[Charles Calkins]

I think a big part of it is that stereos (like cars) is really the province of passionate adolescents, and it's rather unseemly for grown @ss men spending a shitload of time and money on them.  Really, they ought to be spending their $$ on adult hobbies, like cigars and scotch

  Tyson:
    You're half right. Scotch and No  CIGARS.

                                       Cheers
                                      Charlie

[macrojack]

Read this thread:
   
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=132649.0
 
and then consider how this topic and its responses would look to any non-audiophile you know. I'm 40 years deep in this madness and to me it looks outrageously ridiculous. Just think about what $1000 buys anywhere else in your life by comparison. And then tell me there is a justifiable difference between what the $10 power cord brings and what you would get as a result of heeding the suggestions in this enthusiastically debated thread.

This thread alone gives doubters all the ammo they need to have us committed.

[Davey]

+1.^

Not an unusual thread for this forum though.  AC has a decent percentage of purveyors and consumers of snake oil.  The Manufacturer's Circles are setup, at least in part, for just this type of commerce.

Much self deception and intellectual dishonesty exist in the high-end audio industry, but it seems many folks take years to open their eyes to it.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Tyson]

Part of the problem is that people don't build things much themselves any more.  If we had a large chunk of the audio population building Dynaco ST70's like they did back in the 60's and 70's, a lot of the "mysterious black magic" mystique would dissipate and people could judge things a little more clearly.  Everyone, IMO, should DIY a speaker and an amp, at least once in their audio lives.  You gain a lot of knowledge and perspective, and you are usually left with some pretty good gear, too!

[Brad]

Part of the problem is that people don't build things much themselves any more.  If we had a large chunk of the audio population building Dynaco ST70's like they did back in the 60's and 70's, a lot of the "mysterious black magic" mystique would dissipate and people could judge things a little more clearly.  Everyone, IMO, should DIY a speaker and an amp, at least once in their audio lives.  You gain a lot of knowledge and perspective, and you are usually left with some pretty good gear, too!

Well said, and a great way to get deeper into this hobby/passion.

[Davey]

Probably true, but a typical person shouldn't have to resort to a DIY effort to appreciate the lack of value in much commercial gear.  And they really don't have to actually, since there is much commercial gear that does have good value.  However, unfortunately, many folks are not aimed in that direction when entering the crazed world of high-end audio.  Marketing is king!

I've heard "high-end" audio rationalized in a variety of different ways.  None of them make any sense to me. 

Oh well.

Dave.

[macrojack]

I'm not versed in electrons or patient enough to build anything. I have tiptoed around the edges of DIY by buying esoteric products from inventor types, by assembling kits a time or two, and by hiring a Mike Galusha to build things for me. Despite all that my snake oil allergy has protected me from self-destructive, self-deluding self-indulgence.
I have some good cables, some isolation tools and some bona fide audiophile LPs. I don't claim to be immune. Still, there needs to be a mass sobering. Somewhere along the way, the charlatans and entrepreneurs need to be culled from our ranks. Full grown men have to move beyond fairy tales.
Wasn't it Paul Simon who said in A Simple Desultory Philippic, "A man hears what he wants to hear ...... and disregards the rest"?

[tesseract]

There is a lot of woo in the industry. The article would have been more fair if Kaplan could have addressed that woo is the real reason why some enthusiasts have made the term "audiophile" a pejorative. Fred didn't even touch on the subject, which is the root cause of the problem that prompted him to write the article!

That said, "audiophile" isn't a dirty word. I've identified myself with that term for over 30 years, because it was that or "audio nut", which is a also a term I have used to describe myself, more than once.

"Audiophile" defines, for me, a hobbyist whose goal is to achieve the best performance their experience and budget will allow. I look at my fellow enthusiasts as audiophiles, all of us.

[Tyson]

I dunno, I think once you attach the -phile ending to anything it gets pretty damn pretentious.  Oenophile, Anglophile, Cinephile, Bibliophile, Audiophile, Videophile - all are gonna label you as "that douche".

[tesseract]

All?

[macrojack]

I dunno, I think once you attach the -phile ending to anything it gets pretty damn pretentious.  Oenophile, Anglophile, Cinephile, Bibliophile, Audiophile, Videophile - all are gonna label you as "that douche".

Jeez, Tyson - is a man really a man if he don't 'phile nuthin?
I'm a nail phile myself.

[charmerci]

 

I dunno, I think once you attach the -phile ending to anything it gets pretty damn pretentious.  Oenophile, Anglophile, Cinephile, Bibliophile, Audiophile, Videophile - all are gonna label you as "that douche".

Disagree - lots of people I know are proud to be video/biblio/anglophiles. Nothing pretentious there at all.

[macrojack]

Disagree - lots of people I know are proud to be video/biblio/anglophiles. Nothing pretentious there at all.

Right!!!! Nothing pretentious about pride.

[wushuliu]

Read this thread:
   
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=132649.0
 
and then consider how this topic and its responses would look to any non-audiophile you know. I'm 40 years deep in this madness and to me it looks outrageously ridiculous. Just think about what $1000 buys anywhere else in your life by comparison. And then tell me there is a justifiable difference between what the $10 power cord brings and what you would get as a result of heeding the suggestions in this enthusiastically debated thread.

This thread alone gives doubters all the ammo they need to have us committed.

Ok seriously, what are you babbling about.

[macrojack]

Wushuliu - Did you use the word babbling to describe my very lucid commentary in order to execute some deft put down? If you follow the wording carefully and read every syllable, you will find my meaning quite obvious.

If your inability to follow persists after a second more careful reading, perhaps you have a friend who can explain it to you. Either way you should, at that point, realize that I was not babbling - seriously.

[charmerci]

Right!!!! Nothing pretentious about pride.

Bibliophile - "a person who collects or has a great love of books." So in your definition, admitting that you love books is pretentious.

Got it.

[JohnR]

Actually, I think it was Tyson that connoted -phile with pretentious.

What's the word for someone that loves words beginning with P?