Living Siamese twins

Here's an unusual encounter, meeting up a jaded audiophile in an unusual venue, a hair salon. Maybe he has an unfulfilled audio pilgrimage, maybe he has too few people to share his passion, maybe he had been led into the wilderness, maybe he had been to audio nirvana etc, so many maybes, I don't know. But there was so much passion left in him, that's what the impression he gave me.

Well, most audio folks are brand driven. Brand carries weight in audio decision making. It has become synonymous to sound quality, at least that's what the manufacturers want you to believe. Better still, the least learned consumer the better, it is an easy target. "Let's me tell you what you should get, sir". "Sir, you're talking to me? Pardon me, no." To those who know me, I take a customary study on product of interest before spending. My mistake on my hard earned money, I bite the bullet. Never in any other way.

Look, preamp and amp are pretty mature in topology, the current crop of electronics benefited from the employment of better parts. The common scenario is coarse sound with power amp above 100 watt but it didn't seem like the case now. Inevitably, most materials you read on commercial sites are marketing hype. Listening is the best insurance policy. If sound is not the major concern, everything is immaterial.

Prestige, good look and reasonably good sound, brands to be reckoned with, hefty price tag is distancing the brand from mass produced products. These spells good taste, a perfect portfolio to those who are not genuine audiophile. They need something to show off their wealth when a nice house and exquisite furniture is not enough. Brand building requires a huge budget, and we, the consumer who actually fund the budget. Audio sold via on-line doesn't really align to High End spirit. Most products sold via on-line cater for value conscious consumer, and usually offer bang for the buck. I fall into this category, admittedly. The electronics are to be played in a conducive environment, in the best of my ability to attain optimal performance. Not denying high end supremacy, the degree of difference is highly subjective. You pay substantial more for marginal improvement. Indeed, I was often being accused of wearing an invisible convex lens that magnifies sonic differences. Isn't this what high end audio is about, appreciating greater fidelity?

Why not use the money on acoustic? Build a dedicated room. What is fairness? Something just do not deserve the kind of attention as with the others. Acoustic becomes step son. Amp didn't get the limelight as the speaker, power cord did not get attention as the speaker cable, cartridge did not get the mention as the turntable, so do the power conditional and acoustic treatment. And folks are endeavoring to endless upgrades. Sad news is you will never get far. You just migrate from one problem to another. Electronics and acoustics are living Siamese twins, inseparable. In real life, an acoustically sound room can elevate your system than electronics, period. Going completely the opposite with common belief, I hold my view that room acoustics, power, electronics and cables in this order of significance.

Naturally, my controversial views received a lot of ridicule. Truth lies at listening. Before you chew me out, hear me out. Room introduces distortions, colorations, either are not good thing. It is close to impossible to get rid of it. You can't uncolor it, this your guests and you know but nobody brings it to the table. Because it is boring and highly subjective. You just don't talk about highly subjective issue. Religion is such a case. The conflict of religions kills more people than World War One and Two combined? I don't want to die before my time. Suffice to say, we should minimize distortions and colorations of the room. If sound is not the major concern, everything is immaterial.

Suck out, imbalance sound, too lively, too dead, too warm, peak and valley, the list goes on. If you are concern with sound, these have to go. For things they don't understand, I was openly labelled as a practitioner of Shen Gong, loosely translated as mystical art. A strong case is built upon circumstantial evidence. Hear your bass weight, afloat in mid air and doesn't dig deep? Hear your bass rumble, premature roll off? Hear your bass definition, smearing? Hear your bass sustain, shortened? Hear your bass layering, if there's any? Not mentioning tenacity and cohesiveness. If I tell you about fish scale alike bass, rapid fluttering alike which inflicts a short paralytic effect, do you get what I mean? I bet not.

O... please.

Trust me, you are blind like a bat if you are still not positioning your speakers right. Measurement tape is not helping, you need to listen. This also goes without saying that both speakers might not be ideal lining them up on the same plane, even in a room with symmetrical walls. What's more with different wall constructions? Write to your manufacturer to check if they match pair their drivers. Hence, the imbalance sound is a possible. In such circumstances, you need to compensate the deficiencies.

Folks, I don't want to convince you of my audio views, it is plainly a foolish thing. Nothing is in for me. Similarly, I care less about your system, it is your private journey. No, I will not tell you what to do. I keep my views to myself. Now, you watch out for folks who say too much but little in substance. An audition is all you need than be sorry for taking in what he says. Sick people.

With what is going on with my system of late, already I feel like Christmas!