Most ridiculous Hi Fi upgrade

[SamNichols]

How many music buffs or musicians spend thousands on their hi-fi? These sort of things are for people with more money than sense, like people in Porsche Cayenne's! Still, I just wish I was the one making that stuff, the profit margin must be huge.

I've got a nice setup, which has set me back a small whack (not the silly amount these people have paid, but more than my bike...), but generally speaking I figure its far better to have the music to play on it than the obsession with bass response and golden plugs that these goons have. I adore my record player, which is my pride and joy, but has been sold second hand twice, is now over 15 years old and still sounds better than the stereos of most people that I know - it required a certain amount of restoration to get it up to scratch, but I love it and hope its going to last me the rest of my life.

I guess that the hi-fi bug is in my family though, my grandfather and great uncle used to build their own set ups (the speakers are still in the family), and my great-great uncle set up the company Castle Audio, which is still going and is well respected among the multiple thousand pound nerds.

 

[hubgearfreak]

i suppose bikes and hifi s follow the law of diminishing returns.
a £100 effort of either will be poor
a £200 better, but still not up to much
a £500 adequate for most
a£1000, something special
over that, largely pointless

gold plated carbon fibre, anyone?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

My hi fi setup is pretty good, but assembled largely of secondhand bits and freebies from friends. My attitude is that no matter what I spend on it all, I'm still listening with the same crappy ears.

 

[WindyRob]

I just wish I was the one making that stuff, the profit margin must be huge.

i brought some speakers for our church from Origin Live. he developed and built this stuff, the profit margin on each item in terms of labour and parts is probably huge but he said that the R&D was the killer and hence the high prices; these guys are not shifting 1000's of units at these prices.

think it was more about the nerdy passion than the real business...

Windy

 

[Cranky]

Do people who buy this stuff enjoy music or are they too obsessed with convincing themselves that their latest overpriced acquisition actually makes a difference to the sound? I have a good hi fi myself but still fondly remember the mesmerising effect of The Kinks or Aretha pumping out of the Dansette's elliptical mono speaker in the 1960s.

Strikes me that as soon as there's a hobby with potential for obsession, someone will always be along with a meaningless product aimed at fleecing the gullible (bike examples, anyone?).

 

[Big Bren]

bike examples, anyone?[/b']).

Here you go, the site that uber hi-fi forum members probably link to when they want to demonstrate how easy it is to part an obsessive cyclist from his/her hard earned cash.

Bren[/b]

 

[Ghost Donkey]

I've seen a lot of tosh written over the years. Some of my favourites include:

Expensive optical cables.

Cables stupidly over engineered for carrying digitial audio signals.

Information on how much interference you get without super expensive cables. I take it these people have never used audio on a kroneframe?

Four figure priced hi-fi stands to reduce vibration for your cd transport (error correction built into the bi-phase encoding anyone?).

The use of the word "digital" for everything. Especially analogue signals originating from didgtal sources.

I've worked with some pretty pricy kit in the past through an old job and you see where the money is spent to get the best results. I even used to test signals so it wasn't just down to my eyes and ears. Don't even get me started on the moving pictures side of things.

I use cheap but good enough for the job stuff at home .

 

[Dave Davenport]

Well I've just spent 800 quid on a turntable mat, it's made from genuine 1950's tubulars used by Fausto Coppi in the Giro and it's got 'Rapha' printed across it.

My Westlife albums sound fantastic!

 

[Arch]

Do people who buy this stuff enjoy music or are they too obsessed with convincing themselves that their latest overpriced acquisition actually makes a difference to the sound? I have a good hi fi myself but still fondly remember the mesmerising effect of The Kinks or Aretha pumping out of the Dansette's elliptical mono speaker in the 1960s.

Strikes me that as soon as there's a hobby with potential for obsession, someone will always be along with a meaningless product aimed at fleecing the gullible (bike examples, anyone?).

Ha, my brother-out-law (they're not married yet) has been a hi-fi fan and he never seemed to let a record play to the end before swapping it for something else and tweaking something that made no difference whatsoever to my cloth ears.

I listen to CDs on a £20 CD/digital radio set I got in Superdrug... It has a pretty blue light on the front...

 

[Aperitif]

Well I've just spent 800 quid on a turntable mat, it's made from genuine 1950's tubulars used by Fausto Coppi in the Giro and it's got 'Rapha' printed across it.

My Westlife albums sound fantastic!

Ha Ha!- bet it only plays Campagnolo Records!

 

[derall]

They're not called Audiophools for nothing...

My attitude is that no matter what I spend on it all, I'm still listening with the same crappy ears.

Give that man a prize! Most sensible thing I've heard anyone say about Audio. It beats me why some people go and spend thousands of pounds on expensive HiFi when their ears just aren't capable of discriminating any difference. Most people won't be able to afford the high end stuff until they're already begining to suffer the effects of age-related hearing loss, so all that quality is completely pointless...

 

[Nortones2]

So long as you can discriminate, and ageing may have something to do with the following, then its my view that you should buy a good system, not necessarily the best. I bought mine in 1984 - and still have it bar a CD player, to replace a duff one (Arcam again). Quad amps and tuner, with BBC design speakers. Just sent the pre-amp off for service - last done 9 years ago. Listened to other equipment but haven't heard anything significantly better, and to get the small incremental increase would be prohibitively costly. Am tempted by new Sugden integrated amp' but would have to have a home demo for several days - thats what sorts out whether its better or much the same! The distaff side, being musically proficient, immediately walked out of the room when one particular amp was played - they do not all sound alike! To restate that, they might all sound alike, if you have cloth ears

 

[lifeson]

I listen to CDs on a £20 CD/digital radio set I got in Superdrug... It has a pretty blue light on the front...[/quote]

Anything that has the blue light on it is good in my book
I'm obsessed with lights especially blue LED's :?: I bought my last Home cinema based on the fact it had a little blue light (Oh and it was DTS and multi region and had a subwoofer you can lay on its side )

 

[User482]

I think there is a certain breed of man (and it's always men!) who has to have the best of everything just so they can say they have the best/ most expensive kit. Hifi does rather lend itself to this obsession. But then there's probably a fair few owners of very expensive bikes who fall into the same category.

As for me, I have a nice hifi because I like music, and I have a couple of nice bikes because I like cycling. But I don't sit there agonising over which cable to buy, just as I don't worry that not having titanium bolts will slow me down.

 

[cisamcgu]

I listen to CDs on a £20 CD/digital radio set I got in Superdrug... It has a pretty blue light on the front...[/quote]

Anything that has the blue light on it is good in my book
I'm obsessed with lights especially blue LED's I bought my last Home cinema based on the fact it had a little blue light (Oh and it was DTS and multi region and had a subwoofer you can lay on its side )

I HATE the bright blue LED's - We have one on our new flat screen TV, and it is REALLY annoying, especially when the room is dark - It shines out like a blue laserbeam from Star Wars or something !! :?:


Andrew