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Being Satisfied in this Hobby

It definitely helps to be a cheapskate!

To improve on the sound I already have, I'd have to spend quite a lot. And my ears are declining anyway; having tinnitus has taken some of the thrill of the chase out of my thinking.

I may still go up the pipe eventually and pick one set of higher level speakers...time for that, if my ears improve or don't degrade further.
 
GChief said:
:idea:
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Do you post just to see yourself post? Asking for a friend :)

5 well put together simple systems does not come close to the massive collections of refoamed speakers and recapped gear that a large portion of AK seems to hold onto.
One OPPO 93 is used in two 2 channel systems along with an HT system that is integrated into my main 2 Ch system as fronts. So less gear than you may have pictured.
 
N0rt0n said:
Do you post just to see yourself post? Asking for a friend :)

5 well put together simple systems does not come close to the massive collections of refoamed speakers and recapped gear that a large portion of AK seems to hold onto.
One OPPO 93 is used in two 2 channel systems along with an HT system that is integrated into my main 2 Ch system as fronts. So less gear than you may have pictured.
Click to expand...
Clicks and post counts.... clicks and post counts :rockon:


Hoarders... I mean collectors, always justify it ;)

:beerchug:
 
audioman356 said:
I struggle with being satisfied in this hobby. In writing this I realize I have to take the long view as far as investing in pieces of gear. I've gone from a vintage Sansui 5000A to an Audiosource AMP100, and then to an Onkyo TX8260 in my main system. I've also upgraded my speakers from KEF F15 bookshelves to Infinity R253s. So my system is evolving even If I need to take the slow and steady approach.

I've heard it said, here the only person your system needs to make happy is you. This makes sense. If I take the long view, I realize I"m making slow and steady progress. I'm learning my taste for receivers/integrated amps instead of separates. I tried the separates path with the AMP100 and it just wasn't for me. I've had the privilege of hearing a high end tube separates system. This beast had a vintage Conrad Johnson Premier paired with it's matching preamp driving a pair of Celestions. My friend's Dads. So I know how far one can take so-called high fidelity. But there are other priorities in my life personally that are more important to me than constanly obessing over my Hi-Fi. I"m also a musican it's in this area of my life where I spend the big bucks on gear. It's so much more fun to spend money on gear that aids in the creative process. I mean let's be honest, the hi-fi hobby is more like wine tasting than anything else.

Thoughts?
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Dissatisfaction is built into the very roots of this hobby. most of the marketing is driven by fostering a sense of discontentment, that only new gear can solve. whether it's cables, amps, preamps, software, crossovers or DACs, there's always an area that can be improved and we all come here wondering if our systems can be in any way improved.
I came back into the hobby a couple years ago after I was given a turn of the millennium Onkyo receiver, a subwoofer and about 7 or 8 outdoor speakers that were an improvement over the Bose wave radio that I'd had in my living room to play music and audio from the projector that I used to watch movies and stream a handful of shows. that quickly snowballed: the receiver was DOA, which I upgraded to an upper tier Denon receiver, which I found to be dull and settled on an entry level Marantz AVR, which did the job well enough. I was also inspired to restore a pair of 1971 Klipsch H700 Heresy that I had stashed away in a carriage hose, that I couldn't even give away. After restoring them, I still found them dull, flat and lifeless, so I modded them, replacing the woofers and tweeters and porting the cabinets. That in turn inspired me to build new boxes to address perceived deficiencies and to put the H700 back to stock, which I then sold for a princely sum. Along the way, I added another subwoofer, then replaced them both; I picked up a turntable and within a year, I'd replaced that too. Ditto for the disc play that I picked up. Naturally, I needed an outboard DAC for streaming from my iOS devices and laptop, within a year, that got replaced as well.
Before too long, I'd built a pretty decent system that the average person might be satisfied with, but I'd gone off the deep end. The revealing speakers I'd built left me wondering if my AVR could be improved with a dedicated 2 channel setup, so I got a preamp and pulled a power amp from my recording studio. That led to bi-amping and I picked up another power amp and switched them to bono blocks. I also became curious about tubes and picked up an inexpensive valve amp, that naturally, I soon modded first by rolling tubes, then replacing electrolytics and film capacitors, as well as adding a bypass cap. it was great! still dissatisfaction lingered... I veered off on dual tracks, one, wondering f I could make my speakers better, so I designed a cabinet extension with a passive radiator, in search of better bass extension; the other path led me down the rabbit hole of active, DSP crossovers, so I got an affordable 4x8 DSP unit, a measurement mic and downloaded REW.
That speaker experiment worked well, but guess what? I still wasn't satisfied with speakers that went from 32Hz to 20kHz with a reasonably flat response and I began planning my next build. as I was finalizing my design, I chanced upon a pair of 70's Klipsch LaScala and despite their flaws, I was taken with the sound. It wasn't too long before I started wondering if I could apply elements for the design I'd been planning and apply them to a pair of horns based on the venerable LS design. Simulations suggested that I could and with WAF buy-in, i retired to the woodshop and started making sawdust. of course, once I started tuning the end game speakers that I'd built, other aspects of my system revealed their deficiencies: ably, my preamp, a Schiit Saga+ seemed lacking, so I upgraded to a Freya+, which further revealed noise floor issues with my DSP and the limitations of single ended interconnects. from there, I upgraded my DSP to a quite, more flexible pro unit and began building my own XLR and single ended cables.
The upshot is that I can see an endgame in sight, or at least a plateau of relative satisfaction with my 2 channel setup that will allow me to go back to other hobbies, or perhaps dwell on what's lacking in my AVR, which could use better speakers and a more detailed AVR, but frankly, I'm less into my home theater than I am into my 2 channel setup, so I could also let sleeping dogs lie. at any rate, dissatisfaction led me from zero to the system in my signature in just under 2 years.
 
You know what? I have 9-CDPs, 9-casette decks, 3-open reel decks, one really nice set of speakers and amp, but the music still sounds the same to me Why? Because my "hobby" is listening to the MUSIC, not constantly listening for comparisons between and irregularities in each and every piece of audio equipment I have. Years ago, I sold audio equipment and had a family friend that was a recording engineer in a NYC recording studio where I spent many hours. I have a good idea how the music is supposed to sound like, and whatever you spend or buy is never going to be perfect! I stopped driving myself crazy years ago.
 
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Gigantic said:
Dissatisfaction is built into the very roots of this hobby. most of the marketing is driven by fostering a sense of discontentment, that only new gear can solve. whether it's cables, amps, preamps, software, crossovers or DACs, there's always an area that can be improved and we all come here wondering if our systems can be in any way improved.
I came back into the hobby a couple years ago after I was given a turn of the millennium Onkyo receiver, a subwoofer and about 7 or 8 outdoor speakers that were an improvement over the Bose wave radio that I'd had in my living room to play music and audio from the projector that I used to watch movies and stream a handful of shows. that quickly snowballed: the receiver was DOA, which I upgraded to an upper tier Denon receiver, which I found to be dull and settled on an entry level Marantz AVR, which did the job well enough. I was also inspired to restore a pair of 1971 Klipsch H700 Heresy that I had stashed away in a carriage hose, that I couldn't even give away. After restoring them, I still found them dull, flat and lifeless, so I modded them, replacing the woofers and tweeters and porting the cabinets. That in turn inspired me to build new boxes to address perceived deficiencies and to put the H700 back to stock, which I then sold for a princely sum. Along the way, I added another subwoofer, then replaced them both; I picked up a turntable and within a year, I'd replaced that too. Ditto for the disc play that I picked up. Naturally, I needed an outboard DAC for streaming from my iOS devices and laptop, within a year, that got replaced as well.
Before too long, I'd built a pretty decent system that the average person might be satisfied with, but I'd gone off the deep end. The revealing speakers I'd built left me wondering if my AVR could be improved with a dedicated 2 channel setup, so I got a preamp and pulled a power amp from my recording studio. That led to bi-amping and I picked up another power amp and switched them to bono blocks. I also became curious about tubes and picked up an inexpensive valve amp, that naturally, I soon modded first by rolling tubes, then replacing electrolytics and film capacitors, as well as adding a bypass cap. it was great! still dissatisfaction lingered... I veered off on dual tracks, one, wondering f I could make my speakers better, so I designed a cabinet extension with a passive radiator, in search of better bass extension; the other path led me down the rabbit hole of active, DSP crossovers, so I got an affordable 4x8 DSP unit, a measurement mic and downloaded REW.
That speaker experiment worked well, but guess what? I still wasn't satisfied with speakers that went from 32Hz to 20kHz with a reasonably flat response and I began planning my next build. as I was finalizing my design, I chanced upon a pair of 70's Klipsch LaScala and despite their flaws, I was taken with the sound. It wasn't too long before I started wondering if I could apply elements for the design I'd been planning and apply them to a pair of horns based on the venerable LS design. Simulations suggested that I could and with WAF buy-in, i retired to the woodshop and started making sawdust. of course, once I started tuning the end game speakers that I'd built, other aspects of my system revealed their deficiencies: ably, my preamp, a Schiit Saga+ seemed lacking, so I upgraded to a Freya+, which further revealed noise floor issues with my DSP and the limitations of single ended interconnects. from there, I upgraded my DSP to a quite, more flexible pro unit and began building my own XLR and single ended cables.
The upshot is that I can see an endgame in sight, or at least a plateau of relative satisfaction with my 2 channel setup that will allow me to go back to other hobbies, or perhaps dwell on what's lacking in my AVR, which could use better speakers and a more detailed AVR, but frankly, I'm less into my home theater than I am into my 2 channel setup, so I could also let sleeping dogs lie. at any rate, dissatisfaction led me from zero to the system in my signature in just under 2 years.
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Nothing wrong with that. Keep having fun. :thumbsup:
 
This thread hits home on a bunch of levels...gear acquisiton syndrome is REAL. Focusing on the music more than the toys and gadgets seems to be the best path for me so far. That said, I somehow have five systems in four rooms. Help? :music:
 
If you have the resources, making your own speakers, and tweaking them to perfection to your taste for the room in which they are to be played can bring more satisfaction than spending BIG BUCKS on something that just doesn't do it for you..., and never will.

No manufacture makes speakers that were specifically designed in and for your listening environment. But if you have the resources, you can.

This is played on an Oppo95 through a Yamaha RX-Z9 RECEIVER. No eq or room correction is used and the room is ~5,000 cu ft.

 
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The few home-built speakers I've heard were obviously "built and tweaked to perfection" by someone else. Probably why they just sounded like underwhelming home-built speakers to me. Doubt if I'd have enough ambition and patience to try it myself.
 
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