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Hi Fi burnout.

Are you a victim of Hi-Fi burnout? A friend of mine who is "Into hi fi" recently called me to tell me he was selling all of his high end audio equipment! He was simply tired of keeping up with all the latest and greatest equipment trends. In his quest for the "Ultimate sound" he had upgraded several times at great expense. Sales people were only to happy to sell him what he "Needed" to "Really" improve his system. I think all told he accumulated some 150k in equipment!! What he forgot and lost sight of in his quest for the ultimate stereo, was to listen to the music!! Instead he would take pride in how great his speakers tweeter's sounded, and the the pages clipped out of various audio magazines that showed charts on his equipment and it's performance. He now owns a little Sony do it all portable stereo, and says he's happier for it because he's not so stressed about keeping up with all the new equipment. It's easy to see how this could happen. I look at my stereo equipment as a tool made for the extraction of music from vinyl or cd or tape. The music IS what matters and shall remain with us forever. In this day of hi tech accomplishments and super materials, you have to be very careful not to get sucked into the equipment junkie bottomless pit. Otherwise you could be spending some time at the Betty Ford Centre for recovering Audiophiles. What say you?
nocaster
larryb
101 posts
 
Just the opposite here. I had a lower end (outlaw and rotel) HT system that never sounded well with music, and as a result stopped playing music in the home.

After getting an all Cary HT rig, now my system is producing some sweet music again, and I'm listening all the time. Still this hobby can get obsessive quickly with lots of cash chasing not much more enjoyment.

I can only hope it ends here, but I know that after a while you get used to the sound of your system and you start craving that "Wow" again. I'm hoping to satisfy myself with just a speaker change every 5 years or so. Wish me luck.
rja's avatar
rja
2,380 posts
 
I've seen some who begin to seek perfection, the best. Unforunately perfection don't exist and anyone who thinks that it does is deluding themselves. This stuff is machinery, some better. some not so good. If you do get into this obsessive mode, where does it end? Maybe cold turkey is the way to go. This is just stuff made to reproduce music or a reasonable facsimile of same. The stuff can't make us happy. It's essentially nothing but a collection of other stuff. Music can have power though and I think this is the important thing to remember. The acquisition of the machinery, the stuff, should not be the ultimate goal because it will ultimately be empty. I think that's where your friend ended up. Sometimes the equipment obsession obscures the enjoyment of music. The stuff is only here to serve the music.
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,258 posts
 
Rja well said, I agree.
tomryan
797 posts
 
I have an all tube rig and for years was afraid to use it as a music system because of tube degradation, burn out, etc. Then about 4-5 years ago I realized I'm wasting life time and started just popping it on for use anytime I want. I've replaced tubes a couple of times but get much more enjoyment out of everything. I'm no longer afraid!
statman's avatar
statman
285 posts
 
I'm in a simlar position as EVO8. Between riding trackdays on my sportbike(where it should be in the first place) and other outside activities I then can come back and listen to my system for the music and not how it sounds that day! I once sold all my gear except the speakers which I kept,but eventually replaced them with a newer/better model. I'll never make that mistake again. I believe you can achieve the same affect by disconnecting your system,box it up, and don't listen to it for several months,after that re-connect it and discover what you were missing?
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