Audiophile Nit Picking That Even Audiophiles Scoff At

Our room layout is weird for both music and video entertainment. There just isn’t a good way to have seating permanently oriented in a way that can be a sweet spot for anywhere the speakers or display can logically go. If I want to sit and really listen, it involves moving the coffee table and a chair, which really isn’t that big a deal, but not always something I feel necessary. It still sounds pretty good to me even out of the sweet spot, which is why I am pretty sure I don’t get the “audiophile” stamp.

 

I do. There's no excuse for crappy pressings.

 

Nothing I would worry about. To the hardcore "sweet spot" audiophiles here, I am but a heretic.

The realities of most home listening environments are not such that they are not really conducive to audiophile listening in the first place.

I see no point in beating my head against the wall in search of a "sweet spot". With the arrangement of multiple speakers in a room, almost the entire listening room can be a sweet spot.

It is good to remember that "imaging" is only one consideration in one's quest for sound reproduction.

By giving up that one aspect, I get many more benefits back in return.

If you scroll down below my equipment profile, I put together a tour of the audio room, complete with photos and descriptions.

Once you get past all of the silly audiophile stuff and put it behind you, you can do so many more interesting things within your listening environment.

 

Yeah, I’m not worried at all. I do know exactly where the sweet spot is between the speakers, and I have had some wonderful experiences sitting there. I just don’t need that to be the experience I am having every single time I put a record on. I’ve caught what I interpreted to be bewildered consternation from this forum when indicating that I would ever go to the “effort” of playing records unless I was going to have optimal conditions and absolute concentration. To some, it seems like the trouble of owning a turntable and maintaining records only makes sense if you are going to focus from the sweet spot, every single time. That’s just not my life most of the time, but I still like analog, so...

 

Sounds cool.

 

Growing up in the 60's and 70's when every home had a stereo and everybody listened to music through real speaker's, no one that I knew ever sat in a sweet spot.

People just assumed that music was for the whole room.

You put on music and where ever you were in the room is where you listened to it.

If you were doing something, then you listened to it while you were walking around the room.

 

Most fuses like the Synergistic Research Blue are sold with a money back guarantee. Just buy one and try it. Send it back if it doesn't work for you. I used the previous Synergistic Black fuses on the back panel of my Magnepan 1.7s and it improved the sound. The fuses are treated so the cost structure is totally different from a commodity level fuse.

And yes, I do think you do need to try each tweak out first.

 

I don't feel obligated to try out a tweak if the person selling it can't even come up with a reasonable, science-based, "woo-free" explanation of the mechanism by which it supposedly works.

 

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Or a money back guarantee. Even many expensive pieces of equipment offer this. Heavy subs for example.

 

It is true.
But I was playing with tubes and switches on phono board, all those changes from top and easy, including fuse )). And paid $30 for this "audiophile" fuse on some clearance, so it was not a huge investment for me. Changing fuse back and force was very easy )).
I am not discounting possibility of placebo, however. It happened before ))

 

A lot of those "guarantees" including restocking fee, not to mention shipping charges (if they are).

 

I've recently discovered applying EQ edits remastering '70's rock music that there's a lot of "air" and wide open stage imaging space in the higher frequencies that have a lot of hiss (top end of cymbals). It's almost shocking what it does to improving the sound. Tape hiss is really underrated and now I understand why digital noise reduction sucks.

 

Typical residential freezer isn't cold enough. I got CDs that have certificates that state the discs were frozen at -180°C for over 24 hours.

What about using the Zerostat on CDs? I wonder if the current blue ones are better than the vintage red ones?

 

Glasses too

 

Not exactly what you're looking for, and I can't find it, but someone once claimed that the amount of detail that a pair of speakers delivered, was so good that, on certain Cat Stevens songs, you could actually hear his beard growing. I don't think anyone was buying that one.

 

Don't Try It Before You Knock It

 

Pieces of equipment placed on wood.

No, you don't need to spend $100 on useless garbage.

You can take the true audiophile test. Go get Southwire 2-Gauge Solid Soft Drawn Copper Bare Wire at Home Depot, $2/ft. Same 1/4" diameter as a fuse. Polish oxidation with 0000 steel wool, and cut it evenly into nine 1-1/4" lengths to make "bypass" fuses and substitute them in. If that doesn't make a difference, a fuse with an audiophile sticker sure won't.

 

Given that the "high end" companies are forever trying to steal a march on their competitors in a fairly limited field by introducing tweaks and updated specs,is it not about time that somebody whispered into a few R. and D. lugholes regarding the benefits of audiophile fuses?

 

You need to remove your glasses to listen to music, they can generate reverb

 

My pet peeve has actually when someone posts their setup and a person, rather than congratulating them, tells them where they went wrong, what could be better, etc.

It’s like, DUDE. Don’t poop on my birthday cake!

As for audiophile stuff that annoys me... I think the biggest is goofy accessories. Things that just make no sense. No need to list them, as we all have our own lists, but you know what I mean.

 

A customer litterally dropped his jaw in horror when I offered him a coffee while he auditioned speakers. The expression on his face clearly expressed disbelief that I, an audio sales professional, was unaware ingesting caffine plays havoc with one's sound perception. It was explained to me, in no uncertain terms that for unadulterated hearing ability, no caffine must be consumed within at least two hours prior to a listening session.

I left him alone and went into a different sound room to re-arrange the speaker wire support pylons.

 

Decaf?

 

Wasn’t there some sort of device once sold that was like a funnel for your ears?

 

If it's good enough for Beethoven...