Does flawless music actually sound better to a DORK???
My guess is there are more than a few of you who would be qualified to answer this question I have been soldering over for----------a few minutes!
You have a generous spirit
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lensman
I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. If you're correct, then perhaps now he has something new to think about.
And the point that you bring up is very valid.
I have seen with my own eyes many times that the average "Dick & Jane" when exposed to high fidelity sound reproduction nearly always comment on how wonderful it sounds. It absolutely doesn't take a trained ear to know that your hearing great sound. The real difference is that "we"(however ill defined that is) are driven to make this part of our lives, while "Jack & Jill" are not.
When they bother to listen at all
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoffcin
I have seen with my own eyes many times that the average "Dick & Jane" when exposed to high fidelity sound reproduction nearly always comment on how wonderful it sounds. It absolutely doesn't take a trained ear to know that your hearing great sound. The real difference is that "we"(however ill defined that is) are driven to make this part of our lives, while "Jack & Jill" are not.
Interestingly, this past weekend I got yet another look at the current state of "Dick and Jane" as well as the strangest audition I've ever had:
For a week a pretty expensive display ad had been running in the newspaper promoting demos of Acoustic Research and Marantz Reference equipment. When I finally got a little free time, I called. Turns out an out-of-state dealer had driven his RV to town and was parked in the RV park at a local stadium. In his RV was Acoustic Research's CD3 MKII CD Player connected to AR's Reference 3 Line-Stage Preamp and powered by a pair of Reference 210 Monoblocks. Sound was output to a pair of Paradigm Signature S8s. He also had some very nice Marantz Reference gear that I shamefully confess I ignored once I heard the AR gear - a first for me as there is no in-state dealer.
Obviously the acoustics were nowhere near optimal and I was at first disappointed by what I heard. But as I continued to listen I began realizing I was hearing a setup with amazing speed, clarity, and a sound that was neither warm and tubey nor cold and harshly solid-state. I now have a burning desire to visit this dealer's store and really have an audition. Which is, of course, the desire the dealer came to build as he'd brought nothing to actually sell.
Afterwards, we talked for a while. The dealer told me he was a retired mechanical engineering professor who'd been selling high-end audio since 1959, and he told me of the changes he'd seen. He told me how he'd helped a fellow engineer by the name of Paul Klipsch gain a foothold in the Southeast with his fledgling new speaker company only to watch the company grow larger and more profitable as it became the merest ghost of what it once was in terms of quality. He told me how Marantz was once driven to uncompromising quality that created equipment even NASA used and how recently they'd finally managed to build a solid state amp that sounded as good as the finest tubed amp only to pair it with a preamp that, until the most recent model, they'd forgotten to put a phono input on. He spoke with disgust of MP3s and satellite radio and how he'd come to my city as a test to see if things really had changed so much for audiophiles.
During his time here, not many came to see him. Those who did, came out, looked over the equipment and talked price. But he told me I was the only person who actually listened to the equipment. This looks to be the last time he will pilgram to such distant lands to spread the word of high-end sound. He admitted it was costly for him yet he said he was still glad he did it because he had to know.