Impress Your Friends and Seduce Women!


I seem to have lost a very interesting thread on how to best demonstrate to laymen why we spend tens of thousands of dollars on equipment and tolerate garden hosed sized wires sprawling across Persian carpets. Has anyone thought more about this topic? A gospel (?) track with chorus sounded very nice -- sonic fireworks with musical integrity is what is required. Only audiophiles listen to Mannheim Steamroller and the Fresh Air series. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
cwlondon
Incredible post Redkiwi! I doubt there will ever be a more powerful statement on our hobby than you have just made. I can add nothing to it.
Redkiwi, please clarify. IMO, fidelity to the music is not possible without the ability to play loudly. I don't mean that the overall level is high decibel, but instead the ability to accurately follow the wide range dynamics of musical instruments is a key element of high fidelity playback. For after all, even in real life, music (acoustic instruments) can be very loud.
i have never had an "uninitiated" 1st-time listener to my system say they could not perceive how it bettered anything and everything they'd previously heard. generally, i let them pick their own music, then play some of my favorites. of course, i don't tell them how much my hardware cost. that's my business, not their's.
Redkiwi..interesting reply... how far have you went in your quest and how much do you think is attainable?..do you think at your level (whatever that is..)there is "much" more to be attained or are you close to what can be reproduced from a system? Thanks in advance, Ben
To those of you who think like I do: It's ironic, but the longer I'm involved in this pursuit of audio nirvana, it seems that I play my music at lower levels and listen much more intently than I ever did before, resulting in the greater enjoyment of the real dynamics of great music that is well recorded.