> I have also listened to the HiFi setups of real enthusiasts, and I
honestly
> can't see enough of a difference to worry about. And NO, I am not deaf; I
> have good hearing.
Brian, no, you aren't unusual. In fact, you represent the norm. The people
with speakers and amplifiers costing as much as a brand new car car are the
outliers. However, it is necessary for them to be in existance, otherwise
the cardboard speakers would be as good as it gets.
I come at it from a slightly different perspective. First of all, I don't
have "golden ears". Never had them thanks to a couple of double ear
infections as a small child that caused about a 25-30% loss of hearing.
Fortunately, with the exception of one notch, I can still hear up to around
20kHz. But still, through training and experience, I would consider them to
be "silver ears", albiet, a bit tarnished. Secondly, I come at it from the
perspective of an audio professional--one who mixes live as well as
recordings in exchange for money. As such, I'm not necessarily seeking
perfection, but good enough to make the 90% crowd happy.
So, when I get all AR about sound, I approach it from the angle that "it's
not good enough because somebody isn't doing their job good enough".
Nowadays, it perturbs be to no end when on NPR they replay audio from some
web link where the audio is compressed 200:1. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! That is
completely unacceptable. But unfortunately, even that storied place has gone
downhill when political agenda overstepped quality and there was a mass
exodus (forceout) of those who gave a rip. Anyhoo.
Every once in a great while I get to listen to somebody's really nice sound
system. However, what gets me is when the sound system isn't equalled by the
listening room itself. I did pick on Fernando a little about that, but there
is a point where you've reached diminishing returns in regards to the
electronics and then you have to adjust the room itself. Unfortunately, to
do it really well, the cost of a listening room the equal of Fernando's
speakers could cost a lot depending on structural and usage requirements. I
deal with this in sound-reinforcement systems--a house of worship will spend
$250,000 on speakers and amplifiers when the acoustics are the problem. I've
repaired more than one that had an uncontrolled echo between five and seven
seconds. My fixes usually run $10,000+ USD now and will bring the echo down
into the range of acceptability given the room size. Only one place I
couldn't completely fix because of the overall shape was completely
unworkable--all I could do was bring it down to the point where people
didn't complain and they stopped discussing building a new building. But to
totally fix that one would have been over $150,000 in treatment and would
have involved new walls. In that particular case, we did what we could with
the acoustics and then got a set of speakers with very narrow coverage
angles to minimise as much reflection as possible. Careful placement was in
order, but still there were major sections where the sound just inverts on
you. Some archetechs are just plain stupid and should be hung up by their
earlobes.
But, back to the topic at hand... It really is no different than quality
camera gear. To achieve that extra little bit of quality sometimes is a very
big cost. Is it worth it? It all depends on two things: Your own personal
satisfaction and ability to financially justify it. For those who have the
means, spending $10000 or $100000 USD on a pair of speakers isn't the issue.
It's deciding to buy a decent pair of speakers in the first place. For a
person of means, $10000 or $100000 isn't much for personal
entertainment/pleasure. And everybody I know who has chosen to go this route
makes sacrifices in other areas. The typical person I know who spends this
kind of money on sound-system has a high-pressure job and this is a
diversion for them that is part of their own sanity and mental health.
And it is still cheaper than owning a boat or airplane or vacation house.
AG Ears
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