Are you an audiophile?

[Retune]

I think my most profound experience with recorded music was with an mp3 derived from a crackly Artur Schnabel 78 recorded in the 1930s, played through some cheap computer speakers. I suspect this may disqualify me from the club.

[Joseph K]

Alcohol and drug usually means wanting more for the same effect. An effect difficult to achieve In the audio world .Though rather like class A drugs the price of hifi has come down over the years. What the Far East is to Audio, South America and Afghanistan are to opiates.

FWIW I think the division of drugs into classes is not in accordance with reality, and while I took them the price never came down, though maybe you know something I don't?

[Ein Heldenleben]

FWIW I think the division of drugs into classes is not in accordance with reality, and while I took them the price never came down, though maybe you know something I don't?

Allowing for inflation both cocaine and heroin are cheaper than 50 years ago largely because of a massive increase in supply . The “war on drugs “ has been a total failure.

[Master Jacques]

Alcohol and drug usually means wanting more for the same effect. An effect difficult to achieve In the audio world .Though rather like class A drugs the price of hifi has come down over the years. What the Far East is to Audio, South America and Afghanistan are to opiates.

Quite so! That is exactly what happens with the audio drug. New component, instant feeling of "that sounds incredible!" (usually a placebo effect) then gradual regression to the norm (again in the mind), thus requiring another injection of cash for the next fix.

[Frances_iom]

Audiophilia is an addiction. And as with all addictions, addicts are forced to pay ever more extortionate prices to get their next fix.

good job Apple haven't managed to enter this market - as idolatry of their products seems essential to provide their profits.

[smittims]

Thanks, Heldenleben, for that additional anecdote about the Musgrave concerto. I well remember the occasion, the other items on the programme being Walton's 'Capriccio Burlesco' (its British Pemiere, I think) and Elgar 2; the conductor our old friend Colin Davis, not long into his stint as Chief Conductor, BBC SO.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I used to be an audiophile. When CDs came along, it was no longer necessary.

[edashtav]

I used to be an audiophile. When CDs came along, it was no longer necessary.

Snap: ‘I used to be an audiophile’. These days I’m thrilled when I identify a repeated tapping sound as coming from a triangle. Were a sound engineer ‘to lift ‘ the triangle so that I can hear it as I did 50 years ago, most listeners would jump out of their chairs and rush out of their rooms clutching their ears.
These days I’m a miniature scorephile: they ‘ink in’ what I would otherwise miss.

[gurnemanz]

When I started listening to classical music as a teenager in the 60s it was certainly not an audiophile experience. I had a portable radio bought with money saved from my paper round and my parents had one of those radiograms - better sound, but more like furniture than hi-fi. My first audiophile classical experience was probably my first live orchestral concert - a 1968 Prom (this one). We were standing quite close in the Arena and the string sound as the Mozart Symphony began was a revelation to my ears.

As a student I had a more upmarket Roberts radio, but mono only, and it was only in my late 20s, when we bought our first house, that we owned anything remotely hifi, based around the widely recommended NAD 3020 amp. I have never felt the need to go for super hifi, only replacing items when they stopped working. I currently have a Marantz PM6006 amp with Mission 772 speakers which sounds fine by my ears.

[french frank]

These days I’m a miniature scorephile: they ‘ink in’ what I would otherwise miss.

Yes, I think I can 'hear' things better when I can see the score (assuming I haven't lost my place when the repeats are played). Otherwise, am I an audiophile? No, I never have been. I'm sure hearing music on a top end audio system would be a revelation, but it's not the kind of thing I would spend money on. Self-indulgence: I can enjoy music without thinking how my enjoyment would be revolutionised if I shelled out on a better hifi. I mainly listen on my laptop which isn't great audio anyway. A different experience, I'll acknowledge (I do remember hearing my first CD - solo piano music of Satie - and thinking wow). So much resides in the imagination.

[Beresford]

Many years ago I first realised that Hifi offered something worthwhile when I wrapped my two small tinny speakers in towels, leaving the front open, to stop them rattling on the table. They were attached to a Ferguson Music Centre that I had inherited. The speaker boxes were made of hardboard covered in Fablon(?). To my surprise the sound was much improved - I had started on the upgrade path! I still use towels to wrap my two little Tivoli radios in the bedroom, because they have very hard corners which can hurt, rather than for sound quality. Wired in stereo, using an external source, they are pretty good.

I tend to think that much "New" music from the last 70 years is easier to appreciate if your hifi is at least medium quality.
Nowadays I am trying to get the best out of Open Baffle speakers (Linkwitz) - they are quite demanding.

[Dave2002]

Yes, I think I can 'hear' things better when I can see the score (assuming I haven't lost my place when the repeats are played). Otherwise, am I an audiophile? No, I never have been. I'm sure hearing music on a top end audio system would be a revelation, but it's not the kind of thing I would spend money on. Self-indulgence: I can enjoy music without thinking how my enjoyment would be revolutionised if I shelled out on a better hifi. I mainly listen on my laptop which isn't great audio anyway. A different experience, I'll acknowledge (I do remember hearing my first CD - solo piano music of Satie - and thinking wow). So much resides in the imagination.

Yes - but do you go to concerts?

[french frank]

Yes - but do you go to concerts?

Not now . I wish I could.

[pastoralguy]

I’ve gradually upgraded my Hi-Fi over 40 odd years and the set up I have now is probably as good as I’ll ever own unless I win the lottery. I still have the first record player my mother bought after she won £100 on the Premium Bonds in 1967! It was in storage for a long time and I took it out and played it a couple of years ago. It was actually pretty good although I’m glad to have upgraded.

[gradus]

I’ve gradually upgraded my Hi-Fi over 40 odd years and the set up I have now is probably as good as I’ll ever own unless I win the lottery. I still have the first record player my mother bought after she won £100 on the Premium Bonds in 1967! It was in storage for a long time and I took it out and played it a couple of years ago. It was actually pretty good although I’m glad to have upgraded.

I've just retrieved my Revox 736 from 7 years in storage but have yet to switch it on. The open reel tapes of music recorded from the Proms in the sixties beckon, including the Havergal Brian Gothic sym and the best ever (imv) Sibelius 5 from the Edinburgh Festival with Bernstein and the LSO.
Day to day I'm still wedded to my elderly Quad speakers (63's) and amp.