Tell us what you love about hi-fi!

[Anonymous]

Excerpt from an older thread of mine...

"You hear audiophiles describe the speakers disappearing.what I actually get is a sort of semi-spacey almost hypnotic state is, I disappear. There was only the music."

This one is my favorite.

"In a way we are eccentric people. Its not normal thing to hear music from a system of one hundred thousand dollars, this not normal.. this is not normal.

But if you, if you, if you sit there and listen to some recordings, especially sixties where this orchestras were playing in the courted garden with that passion after the war with all this.this enthusiasm that goes into these recordings and you enjoy them sitting in your sofa, you know, sometimes you think, well.am I crazy or, or am I not?"

Isn't this what we call passion?!

 

[John Duncan]

I like being able to tell whether it's a Lowden or a Martin, whether they're in the control room or the live room or the hotel room at 3am. I like hearing the pedals on the piano, and when the singer leans closer to their SM58.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

[quote user="JoelSim"]

I'm afraid Elvis left the building years ago, and I would sell my hifi if that was the only music I could listen to.

Rock and Roll is dreadful, awful, tuneless rubbish that just makes me want to scream...
[/quote]

I'm sorry but that's like saying Shakespeare is an irrelevant hack. I love slating individual bands and discussing the merits or otherwise of peoples musical taste but to denigrate one entire genre of music is, to say the least, a touch uninformed.

Or were you being facetious? Without "rock and roll", Elvis et al, we'd all still be enthralled by Jim Reeves and Perry Como. Fine singers both but somewhat lacking the pioneering swagger and promethean larynx of Tupelo's finest.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Thaiman"]
[quote user="ifitsoundsgoodlistentoit"]Rock and Roll is dreadful, awful, tuneless rubbish that just makes me want to scream[/quote]

That is a general comment from Arcam user, don't worry about it mate.....Arcam couldn't keep up with a rock beat anyway

[/quote]

Rock and Roll is not dreadful - it is the basis of most music we listen to today! To quote a song "elvis 'aint dead", I think Elvis is brilliant and he was thirty years before my time! Clare has a brilliant taste in music, and even though you have a right to voice your opinion (as Drummerman proudly demonstrates) to say something like that is a little harsh.

And erm....Thaiman, can I use my new A32 as an example of how Arcam equipment can rock?

 

[Anonymous]

I love the way my Roksy winks at me from the corner of the room, begging me to play her.

 

[Anonymous]

What I love about hi-fi is that the music can enter your emotions. No longer does one have to go to a concert to experience the best of music - you can have it right in your living room! Just pop in a CD or drop the stylus on a vinyl and all of a sudden, you have the best seat in the house, listening to the London Philharmonic Orchestra. If that's not enough to express what's great about hi-fi, then the fact you can click pause and make a 'cuppa' must be!

 

[nads]

Music.

 

[cse]

why do so few peope into hifi listen to real musuc, ie classical music. Hifi shops are the worse.. whenever you go to one they never have any idea. If they have any classical albums, they only ever relate to the artists eg Callas, Pavaroti etc never the actual composers themselves. Indeed when you audition the hardware, they always try to direct yiou towards amplified sound of some kind, as if acoustic sound alone cannot fully demonstate the sound that they wish to show-off. This, even when you explain that you never listen to amplified music anymore. They really are all totally low-brow and always exclusively male. All in all I nearly always end up feeling uncomfortable and confused as to what product to buy. What do think?

 

[Anonymous]

Its really simple ,I love it when you realise you're no longer listening to the hi-fi. When you get to that point its addictive and you want more .....only easier... if you see what I mean ,and thats where better and better equipment plays its part in the addiction.

errrrr.....hmmmmm can I say I am an addict, have been for 35yrs and whats more I'm a really lucky one..... my wife tolerates it, knows when I want a fix , has been known to take me into my favorite hi-fi shop and convince me to spend more than I had ever dreamed of ,knowing at the same time I cannot say no.Whats more she knows after 28yrs together I will never be cured.

I think this has possibly turned into the theme of another thread.... "tolerent understanding partners"

 

[biggus_1961]

[quote user="JoelSim"][quote user="Clare Newsome"]
As someone who loves, shall we say, 'vintage' music, i'm never going to get the chance to see the acts I love live, but good hi-fi gets me closer to the experience.

You know you've got a great system combination when it sounds like Sinatra's serenading you, Ella's up on stage or Elvis Presley most definitely has NOT left the building. Goosebump-inducing stuff!

[/quote]

I'm afraid Elvis left the building years ago, and I would sell my hifi if that was the only music I could listen to.

Rock and Roll is dreadful, awful, tuneless rubbish that just makes me want to scream...[/quote]
'scream'...yep thats right just as millions of fans around the world do, and guess what you can even sing it as well (we have all tried to sing like sinatra in the shower.havn't we ?)

 

[John Duncan]

[quote user="cse"]why do so few peope into hifi listen to real music, ie classical music.[/quote]

Huh?

 

[Anton90125]

Well, not an easy one. There are lots of reasons. Most are routed into how I started in hifi see link:

http://whathifi.com/forums/p/2540/13834.aspx#13834

There is the actual equipment buzz, when you see a beautifully crafted aesthetically correct unit. I do like the retro look of the Yamaha, Pioneers,Luxmans and Aiwa units of the late 70's. I like the chunky feel with large knobs and large buttons. I prefer to see moving coil meters to led. In fact it was this that caused me to buy a old (1978) partially working Aiwa AD6900 cassette deck.

I have always had a thing for cassettes from the small portables to hifi cassette decks. When I was 14, me and one of my friends used to make audio plays mixing our vocals,music and sound effects (BBC sound effects LP's)- we never worked from a script! It was at this time I fell in love with the Aiwa ad6900. At that time it cost £480 and was rated as one of the best machines. 25 years on I had the chance of getting one so I jumped at it- despite it no working properly.

I also love hifi for the sound. Everytime you make a positive upgrade you have to re listen to all your CD again! The pleasure of hearing your favourite music with more clarity. I love it when you can hear all the skill of the musicians clearly. When you can hear the environment/ ambiance that they are performing in. That you can close your eyes and you are taken there. To be able to forget you are listening to a hifi. To be able to play it load and surround yourself with the sound and at the same time not have it hurt or irritate. My last upgrade was the inclusion of some Isolda cables and I went through this euphoria again.

And finially show off your pride and joy to anyone is prepaired to listen (or not) and if you are lucky get them hooked.

To meet other Hifi enthusists and discusses/ argue all the finer points of hifi. To tryout tweaks and see if they make a useful difference. What I am discovering is a lot of small improvements add together to give quite a sound.

This is why I love Hifi. If i ever won the lottery I would open a hifi shop!

 

[Gwyndy]

Only if you promose not to tell the wife

We want you tell us what you love about your hi-fi system;
That Hayley Westenra and Katie Melua regularly appear in my bedroom ;-)
(Okay I know they aren't physically there but it certainly feels like it, even now listening to Pure makes me tingle)

why you bought it:
Because I heard it demoed at the Bristol Show and fell in love with it. plus my wife has RSDS and this article is right
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/44193.php

How much enjoyment it gives you
More than everything else I posses added together, I don't posses the wife, so she doesn't count.

What you love to play on it
Music,
Sometimes Classical, sometimes Jazz, sometimes Rock, sometimes Heavy Metal. Currently Midge Ure and Marillion are getting a lot of play. Most regularly played CD's are probably Katherine Jenkins: Premiere and Foo Fighters: In Your Honour, Disc 2

 

[Murdo Mathewson]

When I press play, in the perfect world, Stephen, Johnny, Andy and Mike, would appear from my system, strap-on their instruments - and 20-something quiffs - and the words 'Take Me Out Tonight' would be heard, live in my home. While I await this particular scientific advancement, hi-fi offers the next-best thing - and a bloody good thing it is, too.
Cheers
Murdo