Does your system sound better than most demo's?

I remember a Stereophile show at the NY Hilton that I attended about 8 years ago. One of the demonstration rooms was sponsored by a well known NYC dealer and was featuring components from Musical Fidelity, Thiel, and Focal among others. The presenters were reps from MF's US importer at the time and they were very strong in their assertions that MF and Thiele went well together. In fact, they were claiming to all be proud Thiel and MF owners. I had never read of these two brands pairing in any periodical or web-site, so I was psyched to hear the demos.

I was in the market for new speakers. I owned 3 MF components; a power amp, preamp, and cd player. I was seated 3rd row center for an hour's worth of demos of MF and Thiel, both CD and vinyl sources, and I just could not get what they were claiming, even with prompting by the presenters. The speakers were in my price range, so it was not a mismatch based on price.

I walked away from this demo thinking that this had to be some type of marketing ploy. I know that there are those who will say that show demos rarely sound good and when the demos bomb, any number of room issues are cited. And yet, I have been to rooms where the sound was right on and the room was pretty much identical to every other room.

So the point of all this? Other than the story, admittedly I am now very skeptical of the pairings at these shows as I don't think they prove anything about component cost and synergy.

Rich

Jmc, that was some funny shiznit!

B_limo, be careful how you word. Some may think turbos are what they are calling rich guys these days and you spanked 911 of them in a mini.

Just havin some fun ;o)

B_Limo - I used the M3 analogy with a local dealer recently. For some unknown reason he had it in my head I wouldn't be satisfied with anything except a boutique name. I tried to explain that the upgrades I was thinking about weren't to impress anyone except my ears and it wasnt getting through, so I lit upon the concept of the M3 versus exotic. Sure you can squeeze more performance out of a quarter million dollar car but I was happy to be satisfied with the daily 'driving pleasure' of the performance of an M3 (I've owned one and they provide a LOT of daily driving pleasure and a ton of performance).

He took me into his demo room where amongst other things he demo'd his own speaker creations and tried to convince me of the holographic soundstage. All I heard was volume. If you had blindfolded me and spun me around ten times I'm fairly certain I could have shot a bb through the woofer of either speaker. I didnt even bother to reach for the CDs I brought along.

Visceral and emotional experience is the joy of this hobby. Technical achievement is honorable and necessary to keep the pursuit alive and healthy. But I don't care what the specs say, if it isn't fun to drive then I'm going to move on. And if its fun to drive stop telling me about the engineering and give me the keys. Seems simple.

In one of the rooms at the recent Chicago show, a dealer and an equipment rep were talking as if they were presenters at a brain surgery seminar about how the rep made the CD that was about to be slid into a $40k CDP. The dealer summed up the obviously planned conversation saying with great authority… so were talking about integrating pro equipment valued at well over $100k to transfer this music from your turntable to this CD we’re about to hear… the rep smiles… pushes the play button… and seconds into the music a wave of people hit the door.

Sales involve a bit of showmanship but some dealers forget the sophistication of their buyers, especially in audio. Many years ago I witnessed a salesman at a high end salon doing his level best to convince a potential buyer of what he was hearing compared to what he was hearing. It was just the two of them up front and I was at the back but well within the better listening area which allowed me the luxury of moving around as the salesman spoke. What was described as a very wide and deep soundstage with great dynamics and extension had all the size effect of a TV screen. I had to bite my lip and walk out before the urge to say anything overwhelmed me.

The poor customer just sat there, nodding with his head but his face betrayed the motion and I think the salesman had a sale that day. We're talking Martin Logan speakers and AR separates with exotic cabling in an optimum set up in a room dedicated to stereo and it sounded like crap. So when I hear of problematic room set ups at audio shows I take that with the smallest grain of salt as there are others at the very same shows under the very same conditions that can sound fantastic. I believe that near field listening can pretty much help in determining the potential of most systems but in the end, you'll never really know until you hear it in your system.

As to B_limo's point, yes, I experience that most of the time. Even when I hear something markedly better that would require a sacrifice, of sorts, I'm quite content with what I have, in the context of where I listen, and wonder what all the fuss is about.

All the best,
Nonoise