[chadh]

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful and encouraging responses.

Just to reassure everyone, I really never had any intention of running out and selling all my stuff in a maddened state of disbelief.  And if pushed, I guess I would concede that it's not overwhelmingly surprising (maybe just a little surprising) that I would prefer a much cheaper system to a really expensive one.  But what really did surprise me is that the differences between what I heard in the store and what I hear in my house were so extreme that my leaning towards my own gear ceased to seem like "personal preference" and began to seem like "objective superiority."

I really anticipated some sort of revelation while listening to really expensive gear.  Not the sort of revelation that says, "This is what a really great system sounds like."  But maybe, "This is what it sounds like when X, Y and Z are done really, really well.  Maybe you'll like it and maybe it won't be your cup of tea, but at least you'll truly appreciate what it means to do X, Y and Z really, really excellently."  And I just didn't come away with that feeling.

The sound had almost no life.  It was like trying to watch a really huge, really bright television with extremely vivid colour reproduction, but someone had dropped a semi-transparent shower curtain in front of it.  Strangely, the shower curtain had a bunch of holes in it, so portions of the image just jumped out and screamed at me.  Taken individually they were brilliant.  But who wants to take them individually?  The rest of the music, the stuff that makes the whole hang together, just seemed bland.  I wondered whether someone had shoved cotton wool into my ears.  Not only was this not what I wanted, it was not the sort of failing that I anticipated.  

Anyway, I certainly don't imagine that all experiences with super expensive gear are likely to be this uninspiring.  And it wouldn't surprise me if future experiences with very similar systems turned out far better - maybe the room, or the proliferation of speakers interacting around the place, or a bad sounding disc or something else just distorted my experience.

But having spent a lot of time yesterday enjoying how my system sounds, I decided on a way to characterise my most important priorities in sound:  I will always prefer the syetem that is more likely to make me play air guitar.

Chad

[fabaudio]

These places really catered absolutely to the wealthy customer that was interested mostly in what the equip cost, with the sonic experience a distant second. The mark of a true audiophile.  

[jt1stcav]

Maybe we're not elite audiophiles with golden ears (guess we should be thankful we're not) who show off to our high-society friends with our $50,000 megabuck systems; We don't need to. Our systems are reasonable at down-to-earth prices that sound truely fantastic in our music rooms. That makes us smart audiophiles!

I can only assume that maybe the high-end gear you auditioned wasn't placed properly or acoustically treated in the showroom, or maybe there was a gear mismatch that just didn't sync with your ears...who knows. But as long as you can go back home, fire up your (impressive) system, sit back and be in musical nirvana, then you've achieved your goal.

I've learned with my inexpensive audio system that it doesn't necessarily take tens of thousands of dollars to have the best that money can buy, and I'm very satisfied with my simple setup. There's still room for improvement, but I can live with what I've got if I had to (and due to my limited budget, I have to live with what I've got...for now).

Enjoy your system, and happy listening!

[TIC]

Chad,

I've had the same experience over the years. I would say that MOST super-high dollar systems that I've hear in hi-fi shops have left me scratching my head. I just don't get it. Apparently many folks with big bucks have never heard a good sounding system for comparision, so they seem to simply go by the cost. If it is expensive, it must be good!

The components currently in my system are likely the least expensive pieces that I've owned in the last 10 years. They are also the best sounding! BTW, I own the Channel Islands VMB-1s and I can tell you that that is a fine sounding amp, regardless of price, as long as it has enough power to sufficiently drive your speakers.

So, don't feel like you are "The worst Kind of Audiophile". You might actually be "The Best Kind of Audiophile", One that is happy with the value of his system!!!

Enjoy,

TIC

[JLM]

Chad,

The only thing you may need to "worry" about is the proud papa syndrome.  But you're equipment is plenty good (you really have nothing to worry about).  You have nice stuff.  IMO getting 90% of the quality for 10% of the price (which is what your amps and speakers remind me of) is a very laudable goal amongest the insanity that resides in audio.

Most expensive brands/big equipment sounds like really well done "hifi" to me, rather than music (or artificial compared to real).  Initially empressive to the less experienced, but fatiguing in the long run.  As you said, exagerated frequency extremes is the first sign of the "hifi" sound.  You seem to be an audiophile in my book.

[JoeE SP9]

I told them I listened primarily to jazz, so they put on some Patricia Barber (whom I've never really enjoyed).

I agree with you about Patricia Barber. The only thing I have by her that I like is Yellow Car III from Cafe Blue. Unfortunately a lot of high end stores are stuck demoing music that is audiophile approved and boring. Next time take your own selection and have them play that. Nice post.

[John Ashman]

There audiophiles and there are music lovers.

They're rarely the same thing.