Out of Control

Oh but to be so sure of one's self! I don't put this out as some kind of procedure to follow under pain of banishment or anything like that. Just a few thoughts. For sake of discussion let's divide this into three phases: prior to, during and after auditioning. Prior to, I would recommend not reading any review of the piece(s) of equipment you are interested in. Not easy. Cuts down on the reading on the loo. I would recommend not talking about it to audiophile friends and acquaintances or non-audiophile friends and acquaintances. The former will surely have a ready made opinion and the seed will be planted. The latter will look at you in stunned disbelief and mention that you have a sound system, what you need is a giant projection HDTV compatible what's it. Never talk about your project to your wife/girlfriend, the money will become an issue and you will go for the cheaper model every time. Have some idea of what you are going to audition prior to going. Tear out the reviews and articles from the mags if you must, and only read the advertising, at least you know where they're coming from (dolus bonus, in Latin, I guess). Impractical? Maybe. But what the hell. À la guerre comme à la guerre. During the audition: Make sure you are in familiar surroundings. You should go to the audio shops so regularly that you are on a first name basis with the people there. Double back to see if they abruptly stop talking to each other when you re-enter their premises. The frequency of your visits, especially without ever buying anything, should be such that the audio shop personnel have learnt to detest you. Make it a home trial if you can. Better on everyone's nerves. Listen in your sound room, you should be familiar with the acoustics of the place, and at your normal listening position and volume level. Listen to a variety of recordings (including some poorly recorded material, mono, multi-miked or just plain bad, you would be surprised what they can reveal). Have a set play list of cuts that put different demands on the system. Play them in the same sequence. Play them through. Make sure you have something from all the audio food groups. Make sure you have spoken word, that's what we are all more familiar with. Make sure you have plain sounds of things that don't or barely qualify as musical instruments: hand claps, wood block, something along those lines. If you listen only to heavy metal or techno or whatever comes solely out of machines or amplifiers, you may discontinue the process as soon as you have ascertained that the whole thing plays loud. You need the voice of a male and a female singer, signing. On the topic of what constitutes "singing", tune in later. You need solo instrument recordings of piano, of guitar and something close to the range of the human voice, let's not quibble, say a clarinet. You need a well recorded small group, such as a small jazz ensemble or a chamber music group. You have to include one very dynamic excerpt of a symphonic work, well recorded. You need some kind of big band. You must have a violin, well played and well recorded. You need one monster organ recording of a real organ, in a real space, recorded by a real pro. You should have a dab of bass, both acoustic and electric. You need a very small sliver of rock and let's say a handful of blues, well played and well recorded. You need to believe that 95% of the time, three microphones are enough for a decent recording. If you listen to both analog and cd, you have to double your pleasure, double your fun, (sorry, no gum chewing while you listen) although I am not sure you need exact duplicates of these recordings in both formats. Why not, makes it more of an even match, just kidding. You are to avoid the demon rum and the demon weed and anything which may affect the usual chemical reaction in your brain. You should never do any of this if you have a migraine, cold, sinusitis, tinnitus or deafness. You may drink black coffee, but don't put the cup on top of the speaker enclosures. Do not cook on power amps while listening, wait until later. Preferably, you have to be alone. If you must, ask the other ears not to talk. Throw in that you don't want any obvious body language either. At this stage you will wind up alone, which is how it should be to start with. Warm up your trusty sound system. Acquaint yourself with the hardware you are going to audition. Only make one change at a time in, as we say in French, your hi-fi chain. Listen a second time to the cuts that have incited some overly negative or overly positive reaction on first hearing. Take notes. Get the lingo you want to use in these notes straight in your mind before you commit to paper. Never decide on buying the equipment on the spot. Negative reactions are very hard to get rid of. Positive reactions may not survive the light of day. After auditioning: make a note of your play list, place all your little records back on the shelf, ask yourself if you have actually heard a significant improvement in the overall sound quality with the new component in the chain. Remove the said component from the chain and go back to what you had before. Do you miss something the new component brought? If yes, you may be on to something. If no, stand pat. If you are unsure, don't push it. They ain't no hi-fi police gonna bust ya, unless someone on Audiogon reports you to the authorities. If you remain unconvinced, take the money you were going to spend on that upgrade, in whole or in part, up to the greater of $1,500 or whatever you fell like blowing, and go to the record shop, store, supermarket, and buy records with it. Yes, blow a wad on cds or lps, get the little plastic basket and fill it up with what you consider good music (I always think the people doing that have just settled that claim for the break-in with their insurers). You get to keep the records, you know. It's about the music in the first place, you know. Don't be a smart ass. Promise yourself no to do any of this for a considerable period. Six to twelve months, depending on the severity of your addiction. Hope there is something of some use to someone in here. The use of the actual "dreaded subject" is just the punishment for telling all those little white lies to others and, especially, to yourselves on the good, better, best vector. Regards.

pbb: clever, well-put and practical advice, done with a sense of humor. i applaud you (one hand, only) :o). -cfb

And here is my other hand to clap with!

Pbb: Your method attests of exemplary rigour (as we might say in French :>)). To be followed, I say!

BTW (by the way) since Pbb mentions loo reading, most of our matl is OFF hobby: cars & business reviews, cartoons, etc... audiophiles' loo-reading: subject for another thread of psychoanalytical dimensions...?

Sorry to have to table an addendum so soon. Two points to be added: one, wait until all the evidence is in before deciding; two: burden of proving that the component should be adopted by you, lies on the equipment being evaluated and is not the same depending on type, in the case of sources (analog or digital), preamplifiers and speakers, should be on a balance of probabilities- in the case of power amplifiers, should also on a balance of probabilities, but assume it's all circumstantial evidence, (this is based on fuzzy logic, so don't get too technical with me here), in the case of interconnects, speaker cables and items, charitably described as "accessories" or "tweaks", beyond a reasonable doubt. As they sometime say in translation matters: "when in doubt, leave it out" or you may ascribe to the chicken soup theory, "it can't hoyt", this largely depends on the price to be paid. I leave it up to you to decide whether items in these last three categories should be treated as though adopting one and finding out, on sober second thought, that it was just not worth the bother is a capital offence or not. Sorry for the awkward analogies.