If there was a perfect and invisible audio system would you still enjoy this hobby?

[MattHooper]

And waving a lighter!

You mean...smartphone.

(Been to any concerts lately? )

 

[Colonel7]

DIY? Curious been researching these for my application? Where did you get the design?

They’re made out of circular 16” concrete forms at 34 liters volume, sealed and down firing. Ive built about 6 subs of various types and sizes and found I prefer sealed with an f3 37-43 Hz. Depending placement, power, and the possibility for a 3-6 db boost on the low end to taste. It’ll go down far in room and I don’t really care about 20 Hz high output (with 2 you will get it). This is a prototype that I still use (drum table) and it can be made to look traditional,( kitschy like this one) or midcentury modern depending on finish choices. The driver is a GRS12” high excursion. I’ll probably do a Dayton Ultimax or reference series for a low distortion driver next but the GRS sounds surprisingly good low passed at 90 Hz or below. I might do an in-cabinet built-in design for my office or copy @suttondesign ”books” sub.

 

[pseudoid]

Did I just step on a religious thread?
What I would like to really know is who gets the front row seating on cloud 9?

 

[pablolie]

I think it entirely depends on what your priorities are in this hobby.

As a gear hunter-gatherer, you will keep going out and stalking on novelty promises.

As someone that just loves music, I think at some point you may go "this is way more than good enough" and chill on gear for far longer periods of time.

I am not claiming it is an evolution or that one is better. I just know what works for *me*.

 

[Axo1989]

They’re made out of circular 16” concrete forms at 34 liters volume, sealed and down firing. Ive built about 6 subs of various types and sizes and found I prefer sealed with an f3 37-43 Hz. Depending placement, power, and the possibility for a 3-6 db boost on the low end to taste. It’ll go down far in room and I don’t really care about 20 Hz high output (with 2 you will get it). This is a prototype that I still use (drum table) and it can be made to look traditional,( kitschy like this one) or midcentury modern depending on finish choices. The driver is a GRS12” high excursion. I’ll probably do a Dayton Ultimax or reference series for a low distortion driver next but the GRS sounds surprisingly good low passed at 90 Hz or below. I might do an in-cabinet built-in design for my office or copy @suttondesign ”books” sub.

That sub-as-furniture is great.

 

[boxerfan88]

Two aspects of this hobby keeps my interest alive -- tweaking the system -- and checking out different types of music. Probably skewed a bit to the former.
Having a perfect system, means no more tweaking, what's left is the music.
I voted "a little less".

 

[TimF]

the perfect and invisible audio system is my head.

 

[Chrispy]

And what if the main revenue beneficiaries realized something like this was about to hit the market, what would they do to squelch/discredit/obscure if not outright buy and destroy?

 

[JeffS7444]

And what if the main revenue beneficiaries realized something like this was about to hit the market, what would they do to squelch/discredit/obscure if not outright buy and destroy?

There's this thing called "iPhone"; they're saying it could become a game-changer.

 

[Zoomer]

Fascinating question.
When I’m drooling over equipment or way down a rabbit hole, I can always hold up the lamp and tell myself it’s about music in the end.
The hobby as a “worthy” outlet for the typically male lust for gear and stuff, because channelled into the enjoyment of the most immaterial of arts.
If the perfect system will become available and affordable in my lifetime I won’t look back. I don’t share any of the nostalgic sentiments for Vinyl and the like. So, the hobby would simply cease to exist for me.
I’ll hopefully be over my gear lust by then so I won’t have to channel it into cars, watches or kitchen utensils.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

I think that gets at an important part of the appeal for many audiophiles. The appreciation of the gear itself, and also how that can meld with the listening experience.

Analogy: right now there's all sorts of amazing AI art. When I look at some of this stuff I can be pretty amazed at the images, some are gorgeous. But it's a different experience than I'm used to. Because when I normally look at a piece of art, a drawing or painting, my appreciation is bound up with my appreciation of the artist.
When I go "wow" at the brilliance of the art or the skill or inventiveness, that "wow" is aimed at someone: the creativity/skill of the artist. Every line, color choice speaks
to the skill of the artist.

But with AI art that connection is lost. I have a "wow" in terms of staring at the image...but there's no one to point it at, no one whose skill or creativity I'm appreciating. It's a very disorientating feeling sometimes to have this new disconnect.

Imagining a "perfect/invisible" system creates in my mind something of a similar disconnect. I'd be hearing awesome sound...but there'd be no real equipment to appreciate. And I would not have had any role in the process. One could say "well then you'd just be apprecating the skill of the actual musical artists!" But that is not what I'm getting at. I'm talking about the role an appreciation of the equipment currently plays in the role of many audiophile's enjoyment of their system. It's nice to see the components you selected after lots of careful thought and scrutiny. You have some role in the achievement in the sound you are hearing, even if it's simply selecting the parts. And there can be appreciation for the engineers/designers of the equipment you own - you are hearing what they achieved as well. If some invisible perfect system became commoditized, that aspect of the satisfaction goes away.

Agree but eventually after several generations people would not remember the piles of primitive technology required to reproduce sound and the musical content would be all they think about.

 

[Timcognito]

Agree but eventually after several generations people would not remember the piles of primitive technology required to reproduce sound and the musical content would be all they think about.

I think it may have happened already. Maybe not at ASR but everywhere else.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

I think it may have happened already. Maybe not at ASR but everywhere else.

Hahaha! Indeed! Kids these days stream music to a sound bar or Bluetooth speaker and don’t care about our hardware a bit! My stack of components is repellent to all who see it besides male cohorts. And even most of them have been broken and wouldn’t dare consider bringing anything similar home.

 

[restorer-john]

Perfect and invisble system on my bench for repair:

Can't see any way into it. No screws.

 

[boxerfan88]

It’s perfect & invisible, impossible to see it on your bench, but can you hear it?

 

[restorer-john]

It’s perfect & invisible, impossible to see it on your bench, but can you hear it?

Not at the moment- it's comletely dead. Getting parts for this thing is gonna be difficult.

 

[Dialectic]

Not at the moment- it's comletely dead. Getting parts for this thing is gonna be difficult.

Must have been Class D.

 

[MAB]

I love the gear. So in a vacuum, I would miss the equipment.
But, if it meant that more emphasis was on the media and the overall reproduction, I would be fine with that. Like if the money and effort wasted on some of the frivolous equipment fads was redirected into frivolous things like modern equivalent over the top album concepts, like Quadrophenia:

Not audiophile for sure, but stuff that was going though Pete Townsend's head ended up in a variety of formats for us to buy and obsess over. I think the gear distracts to a certain extent.

 

[RayDunzl]

Is the Remote perfect and invisible, too?

 

[Chrispy]

I love the gear. So in a vacuum, I would miss the equipment.
But, if it meant that more emphasis was on the media and the overall reproduction, I would be fine with that. Like if the money and effort wasted on some of the frivolous equipment fads was redirected into frivolous things like modern equivalent over the top album concepts, like Quadrophenia:
View attachment 317187

Not audiophile for sure, but stuff that was going though Pete Townsend's head ended up in a variety of formats for us to buy and obsess over. I think the gear distracts to a certain extent.

Of course a recording isn't audiophile since audiophile is a person The audiophile is the guy buying the record and the gear to enjoy it with....