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Is this an audiophile forum?


Alessio

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Audiophile is what I consider a very dirty word. I've met some guys recently in town that call themselves audiophiles. They spend big money on all components power conditioners, cables of all manner and expensive skinny speakers. The conversations are mesmerizing. If it isn't stereophile or TAS blessed they aren't into it. I'm a music junkie or audio junkie but now more into DIY which is way more fun than buying black boxes and cables and believing you hear a difference. They asked if I was an audiophile and I said if I was it would be as a bottom feeder audiophile..lol.....  

 

 

JC Morrison clip on youtube is great he starts a rant on audiophile and hifoi around 2:15....

 

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Well, these are the crazies.

 

We have a high end store here in Kettering, and I decided to stop in for a visit. The prices were absolutely insane. I could have bought a new set of Klipschorns for the price of a small pair of their monitors. I listened to several things and wasn't impressed with any of it -- lifeless boring shit.

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6 minutes ago, Deang said:

Well, these are the crazies.

 

We have a high end store here in Kettering, and I decided to stop in for a visit. The prices were absolutely insane. I could have bought a new set of Klipschorns for the price of a small pair of their monitors. I listened to several things and wasn't impressed with any of it -- lifeless boring shit.

I share this experience. High end has nothing to do with performance imo. Nothing....

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Hey there are audiophiles and then name dropper audiophooles. There IS a difference.

34 minutes ago, Deang said:

Well, these are the crazies.

 

We have a high end store here in Kettering, and I decided to stop in for a visit. The prices were absolutely insane. I could have bought a new set of Klipschorns for the price of a small pair of their monitors. I listened to several things and wasn't impressed with any of it -- lifeless boring shit.

I'm with you. Hi Fi Buys here in Nashville is the ,ahem, high end audio store. Used to sell Klipsch years ago. I went in there a couple of years ago to ask about a DAC. I was steered towards their high end listening room that had some B&W buck rodgers looking thing he insisted I hear. First thing I see is "Please do not touch our $1,000.00 Diamond Tweeter" Then I am positioned in the captains chair and the dude fires up those $22,000.00 fabulous bits of audio wizardry. I had some one piece fiberglass covered LSI's with KP-480's under them at the time and had under $1,200 in them. Those B&W's were pathetic.

  There are no true high end stores here I guess where you can go hear the value of $60,000 dollar power cords and I guess that means we are not cultured.

 Speaking of culture the plywood suppliers sell the heck out of baltic birch here to custom builders for the music industry. For some reason they are not high brow enough to use MDF like all the "expensive" builders do. I just love to slap MDF on my way by.

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3 minutes ago, geoff. said:

Kettering!

 

Small world, a tornado ate half of our row of townhouses there back in the 70’s just weeks after we moved...

 

I saw Xenia just after the tornado years ago. F5 and very sobering to see that kind of damage.

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12 hours ago, Alessio said:

Speaking of irony, this makes me guess that if i visit a McIntosh forum, for example, i'll probably find people talking the hell out of McIntosh amps, most of which connected to 'cheap' speakers, because amps are what it's all about. 😅

Doubtful.  

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12 hours ago, Alessio said:

 

This is what i suspect and what i'm genuinely curious about.

 

I mean, i find it weird to see 10k+ speakers connected to 'cheap' amps, also because i see that in threads where all single audio frequencies are dissected with utmost precision. 🤔

No, not all amps, cables, etc. sound the same. But I will tell you from experience, when you connect a cheap amp like a clock radio to something like a 15" Altec Lansing "Voice Of The Theater" speaker it will blow your mind how good that cheap amp can sound! I did that when I was 12 years old. My father had the 15" speaker, it was my clock radio!

John Kuthe...

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13 hours ago, Alessio said:

 

This is what i suspect and what i'm genuinely curious about.

 

I mean, i find it weird to see 10k+ speakers connected to 'cheap' amps, also because i see that in threads where all single audio frequencies are dissected with utmost precision. 🤔

 

Well, we ARE in a speaker forum.  Audiophile is indeed a dirty word, too!  :D  Old Crown Amps were far from cheap and only a few are cheap, now.  We have had quite a few discussions about sources and good recordings, i.e. Diana Krall (and Loreena McKennett).  But, ultimately the devices that change energy from one form to another (speakers, phono cartridges) are by far the most important part of the reproduction train.  Speaker placement and room treatment will have at least an order of magnitude difference in effect compared to any power amp.  Perhaps that is why you have not noticed much in the way of electronics discussions. 

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8 hours ago, WillyBob said:

I don't know what being an audiophile means.

  this forum allows for all levels of participation in the hobby/pursuit of great sound reproduction

"Audiophile" means Lover of Audio! "...phile' is a common Latin suffix in the English Language!

I am a Pyrophile or Lover of FIRE!!

John Kuthe...

 

Blowlog.jpg

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Yes.

 

My small LS3/5a monitors sound extremely good in near-field, but they require lots of quality power.  They are not party speakers.  They are politely British with their BBC design and KEF drivers.  They are “audiophile” classics.

 

My horn loaded Klipsch Heritage (I’ve owned Khorns, Cornwalls, La Scalas, Heresys, etc.) also sound excellent at low volume near-field, but they can rock an outdoor party.  The dynamics and power cannot be matched by the BBC monitors.  The efficiency of Klipsch makes it unnecessary to spend a lot of money on quality high power; it does not eliminate the need for clean low distortion power, just the need for expensive amplification.

 

Your inference that Klipsch owners don’t care about the quality of the amps, I feel, is incorrect.  In order to get the best out of efficient Klipsch Heritage, you need an amp that delivers low distortion at low output.  I currently satisfy that requirement using two small DIY class D chip amps that most audiophools would sneer at.

 

As was said earlier by others, part of thrill I get from the hobby is to get the most bang for the buck.  I enjoy listening to music, not dollars.  Few things are more enjoyable than having someone comment that they like the sound of my system better than their more expensive system.

 

Audiophile (from the Greek), literally means one who is attracted to sound.  In that sense, we are all audiophiles.  The negative implication that an audiophile is one who is concerned more about brand names and invoices does not fit most on this forum.

 

 

 

 

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Klipsch speakers have always offered more bang for your buck, thus offering an opportunity to get really great sound at a reasonable price. And because they are so efficient, there is no need for a gajillion watt amplifier to drive them.

  Being that's it's possible to get great sound at a fraction of the price of "audiophile" speakers, Klipsch owners are for the most part smart buyers. They have a tendency to look through all the glitz and glamour and find the most reasonable approach to good music reproduction. Many Klipsch speakers are easily modified, making it an ideal platform for the DIY group who want to tweak their system to their liking

  On this forum there is a wealth of information on all things music related, with some really smart people willing to help out with any problem that might arise. We are a community of music lovers who are more down to earth than most high end groups out there. We still have our arguments from time to time as to which is the best approach to music reproduction, but everyone is welcome to their own opinion and approach to realizing their end goal of reaching sonic nirvana.

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