listening to the equipment

[PAG]

bit of a long thread this will turn out to be i think, BUT do you think a lot of us listen to the equipment rather than the music playing?

I made this mistake years ago, had a decent bit of kit, and spent hundreds on cables, thousands on sources, loads on supports and mains stuff, but found i was listening to the equipment in the end, rather than the music.
I always used to think newer was always better, dearer was always better,but learned the hard way.
constant upgradatis ensued, and eventually sold the lot, and after a few years, got another system which i am 100% happy with, and now i just concentrate on the music.
anyone made the same mistake?

both, but not at the same time, when demming I try to listen to the kit, but I'm ultimately trying to see if it plays the music better, when listening I listen to the music.

[Effem]

Bit of an ambiguous poll there feller

[PAG]

yah i know, could ak change the poll to music , equipment or both?
cheers ak.

[Hawk]

as Effem said.... but my answer is music first... thats my passion and the kits ability is judged on how close it makes me feel to the emotion in the music..

[Effem]

I'm with Hawk. Between me and the music is the system getting in the way and I judge my upgradeson how much closer I have got to the music and the system is interfering less.

[Chewie]

I am first and foremost a music fan, the little silver boxes are, when alls said and done, a means to an end, for me anyway but I appreciate others feel differently

[arthurk74]

They are two different functions for me.



Often, when I want to experiment, I change things ( preamps, power amps, cables, the position of the speakers etc.).



At this stage, I am listening to the equipment performing and the differences with the various combinations.



Most of the time though, I will sit down and enjoy the Music.



However, any change in the tonality of the system ( because of the said tweaking ), is always noticable, so I guess, overall the answer is that I am listening to both!

[Mart]

I'd say both too.

Whilest listening to music is what our hobby is ultimately all about, I still enjoy messing about with different kit.

And you never know when that unexpected bargain is just round the corner, stuff that may get slated elsewhere might just drop into your system and give you what your looking for.

Right, off to the classifieds ;)

[Picard]

It's symbiotic so, yes.

[mosfet]

Picard wrote:

It's symbiotic so, yes.

Is synergy out and symbiotic in?

Personally I'm waiting for anthropomorphic hi-fi - organic is so last season.

[Picard]

mosfet wrote:

Picard wrote:

It's symbiotic so, yes.

Is synergy out and symbiotic in?

Personally I'm waiting for anthropomorphic hi-fi - organic is so last season.

There is a subtle difference in meaning.

Anthropomorphic, eh? What would Musical Fidelity be?

[Hawk]

arthurk74 wrote:

At this stage, I am listening to the equipment performing and the differences with the various combinations.

I can hear where your coming from, and i like messing around with setups etc as much as anyone... But for me (accepting others see this differently) the judgement on the success or failure is ALWAYS how the music makes me feel... did i enjoy the music more or less than before..

Maybe its the same thing just described differently?

[Duvet]

If it sounds good then the music. If it sounds bad then the system

[Zylog]

How I agree with PAG, many years ago I was a Namie. Yes I had the full monty all top end amps, power supplies stands, tuner cables etc.

Yes I was spending most of my listing time tweaking trying heaven knows what to try to see if it could be better.

Now thank goodness I am back to my first love, music. I am working my way through my 2400 lp's and enjoying the experience no end.

My equipment now includes a good turntable and valves.

Pissst, I do tweak just a little

[rockmeister]

pag ol' chap... are you seriously trying to say that all those albums sound good...because if your 100% happy then I suppose they must and if that's the case, I want what you take before listening.

or are there compromises? Personally, I'm delighted when 1 in 3 'albums' sounds fine.

or is that listening to the kit???:Not Sure::Not Sure::Not Sure:

[PAG]

i love music, end of
if it sounds crap to me, thats the band playing, not the system.
even in the local `greasy spoon`,where i partake in a bit of `sunday fryup` , they always play good tunes,albeit on a tinny tranny.
it sounds wonderful,but its the toons that i like that are playing. The owner even takes requests lol.
so,music i like is all that matters.
admittedly, sounds even better on a decent system,but i dont tweak at all now.
i`m happy with what i`ve got.

[rockmeister]

wow... you have reached the seventh level of the third way man..... cooool!