Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes

The toughest thing for non-DIY audiophiles is to leave superstitious pretentions to art behind & accept that many even high-priced commercial components are compromised & built to cost. The problem has been aggrevated by the trend toward industrial design in fit & finish of audio components, which adds materially to cost without improving performance. The discussion is not really about science vs. art: any good DIYer spends time listening to music. Unfortunately some DIYers don't have the cash or experience of well-healed audiophiles in evaluating high-end commercial pieces relative to home-grown efforts. Industry price inflation has led DIYers further into retreat from upscale consumer behavior and widened the gulf between audiophiles and the original DNA of the hobby in DIY. Doubtless there are DIYers with pale skins from too much obsessing over oscilloscopes in sunless basements-- and who rarely come up for air or music. But for every one of these, there are 10 suckers born every minute who eagerly pay a rediculous premium for nebulous improvement in some new audio component, or conduct an endless merry-go-round of transactions in audiophile nervosa on Audiogon.

My background is in art & DIY is a hobby.

I think you are way off base. The DIY audiophiles I know build and then listen. It is 100% about how things sound and nobody really cares that much how it measures. Measurements may come later and are used to analyze when things go wrong, but if it sounds good the measurements don’t matter.

The problem has been aggrevated by the trend toward industrial design in fit & finish of audio components, which adds materially to cost without improving performance.

No Kidding! $50 drivers in a $10000 speaker cabinet...at least the piano black finish looks impressive because that is mostly what you paid for...even though it does nothing for the sound!

Doubtless there are DIYers with pale skins from too much obsessing over oscilloscopes in sunless basements-- and who rarely come up for air or music. But for every one of these, there are 10 suckers born every minute who eagerly pay a rediculous premium for nebulous improvement in some new audio component, or conduct an endless merry-go-round of transactions in audiophile nervosa on Audiogon.

EXACTLY!

=> An "informed buyer" will recognize beneficial science/design from "meaningless hyped specifications/formulas/hyperbole", or from outright "snake oil", AND, at the same time, will have a good ear/memory for what sounds right musically. Both are essential. One without the other is quite lost. Think Gordon J. Holt.

Unfortunately for me I have tin ears...so I am lost from the get go!

At least in my case DIY is very much driven by the quest for better sound within a given budget. In the case of speakers, many were designed ENTIRELY by ear, with nary a measurement. Nowadays we have the benefit of much research into the behavior of drivers in boxes, and detailed specs for drivers, but this only means fewer itterations of the design because the starting point will be OK. The final evaluation and design tweeking is always done by ear.

Non-DIY audiophiles seem quite ready to accept mods to their high priced off-the-shelf gear. Perhaps they don't realize that much of the DIY work is mods, and there was a time when all mods were DIY.

Dgarretson: so in your opinion most of the people who are buying expensive gear are fools and most DIY'ers are (although being restricted in their financial resources) the genuine audiophiles? This also implicates that products from these consummate DIY'ers are better than most of the "overpriced" gear. Is this in fact the truth? So most of us, non-techie audiophiles, are being fooled by the so called high-end manufacturers and that our hearing is likely more sensitive to suggestion and "placebo effect" than the dedicated DIY'er?

Chris