Your chance to have your say!

[Anonymous]

the record spot:Erm, so says the poster who's been searching for the holy grail since this site was set up!

"Do as I say, not as I do" & "you only learn from your mistakes" are two quotes which ring true in this context...

 

[Terryff]

lol at hughes.ÿ

For me, it is not the equipment, or really the music, for musics sake. It is the grin factor i get when something just strikes a note (Be it bass, treble or anywhere in between). It can be slap dead centre, way out to the left or right or floating ambiently all over the shop, you know it when you hear it.

My next upgrade would be a dac for practicality and new speakers for the sake of aesthetics.

Advise for those that don't get it, be happy, you wallet is lighter than mine.ÿ

 

[RobGardner]

I am one of those people who fell into hi-fi as a teenager when I wanted to hear my music louder! My original system was one my elder brother left behind when he moved out (1970 Rank Rotel amp; 8w per channel, BSR record deck and some very cheap speakers). I quickly realised I could play it through my guitar combi-amplifier and get massive volume, enough to get the neighbours 4 doors down the street complaining.

As I have got older (getting more mature is debatable) my priorities have somewhat changed and now I love unravelling the detail and ambience in recordings. I believe that when you're sat down listening to music by yourself that you can't really appreciate what a recording artist intended unless you can hear the music clearly. You want to know when the notes start and finish, where the guitar is in the mix, or is 2 guitars, or 3? Is the singer singing alone? Is their voice multi-tracked or is that someone else singing with them? I've got some great recordings, I've got some great music, and just occasionally great recordings of great music. Now I don't need to play the music quite so loud, only next door complain.

However, above all like everbody else I just want the music to move me and it's fair to say that a great track by a great performer is going to move me regardless of what I am listening to it on.

 

[idc]

Hifi is an investment; you need to put in to get out. Time, effort and consideration will reap rewards.

My rule of thumb is to have tester tracks which have different charictaristics; loud, quite, well recorded, badly recorded, about 6 in all. I know each very well. If I am going to make a change (and my latest was the most radical; out with the Arcam, Rega, B&W system and in with itunes, ipod and docks) I dig out the tester tracks. If I am enjoying the tracks again, if there is new life to them, if they sound a bit louder, a bit clearer, then the upgarde was worthwhile.

I will always be looking to improve the sound of my music, but I enjoy doing that. The search is fun, not frustrating, it is not a sign of dissatisfaction with what I already have. I cannot imagine it ever stopping from being fun. I can't wait to see what new music I will find and how it will sound. Meanwhile the music I already have will come with me on my big hifi journey.

 

[Anonymous]

For me, my Hi-Fi system and the music i listen to are a perfect representation of freedom of choice. My system can be anything i want it to be: whether its choosing between vinyl and CD, high-end or entry-level, tweaked or au naturale.

The Hi-Fi system takes a back seat though in comparison to the enjoyment I get from being able to choose the artist and song I want to listen to. In comparison with the banality of most commercial radio, that is often the only music I can listen to at work, the freedom I have with my Hi-Fi and my music is something I take full advantage of!
After all, if we cant enjoy doing what we want to in our free-time, what is the point of living?

Choose life, choose your music and choose your volume!

 

[manicm]

I'll add a variation to Brisk's:

Hifi is the tool, Music is the message and You are its conduit to a brighter vision.

 

[Anonymous]

Music to your ears is a well bandied about phrase.

My ears love music...all sorts of music and depending upon time of day, mood, location and company the repertoire out there is breathtaking.

Hi-Fi is a way of getting that music down my lug holes to give me that fix.

However for me the quicker I forget about the hi-fi and simply become engrossed in the music ...anticipating the next note ....word or even silence then that is what is important and that is what I want.

I hate the phrase "listening to a hi-fi" because I d'ont want to listen to a hi-fi I want to forget its there and just listen to music in all its splendid glory.

To do this, you have to spend money and take time to buy a system, modify a system, tweek a system or whatever it takes to achieve your goal.

For some its just a matter of throwing money at it, for others like me with bottoms in my pockets its about getting the best fix in the way I like it with the money I can afford.

 

[idc]

The music is the pleasure. I cannot play a musical instrument but I can play my music system. I do so because I want to get closer to the music, be a part of the action ..... because music is the pleasure.

 

[Gaviatrix]

In the late 1960s my parents, who had very little money at the time, bought a Hi-Fi system - a Goldring Lenco turntable, Leak Stereofetic 30 amp, FM tuner and Leak Sandwich speakers - before we had carpets in the house or many chairs to sit on. They still have that system 40 years later. They bought it because, living in the country with two young children, they didn't go out very much and it was a great source of pleasure to them. So I grew up listening to good music on what was for the time good equipment (the usual comment of visitors back then being that it had a very good "tone") and consequently when I left home (and before I could afford it!) one of my first purchases was a reasonable system too. It was the mid-80s and I bought a Manticore Mantra turntable with an Ortofon MC cartridge, an NVA 20 amp and Castle Durham speakers, traded a couple of years later for the Ruark Sabres on Heybrook HBS1 stands that I still use. I bought an Arcam Delta CD player in 1992, and that was it for me until a couple of years ago when on one of my endless house moves the Arcam got trashed. That started a slow replacement programme that has progressed by now to a Cyrus-based set up, influenced initially by my brother's choice, of CD8SE (which started out as a CD6 and has twice been upgraded) with PSX-R, and most recently an 8vs2 when my faithful NVA finally expired in a spectacular meltdown. The Ruarks still do sterling duty but now I have a larger room may be next on the upgrade path. Oh, and I have a Bose Soundock and 8GB iPod Nano in my office and a pair of Sennheiser PXC300 noise-cancellers for my frequent travels.

HiFi kit is not a passion with me, but music is, as my large CD collection attests. As for my parents, just being able to sit back and enjoy a great recording of a great artist or orchestra is a huge source of pleasure, and a decent if not esoteric music reproduction system is a great facilitator of that pleasure. A system that allows me to drift away and let my mind wander and follow the lines of the music without intruding irritatingly is what it's all about for me. The Cyrus has piqued my interest a little as it finds things in some of my recordings that the old Arcam never did, but I doubt it will turn me into an techno-addict. So pour a glass of red, and come and join me in a comfy chair for the underrated pleasure of listening to music, not HiFi.