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The last 5 ?????

Sometimes as an Audiophile I come to a place where words no longer express the experience I’m having with my system. In this past year I have needed to sell off parts of my system, the biggest changes were going from two Plinius SA-102 amps bi-amped to a single amp, and replacing my Nordost Valhalla cabling with the far more affordable Kubala-Sosna Emotion cables.

The loss of the amp was clear, less dynamics and less involving. The cable change was something significantly different however. The Kubala-Sosna cables are every cliché we audiophiles use. Blacker, better definition, more space between notes, dynamic, extended… These words fail to express the improvement over my Valhalla cables however, and all I can say is I’m more musically involved. This was a clear improvement to my system, and for less money!!! But words fail to adequately express the improvements.

The second experience came when my Sony SCD-1 receiving all the remaining modifications available through Richard Kern at Audiomod.com I had half the mod’s done four years ago, and received the remaining just last month. The fully modified player is said to better the EMM Meitner/Phillips combination. I can not speak to that in that I have never heard this combination, so my basis is strictly within my experiences listening to other systems.

The fully modified Sony is simply amazing, beyond my limits of expression. I could say it’s more analog than any digital system I’ve heard, and yet it’s well beyond analog. It is simply so much more than the analog most of us can afford. It’s also not at all digital, it has none of the electronic, edgy artifacts of solid state and digital systems. The best way I can explain this system is it’s beyond digital and analog that I’m aware of.

Words like three dimensional, attack, tightness, extended, clear, dynamic, natural, subtle all fall completely inadequate when trying to explain my system today. Words just can not explain the sound.

This leads me to my purpose of this post. The topic actually came up talking to Albert Porter when we were discussing continued improvements we make to systems that are already beyond 95% of anything available. In Albert’s case I suspect he is beyond 99.99% and yet we continue to change our systems and reach DRAMATIC improvements.

How is this possible if the last five or three or one percent is as significant as 50% to 90%? What I mean is when I moved from a $1000 system to a $4000 system the improvements were dramatic. Then I moved to a $9000 then $20,000 and finally to where I am now. Each step was marked improvement over the earlier step and even at $4000 I was far beyond anything 95% of the consumers will ever hear. So what’s actually going on? If $4000 gets me to the last few percent, how can each additional step be doubling or tripling the previous systems musicality or involvement or measurable improvement?

Why do some of us get to a point where we believe a single multi-thousand dollar interconnect brought us 100% closer to the music? Why are there some who still claim cables do not effect sound? Clearly they want good sound, but somehow are not aware of what is possible due to limits in there 95% system.

My answer is either the last couple percent are actually far more significant than the first 95% or we are actually only 25% “there” with a $4000 system. I can not even express how big the changes I have made are. They are well beyond two times, maybe three or four times the significance on the system before these changes. That would mean I was something like 25% or 45% “there” before. Well that is crazy because I have not hear a system I enjoyed more than mine. I’ve heard some that were better in one area or another, but overall… Of course this is a subjective topic, and I understand that, but the point is for my room, my ears, my taste I was already 100%, yet now I’ve bettered it by two or three fold.

All I can think is this is not a 100% issue. This is something more like the open ended Richter scale. On the Richter scale every tenth of a point is doubling the magnitude of an earthquake. The Richter scale is logarithmic, that is an increase of 1 magnitude unit represents a factor of ten times in amplitude. The seismic waves of a magnitude 6 earthquake are 10 times greater in amplitude than those of a magnitude 5 earthquake. However, in terms of energy release, a magnitude 6 earthquake is about 31 times greater than a magnitude 5.

-1.5 on Richter scale, equals 6 ounces of TNT
1.0 on Richter scale, equals 30 pounds of TNT
1.5 on Richter scale, equals 320 pounds of TNT
2.0 on Richter scale, equals 1 ton of TNT
2.5 on Richter scale, equals 4.6 tons of TNT
3.0 on Richter scale, equals 29 tons of TNT
3.5 on Richter scale, equals 73 tons of TNT
4.0 on Richter scale, equals 1,000 tons of TNT
4.5 on Richter scale, equals 5,100 tons of TNT
5.0 on Richter scale, equals 32,000 tons of TNT
5.5 on Richter scale, equals 80,000 tons of TNT
6.0 on Richter scale, equals 1 million tons of TNT
6.5 on Richter scale, equals 5 million tons of TNT
7.0 on Richter scale, equals 32 million tons of TNT
7.5 on Richter scale, equals 160 million tons of TNT
8.0 on Richter scale, equals 1 billion tons of TNT
8.5 on Richter scale, equals 5 billion tons of TNT
9.0 on Richter scale, equals 32 billion tons of TNT
10.0 on Richter scale, equals 1 trillion tons of TNT
12.0 on Richter scale, equals 160 trillion tons of TNT

So if we said a boom box was a 1.0, a Bose radio might be considered a 3.0. A top of the line Best Buy system might be a 4.0. The typical audiophile system might then be a 5.5 where the old 98% system might be a 6.5. If my system was a 7.5 before the changes it might be a 7.9 now. Albert’s system might be an 8.5, but his new cables could make his system 100% better, or become an 8.6.

In my mind this is more logical for explaining the effects I have experienced. This also means we never find 100% for this scale has no end. Now the issue is how we actually mathematically quantify this logarithmic expression. I figure if some of the engineering minds out there might have an answer for this and this could be a new expression for us to use. If we could come up with a quantifiable formula, it might be a new language for us to express our systems to each other. If we had something like this maybe it could be a part of the virtual systems. We could then begin to understand how an improved cable is affecting our systems.

I may be way off here; it would not be the first time. I do however feel we need another language to express the “last couple percent” because the system we are using is inadequate, and at some point all the clichés mean nothing, and words are wholly inadequate. Perhaps this is a start???
128x128jadem6
jadem6's avatar
jadem6 OP
1,074 posts
 
Al Judy has issues it appears.

I had a mini frig. in collage, I sure wish I had some pictures in my photo album. I think of that little guy often, and miss it deeply.

Marco, I have a $5000 kitchen, but I've designed many $100,000 plus kitchens, would that qualify for your services?
dmurfet
101 posts
 
Nsgarch - sanity now preserved - thanks for the check! LOL
jax2
3,031 posts
 
JD - If you would rate your kitchens on the richter scale I will consider each on a case-by-case basis. Did you design for residential primarily? Any specialties yourself? Architecture is only one of mine as a photogrpaher. Architecture was actually my second career choice after photography. I'm glad I went the way I did having seen the struggles of architecture up close and personal, and having got to know a few architects working on various levels. You have my sympathies. I know it has its rewards as well. Anyway, I have yet to master appliance photography but I can always dream.

Albert - Sub Zero makes a very fine little wine fridge with rolling racks. Jeeze, they've come a long way since I was in college. C'mon now, I know you don't need anyone coming round to photograph your mini wine fridge. I'm sure you've got albums full of photos of it already. You're just teasing me now aren't you!

Marco
jadem6's avatar
jadem6 OP
1,074 posts
 
Marco,

I actually had two specialties when I owned a 47 person firm. Our primary success was in Golf clubhouses all over North America and just beginning golf resorts in the Pacific Rim. We were one of four major national firms. I was bought out when I decided success was not at the top of the mountains we climb, but is inside our souls. My family, friends and God all were less important when I worked; I found that priority did not fit my beliefs. I continued to pursue my personal favorite and our other specialty, very high end residential. I had my heart attack nine months after leaving my firm, and the rest they say is...

I love designing, and was blessed to have great working relationships with builders. The typical issues architect's run into are often self imposed and ego driven. I discovered humility and a willingness to accept that I'm less than perfect was a great way to get through problems during construction. I so miss the design, but volunteering at the high school has some new amazing rewards.

BTW the biggest house I designed was a 34,000 square foot lodge style stone and shingle house. It had a fairly nice kitchen (actually three fully furnished kitchens, a bit nicer than my $5000 kitchen. Mine really was, it's all turn of the century cabinet fronts from a tear down I worked on and hand me down appliances. The floor and crown mold were the only cost to us.

Yea, my priorities are straight, why would you ask? What, you think the fact that the Dominus interconnect Albert is letting me play with costing more than my kitchen is messed up? You should see my car!!!!

JD
cdc
1,798 posts
 
So what is "100%"?
How will you know when you get there?
How do you know you're at 95% now?
Is this 95% for this system or on an absolute scale?

I ask not to be sarcastic but out of interest in how you got these numbers. Since audio is largely a subjective experience and audiophiles spurn any attempt to quantify what they are hearing (how many people consider measurements as valid? - Rather it's "I know what I hear" or other such "don't change what I already know").
I would like to know how anyone can objectively define a purely subjective experience. Until you do:
1) How can you ever truly achieve satisfaction?
2) How could you ever get off the merry go round - if that is your choice?
3) How can you ever define on an absolute scale what you have and what is "correct" above and beyond your subjective feelings which will change depending on a) the song b) your mood c) the time of day etc., etc.
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