The post in which Darko basically tells anyone who isn't a rich rube to ignore him and audiophilia in general

[Jimbob54]

Fify

Not really.....

 

[StefaanE]

He (Fremer) sounds awfully defensive most of the time, repeating ad nauseam that “he paid for it”. I had a chuckle when he showed the rack stuck next to his electric water heater, just after saying that “everything makes a difference”. I wonder how that heater affects the turntable he’s reviewing.

 

[ahofer]

He (Fremer) sounds awfully defensive most of the time, repeating ad nauseam that “he paid for it”. I had a chuckle when he showed the rack stuck next to his electric water heater, just after saying that “everything makes a difference”. I wonder how that heater affects the turntable he’s reviewing.

And such a mess. How'd you like to be the guy who has to replace said water heater? Or liquidate his estate?

 

[Robin L]

I suspect most of you have seen this intro to Michael Fremer at home. Boggles the mind. Most people would look at it and say he's a hoarder. Amazing to hear him wax rhapsodic about cables and amplifiers in that awful space. Notice he issues a cable challenge?

I buzzed ahead, 5 seconds at a time, with the sound off. How the hell can he get any kind of decent sound sitting so close to such humongous speakers? I guess the room is big enough to support low frequencies, but it sure seems messy and claustrophobic. Considering everything, hard to imagine dead silent surfaces on some of those vintage LPs he's showing off. Particularly with speakers so "in your face".

 

[watchnerd]

I know outrage is a great form of cultural bonding for at tribe...

But don't you guys get bored rehashing for the nth time how idiotic you think 'the other guys' are?

 

[cistercian]

I know outrage is a great form of cultural bonding for at tribe...

But don't you guys get bored rehashing for the nth time how idiotic you think 'other guys' are?

I have Stereophile in my favorites and I sometimes would go there to just LOL at the reviews. After watching Fremer's
video I feel bad.
Now it just isn't funny to me.

 

[KaiserSoze]

I suspect most of you have seen this intro to Michael Fremer at home. Boggles the mind. Most people would look at it and say he's a hoarder. Amazing to hear him wax rhapsodic about cables and amplifiers in that awful space. Notice he issues a cable challenge?

If someone sends him some cheap $900 interconnects and they sound as good as the $18,000 interconnects that he's using, he'll gladly use the cheap $900 interconnects and send the expensive stuff back to whoever loaned them to him.

$30,000 speaker cable to connect speakers to amps that look like they're four or five feet away. At this distance you could use some old scrap telephone wiring and most likely would not be able to hear any difference. Maybe a barely perceptible amount of linear attenuation would be audible, but nothing more.

Someone is bound to have done, at some point, bench testing of different tonearms using the same cartridge. Obviously you need vinyl with test tracks. You wouldn't likely even need to do listening tests since there is essentially zero likelihood of any measurable difference.

The fresh-looking copper on his hot water tank is most likely oxygen-free copper.

"AC power cords make a big diff ... You don't think they make a big difference? Take the cheap RUBBER ones that come in your equipment, and you're cheating yourself ... you really owe it to yourself to find a way to replace all your AC power cords with really expensive ones..."

Ha. If he were a true audiophile, he would run down to Home depot and grab some single-strand 12/3 house wiring and run house wiring straight to all the gear, thus eliminating the damned inherently inferior power cords altogether. Everyone knows that single-strand 12/3 house wiring sounds way better than any of the after-market power cords. Well, some of the after-market cords that use cream-colored insulation that matches the house wiring is decent, but still not nearly as good as the real thing.

Referring to his copy of 1976 Decca vinyl issue of Porgy and Bess (Lorin Maazel, Cleveland Symphony, etc.), he passionately exclaims, "You can get a CD, it's not gonna sound, it's not even gonna be close to this."

He does not miss an opportunity to assert that CD is patently inferior to vinyl.

 

[Sonny1]

I suspect most of you have seen this intro to Michael Fremer at home. Boggles the mind. Most people would look at it and say he's a hoarder. Amazing to hear him wax rhapsodic about cables and amplifiers in that awful space. Notice he issues a cable challenge?

Thanks for sharing. Hard to watch. Total tosser.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I know outrage is a great form of cultural bonding for at tribe...

But don't you guys get bored rehashing for the nth time how idiotic you think 'other guys' are?

No, not really.

"You have to hear these cables!" hahaha, oh man. $18,000! Wow.

 

[watchnerd]

I have Stereophile in my favorites and I sometimes would go there to just LOL at the reviews. After watching Fremer's
video I feel bad.
Now it just isn't funny to me.

No, not really.

"You have to hear these cables!" hahaha, oh man. $18,000! Wow.

It's just soooooooo predictable...

1. Subjectivist reviewer posts commentary about $1000+ cables or similar.

2. Objectivist community howls at what a moron he is

3. Rinse and repeat for last few decades

It's like audiophile Groundhog Day.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

It's just soooooooo predictable...

1. Subjectivist reviewer posts commentary about $1000+ cables or similar.

2. Objectivist community howls at what a moron he is

3. Rinse and repeat for last few decades

It's like audiophile Groundhog Day.

Meh. It doesn't take much time out of my day. Do you get tired of white knighting for audiophile reviewers? Frankly, I don't think they get nearly as much criticism as they deserve...

 

[KaiserSoze]

I buzzed ahead, 5 seconds at a time, with the sound off. How the hell can he get any kind of decent sound sitting so close to such humongous speakers? I guess the room is big enough to support low frequencies, but it sure seems messy and claustrophobic. Considering everything, hard to imagine dead silent surfaces on some of those vintage LPs he's showing off. Particularly with speakers so "in your face".

Absolutely. You have to be far enough away from the speakers for the individual wavefronts from the different drivers to merge into a single wavefront. With those speakers at that distance, there just isn't any way. There will be enormous variations in the frequency response depending on whether you are standing or sitting. And when you stand and walk closer to the speaker or further from the speaker, there will be a lot of variation in the response, because the closer you get, the further off-axis you get in the vertical polar plane. Without question this will be a huge problem with those speakers in that small space. Many people here and elsewhere could easily set up a complete system for him for less than $5,000 that would sound much better in that small space, and that would not be so obtrusive. What could he possibly believe those big amps are doing for him in that small space? Maybe he's deaf. It would be kind of ironic if it turned out that he were very hard of hearing. Do you think he would ever agree to have his hearing tested by an independent audiologist and for the results to be published? Why would anyone accept his opinion about any audio gear when no one even knows for certain that he has normal hearing?

 

[Robin L]

It's just soooooooo predictable...

1. Subjectivist reviewer posts commentary about $1000+ cables or similar.

2. Objectivist community howls at what a moron he is

3. Rinse and repeat for last few decades

It's like audiophile Groundhog Day.

Yeah, but still: that much speaker, that much space between listener and speaker, and this represents the top of the analog food chain?

 

[watchnerd]

Do you get tired of white knighting for audiophile reviewers?

That's a funny interpretation.

It's just predictable and boring.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

That's a funny interpretation.

It's just predictable and boring.

OK. I mean are you being held in the thread at gunpoint?

 

[watchnerd]

Yeah, but still: that much speaker, that much space between listener and speaker, and this represents the top of the analog food chain?

Is the ludicrousness of the taste-makers new data?

 

[watchnerd]

OK. I mean are you being held in the thread at gunpoint?

You're right, I should just leave.

I have better things to do with my time.

 

[KaiserSoze]

It's just soooooooo predictable...

1. Subjectivist reviewer posts commentary about $1000+ cables or similar.

2. Objectivist community howls at what a moron he is

3. Rinse and repeat for last few decades

It's like audiophile Groundhog Day.

And yet you find it a fun way to pass the time.

 

[watchnerd]

And yet you find it a fun way to pass the time.

Nah, I'm done.

It's no longer fun, just sad and boring.

I'm going to go walk my dog and work out.

Do something to better myself.

 

[Robin L]

Is the ludicrousness of the taste-makers new data?

As a recovering vinyl addict, and noting how such a system is supposed to be more resolving, I can't imagine the surfaces of LPs are going to be as quiet as Mikey sez they are. Again, this is supposed to represent the top of the analog food chain?