Over-obsessive about my system's sound quality?*

Naim, Linn, Harbeth. All 20+ years old. Nothing sexy.

 

Your iPod, car radio and other sources are like driving the family sedan.. enjoyable and fairly mindless, but the home audio rig is your hotrod, also fun to drive but also makes you think about how to squeeze more performance out of it ( that's the fun). Lucky for you, like most of us you can only go up in performance and farther down the rabbit hole

 

I'll take my chances

 

I disagree, my friend.

 

I have always suffered from what is described here. It’s a VERY familiar concept among guitar players. I can sit with my very expensive guitar rig and tweak for hours and not seem to get a sound I like. The kicker is, the day before I might have just kicked my amp on plugged in and been blown away by the sound.

I notice this happening with my stereo equipment also. One thing that does help me is making sure I don’t tweak the treble too high and cause myself ear fatigue. Also pushing the volume up and up as my ears become more accustomed to the levels will cause sound quality to fall apart for my ears. I enjoy the music much more overall if I leave it at a constant comfortable volume. I have a tendency to grab a beer and when I’m up give the volume knob micro twists. On a twelve pack night the walls of the house are shaking but the sound quality aspect is lost on me at that point.

 

Not necessarily - I was more saying that *if* the thing it turns out you don't like about your sound is how the Onkyo does analog (the CD and the phono are both analog), then it might not get better by changing components. OTOH, if that isn't the problem, then a Schiit pre or a U Turn Pluto might do really nice things.

 

Nope, no posters here would EVER humble brag about their own gear acquisitions!



(I'm being facetious above.)

 

If the OP enjoys his iPod or car stereo, but doesn't enjoy his home stereo (which should sound significantly better, based on the gear he has), then it's clearly a matter of his own expectations. It sounds like he can enjoy music when he doesn't expect perfection, but is overly analytical when he is expecting perfection. The problem is, true perfection is unobtainable. Buying new gear will only result in an increased level of expectations, and an increased level of disappointment if the gear does not live up to those expectations. Yes, new gear can sound better, but it may not necessarily make him happier if his expectations exceed the ability of the equipment.

Also, it sounds like the OP does enjoy the sound an LP one day, but will dislike the sound of the same LP on another day. That suggests changing expectations of the listener, especially if nothing about the system has changed.

Unless the OP has a lot of money to throw at the problem to experiment with gear (which it sounds like he doesn't), then I would pursue some free options first:

1. Try different speaker placements in the room. Small changes can make a big difference.

2. Compare the headphone output with the speakers. Is the sound more pleasing through the headphones than the speakers? That could help determine if the speakers are possibly the weak point.

3. Realize that LPs can vary wildly, based on the mastering, the pressing, and the overall condition. Some LPs will simply never sound as great as you hope they would. Make note of which LPs sound the best and use those as your benchmarks when experimenting with system changes.

4. Adjust one's expectations. Don't put on an LP with the requirement that it sound great in order to be enjoyable. Put it on with the expectation that the music should move you in order to enjoyable. If it sounds great, that's a bonus!

 

when playing music while driving you are likely getting what is synesthesia - different sensory modalities are reaching the brain at the same time, more or less

 

Welcome sir. This is a safe place, and you are here among friends

 

Your Pioneer speakers certainly "punch above their weight". Michael Fremer gave them a rave review. I guess my suggestion is, if you want to go deeper into this addiction, upgrade one component at a time. Relax and enjoy that step, then take the next. If it were me, in order of priority- turntable/cart (like a Planar 3 or VPI / carts Shelter 201 or Dynavector 10x5; or integrated amps like Outlaw or Rogue get a lot of love here; then speakers. Oh yeah, and throw in some decent cables, like Blue Jeans.
Trust your ears. You can drive yourself crazy asking for opinions and reading reviews.

 

Well, I am afraid you are in dangerous territory then. When I had a thousand bucks invested in my system it was all about the music thank goodness. It was only years and years later that I became more obsessed trying to get a certain sound. It's a risky thing too as I have definitely become more analytical in my listening and sometimes I fear that I will go overboard in chasing the sound. So, unless you want to spend lots of money to chase your demons (recognizing that you will never catch them) then I highly recommend focusing on other life issues first and staying away from gear boards and hardware reviews. Material stuff simply won't address the under lying issues you have identified. The rabbit hole could be deep, painful financially and ultimately quite un satisfying for you.

 

There is a lot of truth and good sense in the above. The only point I don't entirely agree with is "There is no cure."

Here's how I got out of that mental trap: determine what aspect(s) of audiophilia are most important to you, and concentrate your energies there, because you can't have it all. This is especially necessary when working with less-than-high-end gear.

In my case, I decided that I was less concerned with the concepts of "detail" and "accuracy"*, and place greater priority on imaging vividness and a tonal character that I find enjoyable. Specifically, I like a deep, layered soundstage (challenging in my 8 x 12 room!), plump and bouncy bass, fulsome warm mids, delicate treble, and an overall lush presentation that wraps itself around the listener like a hug. My solution at the present is tube amplification, certain older Grado cartridges, and an idler-drive turntable.

*(I actually downgraded from more expensive, highly detailed and accurate speakers to obtain something closer to the presentation I was aiming for. Is it a somewhat colored presentation? Probably, but I am aware of it and embrace it.)

Do I still fiddle with my gear? Sure, but I do not generally do it to address perceived inadequacies or from a place of anxiety, it's more out of curiosity: "let's see what affect doing/adding xyz has" or "I wonder what this component sounds like?" This is a much more fun way to do it, rather than obsessing over every friggin' bit of minutia.

I've also finally gotten beyond the tendency to only play recordings that make my system sound awesome; fact is, there is a lot of great music that isn't especially well recorded!

When all else fails, I just blast old rock'n'roll 45s on my Newcomb, which is just as enjoyable in its own way.

 

This bears re-posting:

 

I have a pair of the $100 SP-BS22LR's in my bedroom system, paired with a Rega Brio-R, and I am regularly amazed by how good those "cheap" speakers are. They do nothing wrong and they do a whole lot right.

 

This happens all the time. It could be changes in humidity or temperature, it could be because of how tired or energized you are at the moment, or just about anything else. My system can sound amazing one day and totally blah the next, even if I don't change a thing.

 

Very much indeed. Hence my strong disagreement with Strat-Strangler. When the sound of your system is changing day to day.... the problem is likely you. But you might not realize that until you’ve spent your savings on fools gold, if ever at all. I see this all over these and other forums.

The audio industry capitalizes on this in very clever ways. But that’s a discussion for another time another place.

 

I'm more obsessive about the instrument itself, how it feels in my hands, its responsiveness. Despite owning some nice instruments (vintage Rickenbacker and Gretsch, plus a terrific Fender), the guitar that I now can't stop playing is a beat-up old Kay Speed Demon that I paid $250 for!

 

Perfect answer, I 100% agree. You can enjoy your music, but only if you don't expect too much from the equipment you are listening to. This is exactly why you CAN enjoy music from your iPod, but not from your home audio system. Either accept it for what it is, or upgrade severely (meaning you must decide to devote more floor space and more money to it).

You would be better off acknowledging that your ultimate goal is to upgrade everything, one-by-one, and NOT by some small step. Or, decide that you don't want to spend the money, so you will stop expecting too much from what you have.

 

I agree with this in terms of entry-level equipment, but there is a level at which you CAN listen to the audio quality AND to the music, at the same time, and truly enjoy both. I have accomplished this at home, with my non-Audio Note system, and at The Audio Home, with the Audio Note systems.

It is a remarkable sense of joy and of pleasure when an audio system REALLY makes the music very impressive to hear. The sonic surprises make me laugh with joy, and the pleasure, presented by the music itself, is enhanced to a truly satisfying level.

Just yesterday, I visited Tom Vu of Triangle Art. He manufactures turntables, tonearms, cartridges, preamps and amplifiers. His reference system, is also one of these systems, that can be just thoroughly enjoyed for the impressive sound itself and for the musicality it conveys.

It requires a lot of work (researching and comparing equipment, lugging borrowed equipment home and back, tweeking speaker position, trying different cables, etc) to create a truly satisfying audio system -- or a lot of money -- but not necessarily both. Buying stuff based on a review, or on comments in this forum, and just throwing it into a system (hoping it rewards your fantasy of an easy upgrade) is just gambling with your money, not the way to truly advance your sound.

 

@DrD77, your complaints seems to be common with to the Ortofon Red, my advice would be to upgrade to the Blue stylus. Just the stylus, not the whole cartridge. They use the same body, so this would be cheaper and much easier. You just pop out the red stylus and pop in the blue, no set up required.

I would also consider picking up a phono stage, like the Mani, if you can swing both, since the phono stage in the Onkyo seems suspect by reports here.

I would also research speaker placement. This is super important, and often overlooked by beginners. A few inches in any direction can make a huge difference in sound quality. Good luck man.

 

thanks. i have considered both upgrades. it looks like the blue stylus change would make for more of an improvement than the preamp upgrade but for some reason i'm really considering going for the preamp first.

 

Perhaps I am reluctant to upgrade the stylus just yet because I just bought the turntable in November and it still has many more hours to go before it has reached the end of its useful life.

 

You're obviously on the edge of the rabbit hole.

I'd say expectation as I don't expect my Boombox to sound great but it sounds good enough to enjoy the music.

Sell your system and enjoy the music, is probably the best and cheapest advice.

 

Beautifull

Beautifully expressed. This is one of the articulate renderings of the definition of “audio nervosa” I have read. And all the more powerful because it’s clear the author has suffered its effects himself. Those who advise the OP to just get better equipment, are, IMO, missing the point. Yes, it might result in improved sound for the short term, but the quest is endless. If pursuit as an end in itself is satisfying to you, fine, but if your aim is to truly enjoy the music, this path will inevitably disappoint.