Prelude To A Response
This response is destined to be a rambling response. So, first of all: Thank you, Buddha. I'm so happy, flattered, honored that my Vietnam entry inspired this great post.

A Rambling Response

Quote:
Stephen made some great points about Hi Fi when he made his blog entry about seeing a band he didn

We all should learn to appreciate our stereo systems..."wall" warts and all!

I do it every day, since my gear is not Class A Stereophile. The point is that the music must mean more to us and as the gear does sound better we find some lesser music "uplifted" to a loftier position musically than it should be becuase the system sounds so good. Clifton is probably enjoying listening to more music these days because of his Magellans. Who could blame him. This is not to imply he listen to music that is not important. I doubt he wastes his time.

Now, Stephen could not connect because the musicians and music was so bad that nothing could make him connect with a poorly arranged ensemble with little to say musically. Not even the best guitars, amps, or cables could have improve upon the "awful" concept of "their" disconnected music.

I also find this true when I hear lyrics that make little sense to me when the music and the playing is first rate. Often times it is disturbing to find out what is actually running around inside the heads of some otherwise excellent musicians. I love Bruce Hornsby, for example, but I did not get Big Swing Face. I loved his "3 Nights On The town" DVD. He seems like a great guy just to hang with. Very Hip! His piano playing and singing knock me out.

I agree with your observations and thoughts. But, this audio stuff is like crack. When you hear your favorite recordings through a killer system, it takes a little readjustment to enjoy your humble little rig again.

We do always kiss and make-up in the end.

True, but... there are those times when we hear a system that based on reputation & cost has a us driving home realizing that what we have ain't that damn shabby. It's probably 50 percent educated guess, trial and error, and 50 percent luck, but those of us who have been at it long enough have been able to assemble a system within our budget constraints and room that provides those areas of performance important to the particular individual.

RG

Monty and RGIBRAN,

And just think we could be doing the same thing with our swell OPPO DVD players.

Absolutely! In fact, I think the biggest misconception by hi-fi consumers is that more money will buy better sound. In general, I think that is more likely the case with speakers, but a roll of the dice with the electronics to a greater degree.

There seems to be a range where more money simply buys different sound until you reach a significant price jump.

Jim, funny you should mention the Oppo player. My el cheapo DVD player in my bedroom crapped out on me a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to replace it with one of those Oppo players...after a brief stint in my audio system. It seems the Achille's heal of these cheap players is in the rca connections. I guess the circuit board traces are pathetically weak because I have had 2 units that failed for the same reason over the past couple of years. I'm not much into movies and so I don't care about spending money for a decent player and the Oppo players are priced right for a guy like me. If it sounds any good, I'll let ya know.

Quote:
If it sounds any good, I'll let ya know.

I suspect you'll go through that cheap crack pretty fast, and find yourself back out on the street in search of the good stuff!

RG