely higher. That musicinas don't know about quality stereo IS NOT TRUE.
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