Risking some redundancy as Unsound & Jaybo pretty much pointed to the crux of the thing, I'll add another perspective hopefully.... and maybe clear up what Shatern pointed out which posed me some undecidedness too.
Msratty, maybe you should outline for us here the proper ways to setup equipment. You lean quite hard on that word yet provide us no definition of it in your context.
Msratty SAYS
The only way to judge how a piece of equipment will sound is to test it in your room after proper setup
I think the issue expressed here lends itself to being more one of semantics and some ambiguity with terms, than anything else. Namely the part about
after , predominately, and setup, subsequently .
The after can become a lengthy and varied process
not just the simple plug and play integration of the piece in question. A more than fair amount of time, energy, and resources could be used to optimize a given items integration into any audio assemblage
. Or its setup, that by its nature could be quite the subjective term itself.
I'll assume for the moment, set up = optimizing... and not just placing into position the gear. AS well, after equates to the above note on enduring much more than mere plug and play, with varied accessories, cables, the room itself, etc.
There is something to be said both for optimization or a given set of components, 'setup' and for selecting those items which can and will work best together at a high level
. As has been already pointed to by the Msratty initially, when it was said some fundamental electrical considerations need be adhered to going in.
Plug and play only shows a thing works, doesnt work, or doesnt sound as you had expected it to or would prefer it to sound. Nothing more or less.
Hence the perhaps fiery note on owner preffs, stated as likes and dislikes could have some ability to change the sonics of some newly added item. Likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it. It is what it is. Period.
Msratty SAYS
But the absolutely critical factors in determining what a system will sound like are: 1. your own likes and dislikes and 2. setup.
The former has absolutely nothing to do with what a thing will actually do, or sound like, the latter does however. The trailer will of course be affected by the previous
perhaps, as this new owners tastes might come into play, if the outcome is swayed from a goal of pure neutrality. I think many systems are off from being purely neutral indeed. Preffs will affect the ensuing setup only. Not the true character of the piece.
Msratty
Many of you who ask for advice about gear place inordinate value on subjective opinions of individuals with varying tastes, hearing ability, prejudices, rooms and setups. That is completely absurd:
FURTHER
.
.. So stop running around like a bunch of maniacs who have to switch equipment every few months in search of nirvana, and concentrate on setting up your system properly. That's where the greatest reward is (for everyone except dealers).
Do you agree?
Not entirely.
Youve hit on something here, but its too critical a line of thought for me to subscribe to it 100%.
Especially that blatant desire to condone or condemn the acts of others. As well as the short sighted perspective in which only dealers can claim true benefit.
Knowledge comes as the result of experience and education. The missing golden marble here is that the aspect or prime mover, Knowledge is assumed. Also that there is some defined criterium dictating some predetermined method, or set of indicative steps, for optimizing ones system, or its now mystically ordained, setup, in fact, regardless those items comprising it..
Well
if some sort of explicative, globally tried and true, methodology does exist do show that to me
. Or not. No matter either way really. Id prefer to find out for myself a fair amount of this hobby, unless very high stakes are at play all at once. There, Ill employ some CYA measures and proceed with more caution. As well as leaning more so on my so far acquired quiver of knowledge, and the input of those I respect in this community.
Flavor of the month-ers, chronic Plug & players, regardless ones opinion of these gear hound sorts, one can not be too dismissive of one sure thing, they are amassing knowledge. How much knowledge is another story, and their affair completely. Those sorts do not get into my hula hoop, so it does not affect me whatsoever. God bless em all. Were I to have a boatload of duckets and the temperance for it, I might be just so persuaded.
My own nature and circumstances push me onto another road however.
Neither do I agree that subjective accounts are worthless. I feel we are more alike here than dissimilar. Sure there are divisions to the fold, eccentricities, devotions, and such, though Ive found many who tend to have predominately my own tastes for sonic pleasure
. Musical genres aside of course. I value their inputs and have been served well by them for some time now. True too, my eyes have been opened to facets of system building, or in another word, its setup which were at one time areas I would have had nothing to do with at all. In short, this feedback has broken down my preconceived barriers pertinent to, and that had prevented me from, achieving greater levels of performance. That list is pretty long too.
I do agree taking time to fully realize what is possible from some component takes time and energy. It takes knowledge too, and that comes as part & parcel, the exercise of this adventure.
But then, in the end poll, isnt even one persons Heavenly sound not that of some other? Or is it even found to be its very best?
Thats the sanctity of the beholder to decide.
I understand frustration, redundancy, and unanswerable questions that crop up now and then or even repeatedly, yet I believe at that precise moment in time, the querry seemed like the exact right thing to do. Its just another part of the whole of what a community decidedly predisposed to an outwardly simple pastime evolves into, thru its members interactions.
So be it.
To scoff or exclaim some goings on are ridiculous or merely less than or simply arbitrary, says more about the proclaimed than the proclamation itself.
If some people dont believe in a thing, nor wish to investigate it
such as wire, isolation, power line conditioning, etc, well, super. Good for them IMO. What some other does or does not, isnt my problem.
It matters only what I do. With and for myself, and with or for another.
As much as has been given me so freely, I feel it incumbent upon myself to reciprocate in kind when I see something I have had direct experiences with or some knowledge of.
Whatever the hilltop or mountain someone wants to ascend, how they go about it is their own concern. Very likely, in the process, they will go about it the way that provides the most enjoyment to them and them alone.
There is wisdom within this community to those ends. It is sought out daily. Repeatedly. How suitable it is, or how much of it is followed is questionable. Some hands down slam dunk answers can just be cost prohibitive, or too stringent a measure to undertake for some and dependant upon circumstances particular to that individual seeking them. There is more than a fair amount of compromise a going on around here
and thats just life barking at us.
I think sometimes we attempt to be perfectionists. Our personal track records prove otherwise very often. Perfection is more myth than reality.
Magfan
True, so then why the heck are the vast majority of questions dealing with 'what goes with what'?
IMO? Money. Money, time and effort. A knee jerk shortcut is being sought and once found theoretically, it is pondered still more, and may or may not even be followed! So I think its a money thing more than anything else.
