It is great fun to hang around with audiophiles gossiping, you never know where the conversation will carry you, do you? Some audiophiles could come up with really kick ass stories with outrageous descriptions that might have professional reviwers' face red. The truth is, they often hit the nail by its head. Having said that, there is no substitute to a wealth of experience, if you ain't have it, you ain't have. Of course, great deal of fund invested into this crazy hobby, you get knowledge and experience. You will distingush white lies better. Don't fall for that.
So, if you were ridiculed, you only have yourself to blame for being shallow and inexperienced. Regardless what, we were ridiculed all the times. Now, the key word is "unsubstantiated remarks", I steered clear away from them. I only pen down my adventure and experience. If you asked me about high end audio, my experience only limited to a few home visits and audio shows. I got little to tell.
"You do this, you get noble highs, lushly mids, humongous bass, panoramic soundstage etc, one tweak fits all." This is a classic. Sound familiar? It is almost an audiophile's natural ability to ridicule audio wannabe, it is like we were born with it. Do observe the facial expression of others when one ridicule, it is almost a sure thing that they couldn't hold their cunning smile or avoid eye contact unless they were being ridiculed too.
Four guys were excited about remodelling/constructing audio room. One constructing his room according Golden Cuboid ratio, the other one is in a little dilemma, a small room or a big room. His small room could not accommodate his floorstanding speakers and if engaging structural change, it will get messy and costly. Chinese saying third party always has a better picture at a problem. The other one is trying out new diffusers, the results are encouraging and the other one redo the room treatment. Plenty of action.
The fun is YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU WILL GET!!!
Ceiling is the most overlooked acoustically. Concrete and common plaster ceiling are shitty. Soundwave bouncing around like crazy in a room with concrete ceiling. Thin plaster ceiling will rattling like mad. Some do bat caves (left image) only got me in awe. As with my continuous tweaking, my soundwave behaves more pistonic, my room slowly becoming my audio liability, shit! The rattling mode changes, it bothers me to the bones that I just skip listening to those tracks. And as long as I don't cranked up, I'm OK. I can't go through re-doing the room again.
A few of us are celebrating early Christmas. The banker is currently all cloud nine for the praises he received week in week out. Confidence grew. His wife has changed from resentment to approval for the banker has gone through ups and downs in life of late. No more "qi qi gut gut" (nagging), worrying he would snap, ending up in mental hospital.
The banker did his audio with so little money, he and his super calculator. He is playing David in David and the Goliath. So much so that, a new rivalry is quietly brewing between the banker and KF, whom have been out of action for a couple of months. KF as if just been released from Pudu Jail and walking over pomelo leaf ritual (a Chinese cleansing ritual) , KF came to audition my system to testify if I have gone banana, self bloated. 自己講，自己爽!
I wanted to start playing but KF lighted up my room to see my tweaking. He did a 360 viewing!!! And he said "You will kick yourself when your air condition unit needs servicing." He is right! No way the serviceman reaching there unless I remove my tweaking.
After he had a good look,
I seated him down and spun some really good recordings but they did not seem to give any impact on him. "Lively" he said. Play something common, I need to drag Cai Qin out for KF. He takes a long breath, close his eyes, sit real still, engage in "deep listening" mode. Within seconds into the notes, KF jumped and screamed "Your Cai Qi sounded so young, 35 as opposed to mine, like 50! Do not stop (the player), continue playing!" Half into track 14, KF "Stop, stop, stop!". "OK, OK, OK, I am all ears." "Don't get all crazy, your Cai Qin does not sound sultry." KF missed the slight midrange bloom to make the vocal lush and horny. I don't blame him because I know where he is coming from. Vocals is not my audio gauge but violin, piano and double bass. If I got these right, chances that I won't go wrong - faithful to the recordings.
The midrange bloom will delude audience of a violin into viola, the extra warmth will get vocals darker and chesty than it should have been, a well sign of ageing. Some love this coloration. Colorations make the sound listenable. A total linear response and drop death neutral will not cut it for me. The listening does not last long. Mind you, speakers are the most colored component of all. Changing speaker yields the most audible difference, cable comes second. I guess people change cable as an alternative changing speaker - changing speaker is a more expensive endeavor. It could lead to changing the other componets in the link too.
KF left my house with handful of Chengal wood. And he invited me to Amcorp mall the next day to get some spikes, a tweaking I did not reveal publicly. KF is moving fast to make up for lost time. He is missing out the real audio fun, the progress of audio.
Want to win a war, you need to beef up your arsenal. You need to do something. KF will take delivery of one Power Bank this coming Saturday. Look like we will have a party in Kajang. By then, KF will be on a more level playing field. Power Bank vs Power Bank, this will narrow the gap.
Both are going exactly the opposing route. KF is considering upgrading his speakers while the banker is considering adding an active sub. Interestingly, KF 's strength is exactly the banker's weakness and vice versa. And I get to hear both sides stories.
The story continues next year...
This post will wrap up 2012, I like to take this opportunity to
Happy audioing! It ain't fun doing something you don't enjoy.
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