Resources

[Rip Van Woofer]

<font color='#000000'>My &quot;Audio Wisdom&quot; page

Links to both basic info and &quot;BS refutation&quot; that I originally compiled for a friend. Hope it is useful for newbies and graybeards alike. I update it from time to time so check back occasionally.

Also has a plug for my favorite audio mag (the only one worth reading, IMHO): The Audio Critic. I just hope they don't get too p'd off that I posted some of their articles!

Since I do my own hosting, be aware that the site might go down from time to time. If at first you don't succeed in connecting, try in a few hours or the next day in case I shut my machine down or DNS gremlins get frisky.</font>

 

[abe]

<font color='#000000'>Hi Rip Van Woofer,

Great stuff and thanks for sharing.

As an EE graduate I too found (but less vocal

) much of the current 'audiophile' mainstream ridiculous:  LP is better than CD, tube sounds better than SS, power cords and power conditioning, etc.   I've never owned LP, tube, and power conditioner and never will.  I used SS electronics (Yamaha) via a surge protector (made by APC) to the wall. and my music collections are strickly digital: CDs and DVDs.

In my experience, speakers do make BIG differences.  Different speakers sound very different and there is clearly superior ones.  Dynaudio shines in the scientific terms of 'hifi', i.e., high FIDELITY.  They are honest to the source with nothing added/substracted.  

Cables, theoretically, should make some differences but I personnally can't heard them.  So here I just trust the science and word-of-mouth and got Cardas speaker cables.  

That said, I don't blame fellow voo-doo 'philes, because I understand that auido is just a hobby -- we are here for FUN not science/truth.  If some enjoy tube and swear by them, fine, as long as they are happy and having fun.  Just like fishing which I don't understand at all,  but ....

Abe</font>

 

[Yamahaluver]

<font color='#0000FF'>I can fully agree with all of you, speakers make or break the system no matter what. I own a turntable to play my massive collection of vinyl but that doesnt mean I would rate it superior to my CD collection although some CDs are so poorly recorded that it gave a real bad initial impression to people stepping into this format for the first time from vinyl.

Ther is plenty of hype in the audio world and speakers and cable suffer from it the most. Sadly people fall for the hype that the more expensive the stuff the better it must be. They overlook the fact that big companies have immense networking and resources to pool together and offer similar products at a bargain. Sadly here vanity and ego comes to play big.</font>

 

[av_phile]

<font color='#000000'>I also agree. &nbsp;In another forum, i've come across supposed audiophiles whose dream systems are those stratospheric Cremonas from Sonus Faber speakers, audio note cables, rega planet turntables, Antigue Sound Lab tube amplifers, tube ended CD players and the likes in the $10,000 above regions as if such gears can offer sonic nirvana over bargain gears. &nbsp;Well, i guess if one can afford them in their hobby, by all means get them. &nbsp;I am amused to find out that an exotic $7000++ Theta DVD player is just anoter $500 Pioneer player housed in heavier chassis with souped-up power supplies.

With regards CDs vs LPs, this has been a region of heated discussions in many foras. &nbsp; &nbsp;I used to be a vinyl user for over 5 years before converting my entire collection to CD. &nbsp; And based on that. my only contribution to the discusision is to say that there &nbsp;are excellent recodings and lousy ones in either media. &nbsp;Plus the fact that an LP collection requires a lot of maintenace work that lessens my time at listening. &nbsp;I am often amazed at the cermonials attending the effort to clean an LP which I have also done in the past using anti-static devices and cleaning chemicals that probabaly ate my entire aftenoon. &nbsp;I must say that CDs are clinically aseptic and the sound was a bit harsh during the early days. But these are few and they are generally gorgeous these days, especially with the coming of high resolution digital recordings.</font>

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

<font color='#000000'>Just to be clear: I am in complete agreement that speakers, as Yamhaluver said, &quot;make or break the system&quot;. Along with the room, BTW. Those are the things that make the most audible difference.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things audio's &quot;only a hobby&quot; and if one wants to spend a week's pay on wire, hey, it beats crack. But I hate seeing people getting suckered when we're talking serious money.</font>