Michael, why the simple system?

Hi listeners

Those of you who might be visiting from other forums or heard about us through the audio grapevine may come on TuneLand and see something that is a little suprising to you. A group of listeners who lean toward the simple system over the complicated ones so many times seen in the industry.

Are these guys on TuneLand listening to systems that are less than the highest of quality?

If you take the time to look you will see that these guys including myself have all owned the "audiophile" norm and have moved away to find the best in sound. To us finding the best in sound has little to do with cost and everything to do with a certain level of performance. Just because something has been marketed as "high end" doesn't mean it sounds any better than something not.

But isn't performance tied to expense?

No, some of the best sounding components on the planet cost very little. The fact is a simple system has a chance to pass more of the audio signal over a complicated one. Think about this for a second. How does a system that has more components out perform one that has less?

How can a simple speaker sound better than one that is heavier and more hi-tech?

Hi-tech in one sense means complicated crossovers and more than 2 drivers, and cabinets that don't vibrate. If you take the time to pick this apart you will see that crossovers are signal chokes. This is not good for the passing ability of a system that is supposed to be preserving a signal. Also why are there more drivers than what is needed to produce the full range of sound waves? When you choke a driver you are stopping it from responding freely to the signal assigned to it. The cabinets also aren't really being stopped from vibrating they are shifting the vibrations upward. If you do this to a double bass it would sound like a squeezed violin instead of a double bass. Why than do we want to do this to our speakers?

The question of simple is something that in some industries gives the feeling of "cheap", but really in todays world if you build something "cheap" it's going to get called out.

With todays technology being so cutting edge the word inexpensive should not be confused with cheap. The audiophile right now is showing you pictures of these massively over build products and commenting to you about build quality. Build quality and man's mental curb appeal should not be misinterpreted, less you fell prey to the marketing tools to purchase something built like it could be dropped from a 10 story building and survive. These heavy tanks were built to play on mans weaknesses. Bigger is better and how much can he spend, not on the actual sound. And if you have been fooled by this no doubt your going to defend your purchase, what guy wouldn't until he took the time to listen to something a fraction of the cost that buries the sound of the expensive. Me even suggesting such a thing is ludicrous until someone takes the time to listen. I know that, but I also know I have a responsibility to my ears first of all and to the ears around me. I also have a desire to see this industry make it from today to tomorrow and if the inexpensive catches the expensive with it's pants down came over for the common man's audiophile world.

As bad as this sounds to some listening and reading right now, the audio skies have opened up and is giving all a chance to take yet another step toward "the perfect sound". The perfect sound should not be mixed up with the absolute sound. You see the absolute sound is something the audiophile will never achieve whereas the perfect sound is far more responsive to the need of the listener. The perfect sound is your sound without the guilt of being told you are wrong. The audiophile world for years has used guilt as a tool in listening to get the listener to step up in class, however the stepping up never ends and is constantly replaced by the next greatest toy. But what if that next greatest toy was designed to be both better sounding and cost pennies. A dream come true you would think but this rips the heart right out the beast that created the price panic and will be an interesting chain of events to see how to side step technologies never ending quest for better. Better in a real sense and not by name only.