I have the best system !

Ever hear this before   

One of the most interesting things to me is the audiophile mind. We talk in absolutes but let's face it, we have the best sound. At least those who have reached a level of good can go to almost anywhere and visit anyone on the planet and walk away with the thought "my sound is better" on the brain.

We are without a doubt creatures of "self". I have to say that it's been fun to get the chance to listen inside of the heads of many hobbyist. I've gotten asked to tune my way a ton during my life, but I usually go for something a lot less me than I tell folks when they visit or I tune them. Instead I try to setup several systems with several views of the music. This was one of the nice things about having a store. I didn't have to play the "this is right" game or your doing it wrong thing.

Recording playback in my book has wide strokes and I do look for certain things, but they many times have little to do with flavor and more to do with space and info and of course tonality, but I look at a system "needing all three".

did you ever think

I have known lots of people and the one thing I can tell you about knowing them is, I don't know them at all. The food we like is somewhat different and the jobs we have are totally different and the way we view almost everything in life has it's own personal taste or even twist to it. The combinations to our own listening safe are tucked away inbetween our own two ears, yet when it comes to the hobby we are trying to do something that we don't do in any other part of our lives. We have created this hobby of "this is the original sound" and made the set of rules that have nothing what so ever to do with the "original" sound.

for example

We say this is what it sounds like live, but it's not live. A recording is far from live. We also say the size of an instrument or voice should be what we see in a soundstage, but we listen to classical many times that is a tenth the size, and soloed instruments are many times much bigger than life, and vocals are way bigger than the actual size of a persons mouth. We paint this picture of correctness in our heads that has nothing to do with the art of recording and in our own personal head space know what is right and what is wrong.

The funny part is we take this picture everywhere we go and when we listen to someones system we judge it based on our set of listening values and walk away saying they are missing this and that.    Well of course they are, and like wise we are as well missing all the things their system brings to the table.

It makes we wonder sometimes if we even understand the hobby, or if maybe the hobby for many has become something other than listening to a moment of music and being in that moment. Shouldn't we be at least in the understanding that part of the magic to this is being able to crawl inside of our own space and make a personal connection that hits all of our emotional buttons just right? Again I'm not talking about the person who has never been there and has a system full of holes, but more I'm talking to the guy who has created his listening world. His cave!

You know the one thing I don't like about visitors (I do like visitors BTW) is the fact that something (big or small) always gets changed, or even something as simple as flying through several quick CD's can mess things up for me afterward. I can give a ton of these simple yet disturbing changes that can happen but then no one will come over any more   and I don't want that. The flip side to this though and the cool thing about visiting others is what I hear in their systems that I get to bring home and apply to mine. Even if someone has something I am working on in their system and to them their system may be out of tune till we get on track I still pick up on these little treasures that are particular to that setting and instead of me saying their system sounds bad I go into the mode of that was kinda cool, lets see if I can do that at home. To me I guess eating the same burger the same way the rest of my life on my little island has it's familar joys and safety, but exploring a bigger world and knowing that I can come back to mind anytime I want is more fun.

So, is their system really wrong   

Ok, as mentioned that yes a system can be way out of balance, but I'm talking about a system that is on it's way, just has a different flavor to explore and be unlocked. A flavor that may be way different from my norm but is none the less pretty cool.

Michael Green wrote:

Ever hear this before   

One of the most interesting things to me is the audiophile mind. We talk in absolutes but let's face it, we have the best sound. At least those who have reached a level of good can go to almost anywhere and visit anyone on the planet and walk away with the thought "my sound is better" on the brain.

We are without a doubt creatures of "self". I have to say that it's been fun to get the chance to listen inside of the heads of many hobbyist. I've gotten asked to tune my way a ton during my life, but I usually go for something a lot less me than I tell folks when they visit or I tune them. Instead I try to setup several systems with several views of the music. This was one of the nice things about having a store. I didn't have to play the "this is right" game or your doing it wrong thing.

Recording playback in my book has wide strokes and I do look for certain things, but they many times have little to do with flavor and more to do with space and info and of course tonality, but I look at a system "needing all three".

did you ever think

I have known lots of people and the one thing I can tell you about knowing them is, I don't know them at all. The food we like is somewhat different and the jobs we have are totally different and the way we view almost everything in life has it's own personal taste or even twist to it. The combinations to our own listening safe are tucked away inbetween our own two ears, yet when it comes to the hobby we are trying to do something that we don't do in any other part of our lives. We have created this hobby of "this is the original sound" and made the set of rules that have nothing what so ever to do with the "original" sound.

for example

We say this is what it sounds like live, but it's not live. A recording is far from live. We also say the size of an instrument or voice should be what we see in a soundstage, but we listen to classical many times that is a tenth the size, and soloed instruments are many times much bigger than life, and vocals are way bigger than the actual size of a persons mouth. We paint this picture of correctness in our heads that has nothing to do with the art of recording and in our own personal head space know what is right and what is wrong.

The funny part is we take this picture everywhere we go and when we listen to someones system we judge it based on our set of listening values and walk away saying they are missing this and that.    Well of course they are, and like wise we are as well missing all the things their system brings to the table.

It makes we wonder sometimes if we even understand the hobby, or if maybe the hobby for many has become something other than listening to a moment of music and being in that moment. Shouldn't we be at least in the understanding that part of the magic to this is being able to crawl inside of our own space and make a personal connection that hits all of our emotional buttons just right? Again I'm not talking about the person who has never been there and has a system full of holes, but more I'm talking to the guy who has created his listening world. His cave!

You know the one thing I don't like about visitors (I do like visitors BTW) is the fact that something (big or small) always gets changed, or even something as simple as flying through several quick CD's can mess things up for me afterward. I can give a ton of these simple yet disturbing changes that can happen but then no one will come over any more   and I don't want that. The flip side to this though and the cool thing about visiting others is what I hear in their systems that I get to bring home and apply to mine. Even if someone has something I am working on in their system and to them their system may be out of tune till we get on track I still pick up on these little treasures that are particular to that setting and instead of me saying their system sounds bad I go into the mode of that was kinda cool, lets see if I can do that at home. To me I guess eating the same burger the same way the rest of my life on my little island has it's familar joys and safety, but exploring a bigger world and knowing that I can come back to mind anytime I want is more fun.

So, is their system really wrong   

Ok, as mentioned that yes a system can be way out of balance, but I'm talking about a system that is on it's way, just has a different flavor to explore and be unlocked. A flavor that may be way different from my norm but is none the less pretty cool.

Should we as audiophiles not think are system is the best or at least very good. After all we chose the components from an almost endless selection. Changed and switched components again and again. Played around endlessly with speaker position, messed with cables, cords, isolation, tuned and fine tuned the system and the room until we were satisfied. Then toiled and tuned some more until we were happy. If the end result is not something we personally like then we've gone wrong somewhere. I've heard many higher end systems but at the end of the day in most cases preferred my own, it's my taste , my flavour.
I can't tell you what type of wine is the very best but I can tell you which one I like best.

So to answer your question " is there system really wrong ? " If there happily enjoying music how can it be wrong.  

Exactly, and they may have a flavor I have never heard but my ears delight once I get exposed.

To me, I would say my favorite system is one I can take anywhere and do anything. Another thing, when I go to someone else's house I don't go there to eat steak the way I cook it, but to experience it the way they do.

good points TM

good to see you!