Is this such a bad thing

boston1450

I try to look on the forum each day & i enjoy it alot. I have learnt alot from what i read. So thank you all. Now i see alot of great set ups & inside i say to myself. I REALLY WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THAT. Just in the last 24 hours ive seen a member ask about a NAD amp. Nice id like to hear it if he was to get it--then there is the BIG Magnepan's. oh my. Who wouldnt want to hear those. Am i just loosing my mind? Am i normal i ask myself? Are there others out there like me? This stuff is worse than a drug addiction Have a great day all:cheesygrin:

George Grand

If you're buying stuff that you don't know how to operate, or don't even know what it is but bought because of name recognition/"great price", you might want to take a step back and observe.

boston1450

I have no issue there George. What i was saying was does anyone wonder how all of the gear people talk about sounds like. The original post i mentioned the Nad amp. I owned one years ago and it sounded nice. So i would love to hear his. As the Magneplans also. Which ive never heard before. I have heard a different kind like those though--not sure what you ment. The thread had nothing to do with buying or operating or price of anything

tonyb

I can sum this up in 2 words....**** envy.

Of course everyone wonders what something better sounds like. Just like we wonder what a Ferrari drives like, an Armani suit feels like, and what having sex with Kate Upton would be like. Now obsessing over it all, then you need to see someone with a soft couch.

muncybob

or you could be like me and checking out the FS daily but knowing I won't have the coin to make a purchase of anything for several more months.

badchad

Yeah, as a relative noob I'm always interested in what different gear sounds like. I'm usually curious about whether the top dollar paid for some gear is really worth it. For example, I did a complete system overhaul in the last 2 years, and my gf's response is usually: "That's great honey, I'm glad you got the stuff you wanted". She really isn't that impressed, nor can she really tell much difference.

Similarly, I've driven some of my friend's porches, a 90k BMW, guys that have their cars modded with all sorts of crap, and I can say it's not for me. High"ish" end autos don't excite me.

My dad is a wino and I've sipped thousand dollar bottles before and I can't even remember the names of the bottles. I just can't appreciate the subtle differences and frankly, don't care too much.

For the above reasons, I usually only invest in the things that are worth it to me, not just for the sake of having a well-known name brand item.

Msabot1

You said it....ADDICTION!!!

EndersShadow

I agree with Skip. For stuff I want to try I cant hear I tend to follow his two rules.

I also suggest trying to get a bunch of local folks together to listen to gears and rigs. Thanks to John we had a meeting at his house in Lafayette Indiana a couple years back and I met a local forum member named Jeff. Jeff has a BUNCH of gear that I have been privileged to get my ears on to see if I like the sound. So I can "try" before I buy. I also go to local hi-fi shops with no money, no credit cards on me just to listen.

One of these days I want to get to LSAF and RMAF and maybe even CAF or Apoxia in Chicago (most likely given how close I am).

For now I love my LSi setup, I am ecstatic about my RTA setup but I know I want Maggies myself (because I heard Johns), I know what NAD, Baldwin, Sunfire amps sound like and a host of speakers. All because I made local contacts with fellow enthusiasts and forum members.

Make yourself a list of what you think looks cool that you want to hear. Then look for chance to hear them.

Demo'ing is half the fun. Make yourself a demo CD of your favorite music you know like the back of your hand and take it with you to use.

sucks2beme

I used to wonder.
After buying NAD,Rotel,B&K,Parasound,AR I now know. So does my bank account.

boston1450

I had went to Brunswick Maine to buy some stands last year & the guy had a bunch of gear. All seperates. And he was nice enough to let me enjoy listening to it. I was there 1.5 hours & i really enjoyed it alot. Being new to some of this stuff i found it rather interesting to hear his gear. He said 4 or more people went to different homes and had get togethers & he was telling me about some of their gear. I was amazed. I just moved here to this area so i dont know that many people. So that makes it hard. But i do enjoy reading about everyones impressions. If thats the right way to say it

badchad

DSkip wrote: »

Find some audio shows that you might be able to make it to, something like CAF. .

What kinds of gear/equipment are at these shows?

I briefly looked into CAF, but it appeared that the equipment featured was well-beyond my financial means. It sorta leaves me in a weird no-mans land where the equipment I'd actually consider purchasing isn't available for demo in "big box" stores, but isn't expensive enough to be featured in audio shows.

marvda1

chess, huh skip, didn't know you played. i play a little.
i started out listening to $80k+ systems knowing i could never afford them, then bringing it down to my price range coming as close to the big boys as i could.

steveinaz

I think you'd be amazed just how close you can get, with not anywhere near the money you think it will cost. Simplicity. You can put together a fairly respectable system for $2500, if you know what you're doing.

cnh

You have to get out and listen to stuff. That won't solve your problem but it will give you some more experience with gear. I spent a day of bliss in a famous Japanese electronics store in Tokyo--a few years ago (can't remember the name), where the top floor was devoted to HIGH END audio. They have millions of dollars of equipment on display up there and I got to listen to a lot of it. Some was great, some so so.

Going to shows and even Polk Fests will also expose you to many different things. Some of things I heard at my last PFest include. AR9s, Anthem gear, LSiM towers, Doro's BBQ amp, the fabulous Rogers monitors, Carver Amazings, Carver amps, and...and....and. At another local Polk get together I heard some Ushers, Conrad Johnson, Adcom mono blocks, Parasound, SDAs, Hafler, etc. The world is your "oyster"! And a lot of it is FREE!

cnh

soundfreak1

Worse yhan drugs!!! You can kick drugs!!!!

boston1450

cnh wrote: »

You have to get out and listen to stuff. That won't solve your problem but it will give you some more experience with gear. I spent a day of bliss in a famous Japanese electronics store in Tokyo--a few years ago (can't remember the name), where the top floor was devoted to HIGH END audio. They have millions of dollars of equipment on display up there and I got to listen to a lot of it. Some was great, some so so.

Going to shows and even Polk Fests will also expose you to many different things. Some of things I heard at my last PFest include. AR9s, Anthem gear, LSiM towers, Doro's BBQ amp, the fabulous Rogers monitors, Carver Amazings, Carver amps, and...and....and. At another local Polk get together I heard some Ushers, Conrad Johnson, Adcom mono blocks, Parasound, SDAs, Hafler, etc. The world is your "oyster"! And a lot of it is FREE!

cnh

that sounds like fun there. New England Hi-Fi is about the most ive done cnh. I have always want to expand locally. But up here there isnt much. Stinking Best Buy depresses me

teekay0007

tonyb wrote: »

I can sum this up in 2 words....**** envy.

...we wonder...what having sex with Kate Upton would be like.

Meh....thought it would have been better too. :cool:

zingo

I'm not the best person to take advice on for this topic, but I do like purchasing audio equipment based on if I haven't hear it, or a similar technology. I do get a certain level of crap for going through equipment, but I enjoy the fact that I know what quite a bit of equipment sounds like, and I enjoy learning a new piece of equipment sounds like. For the most part, I can break even swapping equipment, and that is the most important part; not going broke...

PolkieMan

The addiction is, the hardware, it is fun to try new things, and buy more stuff. :razz:

The music makes you feel better, like a drug, so better equipment sounds better and makes the drug stronger.

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/like-a-drug-music-induces-same-chemicals/

obieone

IF you CONTROL it, then it's a HOBBY.
IF it controls you, then it's an addiction.

I'd love to hear what $50k+ speakers sound like, but, I've resolved myself, that prolly won't happen.
Especially, since I don't play the lottery.

PolkieMan

I am somewhere in between and on the low budget end:cheesygrin:

obieone wrote: »

IF you CONTROL it, then it's a HOBBY.
IF it controls you, then it's an addiction.

I'd love to hear what $50k+ speakers sound like, but, I've resolved myself, that prolly won't happen.
Especially, since I don't play the lottery.

boston1450

I stumbled on a guy today locally that was selling albums. He has a Pioneer sx1280 in his collection. BEAUTIFUL. He turnt it on and brought it to 2:00 on his volume dial. Hooked to Sansui speakers. It was LOUD as heck. I was expecting the drivers to blow but they did not. What a receiver. He showed me some of his other gear which was interesting. Sansui 1000 receiver system. Sansui amp & pre complete system. Sony system. He was selling some of his gear. i enjoyed the audition of someone else set up

mdaudioguy

Gear is fun, but for me, in the end, it needs to get out of the way of the music. MY music. What I want to hear, when I want to hear it, and how I want to hear it. Now don't get me wrong, I love gear. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here; I wouldn't go to audio shows to check out new and different things; I wouldn't have 2 home theater setups and at least half a dozen other pairs of speakers and various amplification devices around the house; and I wouldn't bother to hang out on (all too rare) occasions with a small group of cool, local dudes from an audio forum with similar gear fetishes.

I can go out to the garage and pound some of my tunes through an old Pioneer Elite amp into a pair of Monitor 10s, or sit on the deck and listen through a pair of generic outdoor speakers (no name on them and I forgot what was on the box...) that just plain get the job done. Not for serious listening, but perfect background music for casual conversation and a beverage or two. My main HT hasn't seen an upgrade in perhaps two years, because it does what it's supposed to do. Bose in the shed (seriously), although I don't spend much time out there!

I'm in the rather slow process of finishing my basement, where I hope to put together something a little more serious. Something that, as George suggests, I might have to learn about before I get it right. I'm looking forward to the whole process. Meanwhile, as I'm working, I need some tunes. So, I dig out a pair of Sansui bookshelves from the late 80s, surely nothing special, and find a little Audiosource amp lying around to push them, and I plug in an "old" smartphone, which allows me to connect to my music server to hear MY music. And it sounds really wonderful (to MY ears).

I love this stuff, but really don't suffer much from gear envy. I do however, keep my ears open to hear the next great band, artist, or tune to capture my attention.

Moose68Bash

Covetousness, that's the real disease.

Hearing great sound, even from one's own system, teases the imagination and evokes the strong desire to get even better sound -- better music, better gear, whatever! It never ends if for no other reason than the upward march of technology never ceases.

C'est la vie!