OK, it was just a light hearted comment about the sort of people who listen to BBC Radio 3. I think you and your friends are audiophiles who like classical music, and not the people I was thinking of.
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A Visit to Mike Lavigne's Home and Sound Galleries Media Server
- Thread starter amirm
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I bet his plans are not to do some blind speaker cable tests.
I mainly listen to classical music. For me, whilst I like the SQ to be the best I can get, it is mainly the musical performance which I choose and some of my favourites are quite old. The SQ of my music collection varies considerably from "historic" to exceptional but it is very rarely the SQ of the recording which makes me choose what I am going to listen to next.
I think it is surprising how an average system can sound fabulous if you like the music being played and dull if you don't.
Also IME recording quality is a bigger variable than most non-absurd equipment differences.
I starting with ripped music in 2001 when the first iPod came out (I preordered it) since my job required weekly flights, often long haul and hotel stays and I wanted to have my music with me. The iPod was a big convenience step from a walkman and flight case full of cassettes then CDs! I didn't enjoy tagging tracks (there wasn't much classical music on any database back then, not that it is much use now there is) so just did play lists like "Verdi Requiem- Solti" which was all I needed to know on a flight.
I don't stream music much now I have retired. Standard classical music tagging makes finding what I want to listen to next tedious and I detest re-tagging the files so unless a recording I particularly want is only available as a download I have gone back to CDs and the occasional LP.
I am perfectly content with this.
And this is the biggest problem with classical music in surround. For every average ho hum reading in surround there are dozens of superior performances on CD. I still check the Quadraphonic Quad forum (or the rather sad surround thread on Talk Classical with 5 participants in a forum with 20k members) to see what they're talking about when it comes to surround classical and can't help but shake my head at some of the stuff they consider good performances. The classical lovers did embrace CD and never moved away from it.
Most recent set I have been greatly enjoying- Oistrakh Complete DG Recordings. 22 discs for $60. You won't find that legend in surround. Maybe a handful of hi-res stereo.
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I had forgotten the surround recordings. I would agree that none that I have tried impress as performances. I bought a job lot, was so unimpressed that I haven't listened to them all yet.
Now is a great time to buy CD boxed sets isnt it!?
Fitzcaraldo215
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Gosh. Maybe I was not looking when they totally disabled the stereo capability on my surround system. Shame on me, and sad indeed that I am doomed never to be able to listen to the glories of stereo or even mono ever again, since I am forever locked into Mch.
Seriously, I can play whatever I want to play - mono, stereo, Mch, hi/lo rez. To each, his or her own in choices of music, formats and recordings to listen to. Choices have never been better. Your taste and your preferences in both music and sound are yours, and you are entitled to them, as are we all. But, I do not subscribe to your views.
You are also, IMHO, distorting the truth about musical "quality" or the lack thereof among newer hi rez Mch releases by today's artists relative to classic stereo performances of yesteryear, many like David Oistrakh, being "golden oldies". The landscape is not as bleak as you suggest at all. And, older, no more than newer, is any guarantee of artistic or interpretive quality in my book.
Not putting Oistrakh down at all. He is one of the greats, no question. But, classical music dies quickly if it is forever locked into the tyranny of the sentimental "one and only definitive performance for the ages" idea. Having rather massive collections on LP and CD of such "definitive" performances myself, in addition to spending hours each day listening to classic performances on stereo FM radio, my own tastes now lean toward hearing a new generation of artistic interpretations of familiar classics whenever I can. Thursday night's concert I attended of Stravinsky's Petrouchka and the Chopin Piano Concerto #1 by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nezet-Seguin reaffirmed that for me. I have heard these works what seems like millions of times. But, this is like a relevatory life blood, attesting not to only the vitality of classical music a century or more old, but also to just how magical the art is by spawning so many interesting new, current interpretations that have musical and aesthetic validity to us today.
And, then, of course, there is the sound. It is secondary to the music, I grant you, but within limits. So, when I want to plop down and enjoy myself, to my ears, nothing delivers a sound quality experience like today's hi rez Mch. Sorry, but 50's-60's-'70's DGG stereo sound is just not my cuppa tea. There was better even back in those days, as I know quite well from my own collection. Your views on the music vs. the sound put you much more in line than me with @Cosmik's stereotype of the typical BBC3 listener, I believe.
Speaking of sound, those who have a Stereophile subscription can read Kal Rubinson's interesting comparison on classical music with the sound of the awesome Beolabs he loved in stereo vs. his return to the sound of his familiar Mch system in his living room. It is in the January issue's Music in the Round column as a postmortem to his Beolab review in the same issue. There are also some very nice reviews of recent Mch classical recordings accompanying that. It is an interesting read, and one I find entirely credible and on target.
OP
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He is done that already: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/86-ul...41184-observations-controlled-cable-test.html
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/86-ul...ons-controlled-cable-test-2.html#post12255000
He stopped posting at AVS after that.
Considering that was 10 years ago, I guess it didn't change his overall chosen trajectory very much.
What cabling is he using now?
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Yes, it was supposed to be a wink-wink insider reference. As was the reply just above. "Been there, done that. Learned nothing, carried on". I think he should have stopped reviewing if you asked me.
To be fair, the test was in 11/2007, and his last post there was in 8/2012.
However, his frequency of posting did decline quickly.
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/search.php?searchid=141566977&pp=25
So has mine, but for different reasons.
Exactly. The ultimate placebophile.
Phelonious Ponk
Addicted to Fun and Learning
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This is a cost effective upgrade option, pair of high quality studio actives and simple digital front end.. 3 hits on the bong and you will never be questioning why things don't sound right..
You will be totally enveloped , at one in perpetual rhythm and soul connect with the music..
If your going to be dependant on a ' dealer' make it a drug dealer not a hifi dealer..
Bizarre as it may seem to you lot, I've never touched any of this stuff - a variety of reasons, including having a mother dead against smoking. Alcohol, no prob's - but I drink the stuff for the taste, and to relax; not to go into another headspace.
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Mike views his time spent with Chris Wiggles a mistake. He maintains that he simply learned blind tests have no value or application for him.
So basically tail between legs at AVS and found a home at WBF that will let him maintain his fantasy.
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Well blind tests certainly would have hampered his becoming a renowned super guru of the super expensive. With powers of perception that include the torque values on the screws of the cover plate to power plugs on the wall being eminently audible. It would be hilariously pitiful if so many didn't hang on his every opinion to guide them. A most disgusting kind of reviewer in my opinion. NOTE: I am not saying he is a disgusting person or not a nice person to know or meet. Just that I find his position and opinion being valued disgusting.
Poor Mike! There's video of him, explaining his gear with a demo LP, around - and he comes across very well ...
Also, there are phone recordings of his system playing classic Led Zep tracks - and they do indeed impress, vastly superior to the typical audio rig efforts trying to tackle this sort of material. He's got a lot of this stuff sorted nicely, and I congratulate him on making good progress.
Also, there are phone recordings of his system playing classic Led Zep tracks - and they do indeed impress, vastly superior to the typical audio rig efforts trying to tackle this sort of material. He's got a lot of this stuff sorted nicely, and I congratulate him on making good progress.
If you don't like the prognosis from the doctor / consultant go down the road to the faith healer
