What audio experience ruined your ears?

zingo

What's the most memorable audio experience you have had where you listened to a system and realized you had to go back to yours eventually?

Mine was a pair of Wilson Audio Watt Puppy's with a full stack of Audio Research Reference gear. I had never heard anything like it before; the clearness and imaging were astonishing to me. I could have stayed there forever listening to the Eagles, but than I would have been REALLY sad when I finally left.

Fatbrando

What???

ben62670

I have never had that experience. I have been to some real nice shops, but I love my SDA's. The SDA-SRS's were real nice, but you have to have the room;) Hopefully soon mine will be fully up to snuff:)

DollarDave

I think my ears were ruined when I listened to CandyLiquor35's SL-2000 tweeters with those shunts or whatever the hell he did to them. Somedays I miss him..

treitz3

It's not any particular experience. It's every time some car cruises by and BoOOm BoooOOm, BoOOoom......

That's what's ruining my ears. What ruined my ears?

janmike

treitz3 wrote: »

It's not any particular experience. It's every time some car cruises by and BoOOm BoooOOm, BoOOoom......

That's what's ruining my ears. What ruined my ears?

Well said Tom.

ESavinon

Lasareath wrote: »

I rate speakers on wether or not they sound good (or can handle) Bjork's "Pluto" song.

At PF2008 the new VM30 played it amazingly with no issues at all, they sounded very well.

The song on my 1.2TL's is amazing, It moves your whole body.

The SRT's totally sucked, they just couldn't handle the song. It was depressing. Wait, it was actually very good because now I know I will never waste any money on a pair.

Sal

BITE YOUR TONGUE SAL :mad:

My SRT sound better. They need the right amount of amplification and a proper room to sound right. The SRT are one of the few speaker systems that will pass the pluto test along with my more stringent Dark City/Gladiator Soundtrack test.
You're invited to listen to them. No need to bring bjork. I have that cd already .

TitaniumMan

A long time ago, in a store far away, I heard the Infinity QLS system. I had no idea recorded music could sound like that.

http://www.bobbyshred.com/infinity/QLS.html

TNRabbit

Listening to Bob Carver's custom tube monoblock amps playing on skip's ALS Platinums at CarverFest '09....

reeltrouble1

Troy coming home unexpectedly one evening, well it did not really ruin anything, but it was a bit akward.

RT1

heiney9

Lasareath wrote: »

The SRT's totally sucked, they just couldn't handle the song. It was depressing. Wait, it was actually very good because now I know I will never waste any money on a pair.

Sal

I too felt the SRT's were lacking in the 2 ch department. They were stunning in HT mode. Sal, those SRT's were not set up correctly to run in 2 channel mode. All the 5.1 DVD's we listened to including music were outstanding. I tried to listen to them in 2 ch like a regular set of SDA's and the Pioneer AVR just wasn't hooked up for that. In 2 ch mode the subs weren't getting a signal at all.

Because when I got home and listened to my 1C's I thought, WOW these will kick the SRT's ****, but then I realized the SRT's just weren't optimized for dedicated 2 ch listening. I'd love to hear SRT's on strictly 2 ch system, no AVR, no 5.1 no LFE, etc.

McLoki

1st time was with a pair of vandersteen 1c's driven by ps audio gear. it must have been a synergy thing since I have heard them sound much worse, but that combo was just awsome.

Much more recently I have heard the watt puppies (two times and on completly different supporting equipment) and both times they were awesome.

I have heard other speakers sound good, but those were the only two to actually get an emotional response from me.

Michael

SolidSqual

The system these were connected is pretty much the best I've ever heard. I did walk away thinking how I could ever match that sound, but by the same token, I was impressed my system sounded as good as it did against one 50 times more expensive.

jm1

The only audio experiences which could have ruined my ears are going to mainstream rock concerts.

Some memorable systems have included:

- Dynaudio C4 speakers (pictured above)
- Ayre KX-R pre, MX-R amps, CX-7e CD player
- Nordost Try cabling

- B&W 800D
- All Classe components
- Transparent cable

- Wilson W/P 8, Sophia II
- Simaudio Evolution P-8, W-8, Andromeda CD player

- Wilson Maxx, W/P 7, Sophia
- Simaudio P-5, W-5, various Simaudio CD players


I was so inspired these and many other systems, I decided to build a room and comparable system of my own:

- fully acoustically treated room in all three dimensions (most important aspect of the system)
- Dynaudio C1
- Simaudio P-5, W-3
- Pioneer Elite DV-59 as a transport
- Museatex Bitstream DAC (in need of repair)
- VPI TT and PS Audio phono pre
- Bryston 10B sub
- (2) SVS PC-Ultra
- Nordost Frey and Harmonic Technology Pro Silway II cables

This system is ideal for my 15x13 room size. The above noted systems where in rooms only treated in two dimensions. Having the third dimension (ceiling) treated in my room might edge out the benefits of having the more refined Ayre and Simaudio components noted above. At this point, I have no desire to listen to any of the above systems.

The Dynaudio dealer has some Sapphire speakers I still have not listed to. Every time I go there, they are not connected as someone is listening to other speakers. What I would like to hear is:

- Dynaudio Sapphire
- Ayre KX-R pre, MX-R amps
- Nordost Odin cables
- source?

One day maybe the system will be configured like this as all the items are in the store.

strider

After listening to Joe's (hearingimpaired) vinyl rig, my set up sounded like the Fisher Price record player I had when I was six.

treitz3

Back to the topic. Any system I have heard in CC or BB. They always seem to crank up the........well, what they would consider......bass with the volume high on a radio station that has more static than music.

All of the Bose systems that I have run across. Talk about one note bass.......

Ricardo

ESAVINON wrote: »

BITE YOUR TONGUE SAL :mad:

My SRT sound better. They need the right amount of amplification and a proper room to sound right. The SRT are one of the few speaker systems that will pass the pluto test along with my more stringent Dark City/Gladiator Soundtrack test.
You're invited to listen to them. No need to bring bjork. I have that cd already .

True. The SRT's at Al's house were driven by an AVR. Not a fair audition.

jm1

Keiko wrote: »

Off topic, sorry, but boiling records jm1? Serious??? LMAO! That's some funny ****! Thanks, I needed that. :D:D

Unfortunately, that is an excerpt from an actual thread on Agon. Its scary people actually conceive ideas like that. I hope the thread has been deleted so no one finds it by searching and tries this cleaning 'method' on an album in their collection.

Face

jm1 wrote: »

The Dynaudio dealer has some Sapphire speakers I still have not listed to. Every time I go there, they are not connected as someone is listening to other speakers. What I would like to hear is:

- Dynaudio Sapphire
- Ayre KX-R pre, MX-R amps
- Nordost Odin cables
- source?

Where are you located? My local dealer has a Sapphire/Ayre/ML setup that I've heard a few times. The imaging is downright spooky, I've never heard vocals that went from the floor to 9'+ ceiling before. Other than the imaging being impressive, I was expecting to be floored, but wasn't. It's partially due to the lack of room treatment though, there were obvious bass nulls and a lack of any real impact, which is a total shame in a $50,000+ rig.

BigMac

The first time I walked in on my mom and dad gettin' it on. That ruined my eyes and ears for awhile.

LuSh

Two systems I've heard recently at private dwellings made me do a double take.

System 1
Acoustically treated room
Blue Circle BC24 Power Amp
Copland Pre
Benchmark DAC
Oskar Kithara speakers
Harmonic Technology Interconnects and speaker cables

System 2
Terrible room with no acoustic treatments and wooden flooring
BlueNote Demidoff Sig Integrated Amplifier
Ayon CD-1 cd Player
Aliante Zeta One speakers
XLO cabling

A system I put together over a year ago....

Krell 400XI
Museatex DAC & Transport
Aerial Acoustic Model 5 speakers
Harmonic Technology Cabling all around
It didn't go below 50 cycles and therefore got rid of the speakers but some of the most open mid-range the treble I had ever heard. Sheer dynamics couldn't touch the systems above but there was some so pure from 50 and up.

mantis

I have had so many experiences but there are the few really early ones which define my Audio tastes and desire to go after the pursue of audio greatness.

It started out in the early 80's when My Uncle purchased his first pair of Polk speakers. They where connected to a monster Yamaha receiver with a really nice technics turntable. I sat and listend to some cool Jazz and as a guitar player thought it sounded real. That experience started it all. years later it was going into Tweeter and the Wiz to listen to the Polks. One day I got introduced to B&W and man I was floored on how much better then anything I heard to that day.

But my absolute favorite listening of all time was the Dynaudio C4's just like pictured above. Connected to a full Krell mono wired with Transparent man I swear I could smell the wood from the drummers drum sticks when he hit the symbols. No other demo to date ever impressed me more then that system. And I have Installed and listened to higher end gear even that that with Master Series Dynaudio, Wilson Audio , Martin Logan and other but that C4 demo was simply amazing. One day I will own those speakers. One day........ Allday.

Conradicles

Mine was my 1st set of Klipsch KG4 paired with a Yamaha amp I bought in high school with my own money I saved by working at the grocery store when I was 15 or 16.
My mom said "Turn it down!" a few times...
then a few years later...
My friends in college said "Turn it up!" a few times...
My hall monitor in my dorm said "Turn it down!" a few times...
That was a great combo.

skrol

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of experiencing a system that just blew my mind. It is at Gramaphone in Columbia MD. You walk into the room and you can't help but stare in awe. You stand before two towering speakers over 7 feet tall, the huge block amplifiers with outrageously large meters. The salesman starts describing all the details of the system but you are only half listening, still fixated on the monster. Then your attention snaps as he says those magic words..."Would you like to hear it?" You stammer for a second or two until you find the word, "yes".

That is where you made the mistake. Before it was up to your imagination, how this system must sound. Now it is etched into your cerebral cortex forever. You are surrounded by a field of sound, helpless. Your mind drifts away and you no longer see the 7 foot towers, there is no directionality, only a field of warm beautiful sound with every instrument in its place. You are drifting, d r i f t i n g, d r i f t i n g... Suddenly you SNAP back to reality. You have carpool kids to pick up for swim practice. What are you doing? You are late!

You get into your car and don't bother turning on the stereo, there is no point. In fact you don't bother listening to any music for the next two weeks until the experience starts to fade.

Mcintosh
MCD1000 CD transport
MDA1000 D/A Converter
C2200 Tube Preamp
MC2KW 2000 Watts tri-power Amps
XRT2K 40 titanium tweeters, 64 titanium midrange, 6 Aluminum cone woofers, tir-powered

If I sort through the fog of the salesman's details, I believe the price tag was $200,000. Just to help anchor reality.

Stan