Poor mans audiophile journey.

Edit the clip.


Are they owners of the speaker and have some previous experience?
The quote function is broken but I prefer the reply quote were using now myself .

You left out some key specs ,your amp will have an RMS wattage which I believe you posted as being 150 wpc @4,ohms but what is the amps Peak Power rating ,a good amp should be able to at the very least produce peak power that's double the RMS wattage if not higher ,you also left out the amps headroom rating and it's 8 ohm rating ,if the Fisher your using now dosent have enough power to reproduce peaks in the source material that can be 10x higher demand than the continuous load demand then your amp isn't a good fit for the speaker , I've seen my XRT-22 speakers using 250-300 watts continuous have short burst peak demands that reach well into the 2,000 watt range with classic rock ,with modern classical I've seen my speakers demand nearly 4,000 watts to accurately reproduce a creshendo from the 250-300 watt continuous setting .

RMS wattage I have yet to find posted but here is a link with test results. My understanding of all the test result numbers and graphs is limited. http://www.gammaelectronics.cuz/audio_08-1990_fisher.html
 
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RMS wattage I have yet to find posted but here is a link with test resultsl
Fine, but you didn't answer the question I asked in my post you quoted. Let's try again:

Are they owners of the speaker and have some previous experience? Can you reference the post to which you refer?

And once again - you can edit the reply clip for clarity without referencing an entire post.
 
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Fine, but you didn't answer the question I asked in my post you quoted. Let's try again:

Are they owners of the speaker and have some previous experience? Can you reference the post to which you refer?

And once again - you can edit the quote clip for clarity without referencing an entire post.

The person that said my speakers are underpowered, not a Audiokarma member, has B&W speakers but not Bowers&Wilkins DM640i model.
 
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1. The owners that quoted have B&W speakers but not Bowers&Wilkins DM640i model.
Then I would question their advice as to your model if they reference something different.

2. I was told by someone, not an Audiokarma member, as stated in my post.
Understood. Can you reference what *someone* said?

3. I will eventually learn how to quote without referencing an entire post, It's not high on my list of priorities.
Use the backspace key!
 
Don't disagree.

Only with your assertion about *inaudible distortion*. There is simply far more information found in recordings than your theoretical system is capable of resolving.

On that we definitely agree ,that's why I've spent what I did to get that extra 20% ,the first 80% can be accomplished fairly cheap with careful matching of used gear ,proper speaker placement & bare minumim $ on room accoustics ,the extra 20% is where money is spent .

We set up a system in my godson's basement 6 or 8 years ago for well under $1,000 and it sounds awesome ,I gave him a pair of Klipsch KG-4s I got for $150 due to needing surrounds that cost me $10 bucks to repair ,we used a Heathkit factory built 95 lb 200 wpc @8ohm beast of an amp I paid $100 for from a local guitar shop ,they had no clue what the amp was worth so I got it for $100 when it's a $500 amp ,I gave him a 80s model NAD preamp i ebayed for $65 and an old Pioneer rotary tray 5 disc CD player I got for $5 at our church garage sale ,he has hardwood floors so we threw down a nice heavy rug ,his walls are knotty pine 3/4 x 8 tongue & groove ,on the rear wall we hung a pair of thick curtians on a rod 4 inches from the wall ,it looks like a window is there & trips people out but they work ,on his side walls I had him hang his CD racks on the left and DVD racks on the right along with some canvas paintings he picked up at salvation army cheap to break up reflections ,he has a little man cave now & I'd put that system up against several $10,000 systems I've seen where people stuff their gear in corners as not to mess up their living room .
 
This audiophile hobby can be a very costly venture with stereo components costing more than the yearly income of a lot of Americans. I don’t envy people with stereos costing more than a new luxury car. That’s great and I hope they get the most enjoyment they can from their high-end audio equipment. I feel this hobby though should not exclude those struggling to make ends meet working for minimum wage, students, people living month to month on a fixed income, or the disabled like myself.

High fidelity music should be accessible to all people regardless of sex, age, race, education, or social economic standing. I feel it’s about educating and encouraging would be audiophiles ways to achieving the objective of life like music reproduction.
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day


Nice! I wish I could repair Oppos. I would like to do that myself. Mebbe I can learn. I am taking a low budget approach as well to re-building my system. Seems like the turntable will be the most expensive single piece. Maybe if I new how to repair old Kenwoods or Technics 1300's I could get in cheaper. Onward. We shall march forward.

 
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I hope people reading this thread don’t miss the point and take it personally. I’m basically stating that we should have patience, mentor and be understanding towards newcomers in this hobby that may only be able to afford budget components. We can easily teach them about speaker placement, room acoustics, MP3 vs FLAC, etc.
I’m not here to argue about if you’re rich and have a million dollar stereo. Like I stated in my opening post, I don’t envy anyone for having nice things. You worked hard for it, you deserve it!
 
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I hope people reading this thread don’t miss the point and attack on me personally. I’m basically stating that we should mentor and be understanding towards the less fortunate in this hobby.
I’m not here to argue about if you’re rich and have a million dollar stereo. Like I stated in my opening post, I don’t envy you for having nice things. You worked hard for it, you deserve it!

I think most of us here do just that. I could never recall all the gear I've given to people over the years. One thing I've learned from that is don't try to do it to attract those who don't really care into the hobby. Those who love music enough to want a better experience listening to recorded audio in their own space will naturally gravitate toward the gear, and those who don't care will treat the equipment poorly.

One person I provided a modest system gave it to her boyfriend of the month, and one guy who seemed appreciative to get it had fun turning volume all the way to stop just so he could watch it burn out. They taught me to be a more discriminating mentor.

There may be better ways to begin a discussion about mentoring than posting someone's rant full of stereotypes, I would suggest.
 
I think most of us here do just that. I could never recall all the gear I've given to people over the years. One thing I've learned from that is don't try to do it to attract those who don't really care into the hobby. Those who love music enough to want a better experience listening to recorded audio in their own space will naturally gravitate toward the gear, and those who don't care will treat the equipment poorly.

One person I provided a modest system gave it to her boyfriend of the month, and one guy who seemed appreciative to get it had fun turning volume all the way to stop just so he could watch it burn out. They taught me to be a more discriminating mentor.

There may be better ways to begin a discussion about mentoring than posting someone's rant full of stereotypes, I would suggest.
The link I posted is the only one that I could find remotely relating to the issue I presented. It may have been somewhat political and controversial to some, but I feel it brought awareness to an issue that I and many others encounter on a daily basis. I will leave "stereotypes" alone in an effort to keep this thread civil and not make anymore enemies than what I already have.
 
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This is a long standing topic of conversation on AK, and to a lesser extent other audio sites. I wondered a bit about the futility of participating in this thread, and against my better judgement here I go. In 2019 I strive for being a kinder and gentler pig, so I will try to treat this topic with some positivity.

It is my opinion that we live in the golden age of excellent audio sound for a modest price. There are Class D and Class T amplifiers that sound remarkably good for less than $200. There are bare bone chip modules that cost $50 and all they need is some connectors and a repurposed laptop charging power supply. Computer modeling and CNC machines mean that quality bookshelf sized speakers can be had for under $200. And the rise of HT audio means some respectable subwoofers can be had for a decent price, especially when you go to the used market. Darn near everyone has a computer these days, and a streamer or music server can be built with an outboard DAC for very little money also. There are decent quality DACs in the $100 to $150 range. Good audio can be had today cheaper than ever before. Is there better? Is there more realism to be had? Can it be more aesthetically pleasing? Yes to all these questions, but this does not mean that enjoyable sound has to be expensive. There is something for everyone in this hobby.

This also means that I am not going to be shamed for owning excellent, and dare I say expensive gear. I have worked my entire life to have the creature comforts I have, and have reached this place by being patient, fiscally responsible, hard working, and shrewd with how I spend my money. My music system is what I enjoy, and I sure do not use it as a status symbol. For the truth is the general public does not care. Status symbols are an ipone X, an 80 inch 4K Oled TV, a Harley, a motor home, a Lexus SUV, and things of that nature. A turntable and an amplifier is something that does not register on John Q Publics radar of cool stuff.

When I was a young swine I worked hard and saved my money for modest stereo gear. And there was affordable gear then too, but you made a lot less so the real cost compared to today is higher. You could buy a nice entry level British integrated for $250, I had some Mission 700 II speakers for $249 also. CD was not here yet, so a Systemdeck turntable on sale for $250, and I got a demo Sumiko Alchemist cartridge for $225. Yes it was a lot of money for a 20 year old, but it sounded nice and I appreciated it immensely. In 2019 money that system would cost $2069. With that much money to work with today I could put together a very respectable system, and if I limited myself to CD I believe I could outperform it in most areas. We do live in a golden age of affordable new audio.

Have you noticed how old men drive 2 year old corvettes, and teenagers drive slammed 15 year old Honda Civics? Its a function of age and a lifetime of earning a living. It is the way of things. When you are young you generally do not have the financial resources as you will in later life, and while some may complain about this it is a function of life. You can't always have what you want when you want. Thats why its a fruit of your work, and you get to choose what you invest/spend it on.

I enjoy listening to my system a lot, and I think its fairly respectable, especially given the modest means of being a country pig. Can I enjoy a less expensive system? Sure I could. Should I be forced to do so by some diatribe spewed on the Internet? Nope. I will not set aside my pig privilege. I have worked hard for what I have, I have sacrificed, I help my fellow man, I treat people well, I am more than willing to give of my time and money. So don't tell me what I should think or do.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
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My most memorable audiophile experience is when a wealthy young man (who happened to be white) said to me, “listen to this song in Lossless FLAC format”, when in 2006 I thought my Microsoft Zune playing WMA and MP3s music formats was the best thing since sliced bread. He could have easily said my Zune sucks, and that his $1000 music player is way better than my little Zune media player. Instead What he did was let me listen to lossless FLAC music on his expensive looking player in his over the ear headphones to let me experience it first hand. He was very well off but the most humble person you could have ever met.
I didn’t get defensive with him and think you’re just some spoiled privileged rich dude that has things I could never afford. I said, “That sounds awesome!” and worked hard to better my equipment and change my all my digital music formats to FLAC Lossless.
 
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This is a long standing topic of conversation on AK, and to a lesser extent other audio sites. I wondered a bit about the futility of participating in this thread, and against my better judgement here I go. In 2019 I strive for being a kinder and gentler pig, so I will try to treat this topic with some positivity.

It is my opinion that we live in the golden age of excellent audio sound for a modest price. There are Class D and Class T amplifiers that sound remarkably good for less than $200. There are bare bone chip modules that cost $50 and all they need is some connectors and a repurposed laptop charging power supply. Computer modeling and CNC machines mean that quality bookshelf sized speakers can be had for under $200. And the rise of HT audio means some respectable subwoofers can be had for a decent price, especially when you go to the used market. Darn near everyone has a computer these days, and a streamer or music server can be built with an outboard DAC for very little money also. There are decent quality DACs in the $100 to $150 range. Good audio can be had today cheaper than ever before. Is there better? Is there more realism to be had? Can it be more aesthetically pleasing? Yes to all these questions, but this does not mean that enjoyable sound has to be expensive. There is something for everyone in this hobby.

This also means that I am not going to be shamed for owning excellent, and dare I say expensive gear. I have worked my entire life to have the creature comforts I have, and have reached this place by being patient, fiscally responsible, hard working, and shrewd with how I spend my money. My music system is what I enjoy, and I sure do not use it as a status symbol. For the truth is the general public does not care. Status symbols are an ipone X, an 80 inch 4K Oled TV, a Harley, a motor home, a Lexus SUV, and things of that nature. A turntable and an amplifier is something that does not register on John Q Publics radar of cool stuff.

When I was a young swine I worked hard and saved my money for modest stereo gear. And there was affordable gear then too, but you made a lot less so the real cost compared to today is higher. You could buy a nice entry level British integrated for $250, I had some Mission 700 II speakers for $249 also. CD was not here yet, so a Systemdeck turntable on sale for $250, and I got a demo Sumiko Alchemist cartridge for $225. Yes it was a lot of money for a 20 year old, but it sounded nice and I appreciated it immensely. In 2019 money that system would cost $2069. With that much money to work with today I could put together a very respectable system, and if I limited myself to CD I believe I could outperform it in most areas. We do live in a golden age of affordable new audio.

Have you noticed how old men drive 2 year old corvettes, and teenagers drive slammed 15 year old Honda Civics? Its a function of age and a lifetime of earning a living. It is the way of things. When you are young you generally do not have the financial resources as you will in later life, and while some may complain about this it is a function of life. You can't always have what you want when you want. Thats why its a fruit of your work, and you get to choose what you invest/spend it on.

I enjoy listening to my system a lot, and I think its fairly respectable, especially given the modest means of being a country pig. Can I enjoy a less expensive system? Sure I could. Should I be forced to do so by some diatribe spewed on the Internet? Nope. I will not set aside my pig privilege. I have worked hard for what I have, I have sacrificed, I help my fellow man, I treat people well, I am more than willing to give of my time and money. So don't tell me what I should think or do.

Cheers
Mister Pig
I am not the OP. And I can only speak for myself. I am glad you can afford the great gear you want. Also real glad you also give of yourself and your resources. Additionally, I am glad there are inexpensive options both used and new for many of us that can't afford the big stuff.

Now, I do think the OP linked an article that offended, but really wanted to say he just wanted everyone to be able to afford to hear music well. But it got a bit wonked out in the translation, and due to the link. Anyhow, I enjoy your posts on some threads I have started, and am glad you have the good stuff. Some day, I would love to hear some of that stuff if the opportunity arose. I am sure glad I have gotten to learn from you and others on the forum, and as a result have raised my standards and adjusted my sights to save a little longer and shoot a little higher.

Cheers and peace.
 
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My most memorable experience is when a young man said to me, “listen to this FLAC file” when in 2006 I thought my Microsoft Zune playing 320kb MP3s files was the best thing since sliced bread. He could have easily said MP3s suck, and that his $1000 music player is way better than my little Zune. Instead What he did was let me listen to FLAC music on his expensive looking player in his over the ear headphones to let me experience it first hand. He showed me one of his nice high end stereos by his indoor in ground swimming pool. Yes he was very well off but the most humble person you could have ever met.
I didn’t get defensive with him and think you’re just some spoiled little rich dude that has things I could never afford. I said that sounds awesome and worked hard to better my equipment and change my all my music formats to Lossless.
We remain good friends to this day. Men’s attitude has changed dramatically in the last 13 years. I thinks iTs the all the radio waves doing something to our brains. Time to bust out the tin foil hat!

But that is the way audio as a community generally works, especially when dealing with people face to face. When we get to internet boards you can get a lot more of the snark as people are willing to post things they would never say in the real world. Kind of like that article. On AK you get to meet people from many different ages, places, levels of interest, different ways they enjoy the hobby, and for the most part we support each other in our love of the hobby and music. Our attitude here has not drastically changed in 13 years, and the sense of community is as strong as it has ever been. The interaction you describe with the fellow and the flac files is how our hobby is supposed to work, how it usually works around here, and it follows that golden rule. Treat others how you would like to be treated...that goes a long ways.

Personally I enjoy that story for a number of reasons. The best one being that a spirit of cooperation makes us a stronger group as a whole. Isn't it easier to help your audio brother/sister up rather than tear them down? I love listening to how others do audio, even if its not the right way for me. Sure there are days I might question their sanity, just as I am sure others think I am a nut job. But in the end its about coming together about what we are passionate for, audio and our love of music.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
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