Fake Audiophiles

My take on vintage audio-some of it stands up to the best of today.

And, a lot of that great vintage stuff, was ridiculed and called obscenely expensive back in it's day.
Some things never change.

If a piece of gear that is expensive gets a good review, the cost of such gear always draws negative responses from the folks who base their judgement on the cost, not the performance.

I think there is a lot of stuff made today that will be the much sought after vintage finds in the future.

It's a good thing the audiophiles of yesterday ignored the cries of indignation concerning costs.
The vintage folks would be out of luck.

They bought that stuff at full price in yesterdays dollars with yesterdays wages.

I've never seen those folks called audiofools,with more money than sense.

I don't have anything original to contribute, but I was impressed by the thoughtful posts of Akg_ca and Tom32. I'd guess most of us see our audio systems as just a means to an end, the enjoyment of music, although just looking at my Thrones TD 124 and its SME II arm is a treat in itself. I suppose I might say the same thing about the handsome KEF Reference 107/2s, but the rest of the stuff, nah.

db

I agree with Mapman's first post. You are an audiophile if you care about sound quality regardless the kind of source (digital or analog) you listen to.

I don't think there's a fake audiophile. Its better to spend your money on a Rolls Royce or Ferrari in terms of showing off. Chicks digs luxury ride and not your components.

I am very careful with such statements. All have their opinion about something which is not shared from everyone. Just an example - maybe you know that from own experience - you visit a show with 3 audiophile friends and let's say, the Demo is really good but with unknown brands and maybe they are cheap or expensive. Do you think that all 4 agree, that is is a super Demo?
I don't think so :-)
For one it is too cheap, too black, too big, too expensive, too ugly or whatever ...and for the next, it sucks :-)
Or another example, you hear a Phono Stage/ Cartridge, Preamp / really expensive, but it is really hard to bear, you go to the Distributor and say honestly "That's a bit strange, isn't it?" -:)
He will tell you, he sold all, there is a waiting list of 6 months and you are the first who say that ....

And when you write that in Forums, the Manufacturer and the rest of the chain who live from it or owners who spent their money and are afraid for the drop in resale will not write your name in their "Book of the friend guys" ...

Nice! A lot of good responses concerning a somewhat silly (stupid?) thread. I like the direction it took :)

I guess what I was trying to say is that over the past 5 years in this hobby I have seen many different peoples personal set ups from buying so much gear used. The commonality is that 95% of the rigs I've seen have just been set up soooo poorly. They will have some really nice equipment but because of the way it is set up, they are only getting 50%-75% of the equipments actual potential.

I would say that most of them, and some of them have, called themselves "audiophiles". I know that being an "audiophile" really isn't cool but it's like cars, most men like them and talk about them like they are experts in the field. I love sitting back and listening to someone try to school me on cars (some people can by the way).

I think that to be an audiophile it really has to do with how developed a listeners ears are and then being able to understand why a system sounds the way it does and how certain changes will effect the sound. I think this comes with experience and a desire to learn.

I figure that most of you here are what I would consider to be true audiophiles so I was wondering if you have experienced what I have in regards to seeing so many systems set up like junk. It's like I would show up to buy a Classe amp and they would have it hooked up to $3000 bookshelf speakers sitting on the ground hooked up with 18 guage wire from radio shack. Oh, and another one that I just remembered; whats up with people just cranking up their system as loud as they can in order to try to impress you?

There are so many other aspects of sound quality that I look other than how loud it can play. I don't judge a car by numbers or sheer outright speed. There's so much more to the experience. How does it feel? How does it sound? How does it speak to you? When you turn the knobs, is it a refined, machined feel, or a notchy plastic feel?

Just because I drink alcohol occasionally does not make me a wine connoisseur. I imagine a wine connoisseur looks at the wine, swishes it around to see the legs (? or something like that), smells it, then very carefully tastes it. Then they can describe all the flavors and body. They can pick up on hints of flavor that the grapes took on in their respective environment. I, on the other hand, can tell if it's red or white, sweet or dry and that's about it, and there is a lot lost on me when it comes to wine.

I think the same can be said for many so called "audiophiles", but I suppose like Cypher said in the Matrix, "ignorance is bliss", so crank it till the windows rattle and you go deaf :)