[geowak]

Ok here's the rub, stand bye for three questions.

I like to listen to music. I like it live and I like to listen to music at home. I even like to listen to music when I run with my dog. I use my little box of wires, my Ipod.

Now many times, not always, we pay reasonable or insanely unreasonable amounts of cash for a certain musical box of wires that we call our own. (Not unlike when we were kids and we had a bright shiny red truck that was so special) We told everybody just how great it was...

So here are the questions..

1 If we are not happy with the musical box of wires we purchased and listened to, do we have the right to express our opinions on an audio forum? Can we say that the wheel fell off of our truck? (Our course if we can, we are open to a rebuttal that the wheel did not fall off our truck, it's a good truck

2 Is an audio web forum a good place to get opinions about musical boxes of wires? For either a small town kid with little money, or a successful businessman who both love to listen to music. (I don't really believe anyone can get a balanced opinion about audio equipment from audio magazines, call me crazy.)

3 Most importantly, given the premise that we all want to encourage the growth and prosperity of the small business owner in America. How should one critique that musical box of wires honestly, without hurting or hindering those engineers, artists and business owners who build the musical boxes of wires we tend to gravitate towards?

Any opinions here?

[werd]

Hello

Yes to all 3. If there is something wrong with your musical box of wires its fine to talk about it. Just so long as its a developed critique.Very often -  You just need to remember that you are talking more about your own taste and less about the gear. So that piece of gear might not appeal to you but it may it be fine in somebody elses system.

Audio boards are loaded with people who base their opinions on gear that is considered to be mediocore. So you have to watch out for those. A good strategy is to look at the person's system and decide if their exposure deems their response. You need to have a system in your house for awhile before one can really identify with it's strenths and weaknesses. So posters that sit with HT systems in their house and start rambling off about the crumblings of high end audio tend to be the offenders.

[JLM]

1. Yes, it's a free country.  Hopefully we're all aware that these are just opinions and so shouldn't be afraid of them.

2. Yes/No, the qualifications and backgrounds of each of us vary widely, so it takes some time to determine the perspectives of each of us.

3. The plight of any reviewer.  Most equipment doesn't get reviewed simply because it's either "nothing special" or worse.  Like moma said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything."  Most of us don't have the time/money to have tried tons of pieces, so we need to say so.  No need to try to impress, just give your most honest, unbiased opinions.

[eclein]

So tell us whats up, maybe its something that can easily be tweaked!!