General Asylum

Posted by John Marks (M) on April 15, 2023 at 09:41:12

In Reply to: RE: how is it possible to put together an expensive system that sounds " meh " ? posted by trioderob on April 15, 2023 at 07:45:04

In my experience, when that happens, there usually is a reason... and the reason is often-times, non-obvious. NOTE, I am talking about home systems, and not audio show rooms, which always have Angelic (or Satanic) Hosts of Uncontrolled Variables.

Two things I have encountered more than once are:

1) The real motivation was "The Transactional Experience."

Far too many audiophiles are more interested in being able to brag to their buddies about what a great bargainer they are, rather than buying for VALUE.

If a guy thinks that he "saved" $50,000 on his "Dog's Breakfast" of a system, and that's the most important thing, then that system usually sounds like a Dog's Breakfast.

One guy reached out for advice. He was the perfect candidate for Wilson Benesch loudspeakers--or at least, he pretended to be. He called every Wilson Benesch dealer he could locate, shopping for a bargain. He was mortally offended that they suggested that he should pay retail, buy them once, and buy them right.

He somehow stumbled onto a dealer who offered him 40% off on the floor-demo Dunlavys they had on display. The guy later told me that he wasn't in love with the sound, but "he could not pass up the bargain." Then he belatedly found out that Dunlavy had closed up shop. "That bastard didn't tell me that they were out of business!"

And of course, once the dust had settled, the Wilson Benesch speakers cost a lot more because of currency fluctuations.

If a celebrated craftsperson (YT attached) tells you that a certain guitar costs $6000 (or whatever), that is that. Don't embarrass yourself with a lowball offer, just because Guitar Center is having a Saint Patrick's Day sale when a Fender knockoff that lists for $799 and their usual price is $599 but TODAY the price is $399... That Chinese guitar probably cost GC not more than $150. So, that's really a $75 guitar, plus 100% markup by the maker.

2) Getting great sound was not the most important thing.

I was asked to troubleshoot a home audio system that supposedly cost way more than $100,000, but which could not create a solid phantom center image on my mono test track of Ella Fitzgerald singing "Easy to Love." Epic fail, to the point that I had to run Stereophile's Test CD 2, to make sure the speakers were not relatively out of phase!!!

Well, there were Boulder electronics ($$$$) and IIRC the biggest Dynaudios of the time, and... Oh, I almost forgot the Wilson Audio subwoofers!!! Dog's Breakfast. WELL!

The loudspeakers were spaced to make room for the drop-down video screen. They were pointed straight forward because "that looked better." The room had been acoustically deadened down to National Security Agency standards, for HOME THEATER.

That guy was very poorly advised, IMHO.

ciao,

john

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