How obessesed are you with the setting up your audio system components?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by macster, Apr 21, 2018.

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  1. Mad shadows

    Mad shadows Forum Resident

    Location:
    Karlskrona- Sweden
    Of course I do. It can always get beter. If a tweaking makes the sound worse its just to undo it. The trick is to be methodical and change one thing at a time.
     
  2. Postercowboy

    Postercowboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nowhereland
    I think was reasonably obsessed when I was building my current system. Took my about two years, and quite a lot of thought and step by step efforts. Most of the components I had to upgrade twice. Right now, I feel that every single aspect has been maxed out, and I can leave things alone pretty easily.

    Which does not keep me from doing a bit of window shopping every now and then. But every time I even start thinking about a new component, I crank the volume up some and the thought goes away.
     
  3. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    Absolutely. Many times I will grab the CD (if I own that also) or Apple Music (if I don’t) to see if the anomaly is perhaps on the master and I never noticed it before. After my latest speaker purchase, I am doing this more often. :)
     
  4. sberger

    sberger Dream Baby Dream

    Used to futz, now I don't. Other then swapping speakers around to listen to different pairs, and occasionally swapping out amps(all out of boredom) I tend to leave well enough alone. Set and forget.
     
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  5. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    sberger- your avatar shows a face that says "I don't futz around."
     
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  6. draden1

    draden1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Des Moines, IA
    Similar to some others here where I futz, listen, futz, listen. When I’m not futzing directly with the gear in the rack I like to do things to the room. Absorption, diffusion, after all the room is arguably the single most important piece of “gear” we have.

    I also like to futz with the aesthetics of the room. Recently built some shelves to display 9 records at a time which is one of my favorite “upgrades” I have done.

    So to answer the original post, I guess I’m slightly obsessed (my words), my wife would say completely obsessed. :D
     
  7. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    Pics please.
     
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  8. draden1

    draden1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Des Moines, IA
    Sure, you can get the idea from this. It only sticks out approx 1.5 inches from the wall, I wanted a shallower profile than typical picture shelves (3.5 - 5 inches) so that’s why I did them myself.

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. mkane

    mkane Strictly Analog

    Location:
    Auburn CA
    Somewhat obsesses. Why spend the money if everythings not done right?
     
    Kyhl likes this.
  10. macster

    macster Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA
    Obsess

    1. preoccupy or fill the mind of (someone) continually, intrusively, and to a troubling extent.
      "he was obsessed with the theme of death"
      synonyms: preoccupy, be uppermost in someone's mind, prey on someone's mind, prey on, possess, haunt, consume, plague, torment, hound, bedevil, beset, take control of, control, take over, have a hold on, rule, eat up, have a grip on, grip More
      "being thin is obsessing her"
      be fixated on/upon, be preoccupied with, be possessed by, be consumed with/by (thoughts of), have an obsession with;
      be infatuated with, be besotted with, be smitten with;
      informalhave a thing about/for, be hung up about/on, have it bad for
      "he was obsessed with his roommate's sister"
      • (of a person) be preoccupied with or constantly worrying about something.
        "her husband, who is obsessing about the wrong she has done him"
    M~
     
  11. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    Nice job!
     
  12. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    Right. I think that knowing where to draw the line is the difficulty. Having difficulty sleeping b/c there is a problem with the system is symptomatic -- i've been there, and probably not irrational, after all it is an investment of time, money and an object of our energies. Worrying about stuff that might or might not make a difference- that used to help me in my career-- sometimes I would figure something out that I didn't see. But, when it interferes with your ability to enjoy the thing, and that's a very personal, individual question, maybe it is an issue.
    I remember periods when most of my time 'listening' to the system was analyzing it to make it better, but I never really took time to enjoy it. I'm not saying I've overcome the obsessive qualities, but I guess I reached a point where knowing all is ok, it is better than 'good enough'- and I can kick back and play music. Granted, another problem or 'thing' will come up- but I can't think that way--(even though I do), or I'll still be tweaking after I'm dead.
    PS: and some of it is just that when the system is running really well, you are more sanguine about the whole thing. Today, my system sounded fabulous. I was pulling out all kinds of records, just to enjoy stuff I hadn't heard in a long while. I wish it were always that way.
     
  13. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    I'm of the opinion that if you're not going to devote the time and space to proper set up, you're kinda wasting money buying expensive, high-end audio gear. You're getting a fractional percentage of the as-designed performance that you've paid for. Might as well buy cheaper stuff, you're not going to hear what the expensive stuff can offer you.

    I'm always amazed by some of the system/rooms I see from audiophiles -- one speaker shoved into a room corner, another speaker out in free space near an opening to a second room; or both speakers shoved into a corner astride some kind of giant AV furniture; or speakers half behind furniture; or tweeters up above a listener's head in gear shoved into a bookshelf; or listening positions backed right up against a wall; etc. People set up their systems like that, and they do no room treatments, and they do no room measurements to establish best speaker and listening positions -- things that make enormous, gross differences -- then they come on here and argue about which three-foot coaxial interconnect is more "neutral." They have no idea what "neutral" sounds like. They have no idea what their systems or recordings actually sound like and there's certainly far less difference between two coax interconnect in that application than there is between moving the speakers or listening position or even cleaning contacts and switches, maintenance they probably also don't do.

    I understand wanting easy of use and set up. My wife just wants so hear what she wants to hear when she wants to hear it where she wants to hear it and mostly she want to sing along with it. It doesn't matter much to her how is sounds. I got her a Riva Wand set up in the main open living space of our house with Spotify. I doesn't sound very good -- there's no experience of being pulled into the soundstage of the original recording, the frequency balance isn't "natural." But we're mostly listening to it off axis in a big echoing open room while we're doing other things, it's perfectly fine for that kind of listening, it works, it plays loud and clean and deep. I have no problems sitting in the kitchen streaming '40s and '50s Monk recordings to the Wand from my phone. But from a sonic perspective, there's not much reason to spend a lot more or worry about squeezing marginally more performance from equipment or room for that kind of listening in that kind of space for that kind of person.

    For me, audio scratches a different itch -- that ability to be transported into the original recording space, to be able to listen deeply into the performance. When I do that kind of listening in the room where I do have things carefully set up, I don't do other things. I don't sing along, or cook, or talk, or go online. It's listening for listening's sake. That's a different lifestyle choice. And getting the most out of that requires proper set up. In fact, I think you can get better sound out of lesser gear properly set up in a properly treated room than you can out of better gear indifferently set up in an untreated room.
     
  14. Doctor Fine

    Doctor Fine "So Hip It Would Blister Your Brain"

    I trained professionally for ten years how to set up a room.
    I retired and spent five years every morning with fresh ears moving my speakers looking for a magic spot where the speakers would "come alive like a hologram."
    I found it.
    Then I moved.
    Spent six months moving speakers in my new room but knowing what they COULD sound like I kept going until nothing left to find.
    Then I moved again.
    Spent three months finding the magic spot.
    Once everything is singing and like a hologram and frankly PERFECT I do not touch anything for years and years. Just play music ten hours a day.
    The difference between how things sound placed in just an OK spot compared to how they sound in the "magic" spot is unbelievable.
    My system is supposed to intoxicate me and be a time machine.
    But it takes a LOT of listening to make sure it is in perfect "focus."
    By the way---do any of you have junk in between your speakers---right where it ruins the soundfield?
    That is how all the photos of your systems look to me.
    Kind of makes it impossible to even hear your system when you do that.
    I have nothing in between EVER, except some Sonex and a small hard center spot that is allowed to center the soundfield with audio cues.
    Just like a professional mastering studio.
    None of those guys have a THING in front of their mixing desks.
    Just a tip on what to look for and WHY my system is so unbelievable.
    EVERYTHING makes a difference.
    I have Sonex glued up UNDERNEATH my coffee table, for instance.
    It made a difference.
    I would prefer NOT to have a table at all as it screws with the sound field but well, you gotta put your coffee SOMEWHERE, ha ha.
    My two cents.
     
  15. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I had a local pro set up a new Soundsmith cartridge. I thought I was close but after he dialed the cart in, it was a noticeable improvement.

    I have really worked hard on the placement of my Magnepans where it seems even a quarter inch matters. There is no substitute for proper setup.
     
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  16. That's me too. The older I get the more I say, "That's good enough for me" and just listen.
     
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  17. Seancito

    Seancito Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    My wife's favorite one liners that she likes to say to me when I'm messing around with my turntable are, "Uh oh, are you tweaking?" and "When a hobby becomes a horror". That being said, lately I adjust to my liking. If something sounds bad consistently, I work on cartridge alignment. Also, I will go back and align my cartridge with different protractors. For a while I used my VPI protractor, but then went back to my Mint protractor. I have a Shure V15VMR cartridge that is really difficult to align with the Mint. I spend a good amount of time aligning it one morning a few weeks back. I can honestly say, if you put in the time and effort, it is worth it. However, once you do that, there is no need to go back and futz around again.
     
  18. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    Cherv- don't disagree with a thing you said. I think the distinction I'm drawing is less about proper set up (which can take some time to dial in) and more about endless tweaking, where playing the system is really about listening for flaws constantly trying to improve the sound, rather than using the system, once set up properly, to deliver music for enjoyment. I do tweak, but far less than I used to, where a listening session was mostly about what was wrong with the system. Where to draw the line isn't easy because part of it is mindset, and there is always room for "what about this?" Nothing wrong with the endless tweaking, if that's where you get your enjoyment, but I found it to detract from realizing how good it is. (and some days it is better than others- is that mindset, or other objective factors?- hard to say).
     
  19. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    :edthumbs:
     
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  20. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    I figure my stuff is best left alone. I don't want to risk making it worse and then having to stress over straightening it out again. I haven't always been this way, probably old age setting in.:)
     
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  21. macster

    macster Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA
    Brilliant! Nuff, said.

    M~
     
  22. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    Apropos of nothing said here, something reminded me of an incident years ago in the Village- (Greenwich Village)- my wife and I went into a pretty serious sushi place-- this was before Japanese food and sushi proliferated like Chinese restaurants- and sat at the bar to order.
    Some bohemian dude, thinking we were complete neophytes, said, "hey, I'm kind of a sushi consultant. I'll tell you what to order and you pay me by buying my food."
    Ah. No thanks.

    There were some really great set up people for turntables in NY- among them the ever fun loving Mike Trei. If you go to Facebook (yeah, I know), he posts almost every day what table he is setting up, from the vintage to the ridiculous.
    No moral to the story. Turntable set up guys- good. Sushi consultants- skeptical.
     
  23. Nick Brook

    Nick Brook Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK.
    I'm constantly experimenting how to get the most satisfying experience out of my hifi .
    You only get out what you put in.
     
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  24. Smitty8451

    Smitty8451 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sutherlin Oregon
    I do the same thing with additionally building all my own cables, blow out all components with compressed air yearly and insure everything is under dust covers and powered off when not in use. I feel the dust covers are essential as dust is the bane of electronics, I have some components going on 25 years old that still look brand new and function perfectly. It is starting to get difficult finding dust covers for 19" equipment unless you have them made specifically for your gear. Back some 25 years ago I bought a bunch of IBM type writer covers and they work great.
     
  25. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    Oh yeah, I agree with that. There's a line on one side of which is tweaking your gear as a fun hobby and as part of your enjoyment of sound and music, and on the other side of which is constant tweaking and fiddling in a compulsive way that interferes with one's ability to enjoy either the tweaking or the music. If you're an audiophile, you've crossed it, probably more than once in your life. But hopefully you've been able to pull yourself back from the abyss.
     
    macster likes this.
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