OK, you are not really an audiophile if you haven't done this:........... (fun thread)

[Sal1950]

I am alone and happy, now, with a room dedicated to audio disc racks and playback gear. My speaker cabs are ~14cu.ft. with big Altec horns on top. Bliss.

My Man!

 

[Hypnotoad]

You have too many speakers and you go to someones house to sell them a pair you don't use and end up buying a pair from them at the same time.

 

[DonH56]

Speaker burn in... I got to replace the tweeters and all the fuses in a brand-spankin' new pair of Maggies for one of our customers who read about burn-in and couldn't wait. He put on pink noise, cranked it as high as he could stand or a little higher, and left for the day. He brought them in for repair TWO DAYS after he took them home. My boss asked me to explain it to him. I struggled to find a way to not scream IMBECILE!!! and walk away, had to politely walk him through it.

Thinking back, he was one of those guys who bought into the super-cable fad, too. You know, $4/foot Fulton Gold... I still have a pair of those.

 

[Wombat]

Left the system on continuous playback loop for a week straight because it was recommended that the new speakers needed 100 hours of minimum "burn-in".

Forgot to add, headphones too.

Does a CD player become a laser-cutter when operated such.?

 

[DKT88]

On a business trip (to Yuma Az) in a rental car, finding a good deal on some floor standing speakers. In the shop measuring them with a tape measure to see if I can get them home to Vegas and the salesman asks why and I say "I wanna to put them in my car." Salesman looks astonished and says, "you gonna put those IN your CAR?"

 

[maxxevv]

Does a CD player become a laser-cutter when operated such.?

Ehh... only if you had one of those "enhanced laser" versions I guess ??

It probably would apply worse with tape recorders though.

 

[watchnerd]

• Lusted for a Nakamichi Dragon auto reverse deck just because they're so damn cool to watch in action
• Owned panel speakers at least once in your life
• Owned an album (any format) that you only use for system demo purposes and never listen to for pleasure
• Crimped your own cable terminations
• Owned a tube something, anything, at some point
• Used a laser pointer to measure speaker toe-in
• Heard a Quad ESL at some point in your life
• Owned and invested in a now dead media format (HDCD, SACD, DVD-A)
• Had angst about the great silver-black-silver gear color fashion changes
• Seriously considered going full retard and buying a pair of Kilpschorns or similar giant horn speaker and a 5 watt SET tube amp
• Wanted VU meters in your system (analog or LED), somewhere, for no reason than to just watch the bouncing
• Think your system really does sound better late at night with the lights turned low (adult beverage optional)

 

[watchnerd]

You know, $4/foot Fulton Gold... I still have a pair of those.

That's a bargain by today's prices!

 

[watchnerd]

OK, I'll put a few out there to get you started:

• Absolutely destroyed your very best stylus while unnecessarily 'cleaning' it...

Does it count if my house cleaner did it because I left the stylus guard off and she dusted?

 

[JohnYang1997]

I'm probably too young for this. I only bought and sold hundres of times. And blew a few pair of earphones testing my headphone amplifier. Bought too many headphones /earphones.
I'm probably very fortunate that I encountered etymotic at very early stage in 2015. And I have always been a technical/objective guy from that point. Some of the things I bought that I considered expensive in relatively early stage are second hand focusrite forte and diy violectric v200 in 2016. One of the things that's a bit audiophile -ish is diy lisa3 amplifier with linear power supply in 2015. It did sound really really good with er4b. Then I bought burson cv2+ in 2017 I believe. That's the most expensive hifi stuff I bought which I was intentionally wanted to be "hifi" not technically the best.

 

[SIY]

If you are a component-level person, you know what "the expensive click" is. You know, the one after the probe slips and every silicon device instantly transmutes to a short circuit. It's not a loud sound (a soft "click!"), but it's a distinctive and fearsome sound.

 

[Thomas savage]

- spent more on hifi than (all) your wife's wedding ring

- spent more time trying to explain the benefits of listening with your head in a vice in the ' sweet spot ' than you can think all the while the Mrs just wishes you had this much interest, concern and awareness about other ' sweet spots ' .

- knowing that hifi is the only excessive spending you never give consideration too, now the fact we need a new kitchen and or bathroom and it's half the price of your speakers but seems you just can't justify it , " sorry darling"..

 

[Thomas savage]

Left the system on continuous playback loop for a week straight because it was recommended that the new speakers needed 100 hours of minimum "burn-in".

Forgot to add, headphones too.

Iv done this ...

 

[JohnYang1997]

Oh I did burn in for earphones and headphones.

 

[Thomas savage]

No true audiophile has neat cables. What was wrong with you? A real audiophile is changing things out often enough he can never get the cables neat.

Neat cabling is like losing those few extra pounds , you know it would be good and you tell yourself your gona do it but....

 

[Thomas savage]

• Had two large amplifiers and two pairs of speakers in my college dorm room (3Mx3M). The tutor turned off the power to the whole floor to shut down the 'stereo wars' we were having. I dropped an extension power lead down to the girl's window on the floor below and kept on rockin'. Nearly got me kicked out of college. That was '86... I think it was Bryan Adams' Reckless album that did it.

I was about to like this until mention of Bryan Adams .

 

[Thomas savage]

• Lived for years in an apartment with a cardboard dresser, mattress on the floor, two sets of mismatched dishes (for company), a director's chair in the living room, and a stereo worth more than your car.
• Spent all your time at parties talking audio with geeky friends.
• Discussed at length the differences among various pieces of your audio system (and then realized later it was about 99.999% imaginary).
• Spent an evening with friends doing ABX testing of your new amplifier only to find nobody could tell any difference whatsoever.
• During tear-down of said ABX test set after everybody was gone realized you forgot to plug in the final power connection to the switch so all trials were of the exact same signal path.
• When your parents called to tell you the basement flooded including all of their priceless antiques, photos, washer/dryer, etc. plus sister's room whilst she was sleeping, your first question was "Is my stereo OK?"
• Pulled over a speaker trying to get just one more inch free to reach the amp.
• Pulled the preamp off the rack trying to get one more inch of cable to the power amp.
• Pulled the turntable off the rack trying to... well, you know.
• Spent nearly twenty-four hours straight trying to determine the optimal VTA, tracking force, etc. for your new cartridge.
• Realized that all your audiophile records are 50% thicker than your normal records and that's why you could never quite get it perfect for all of them.
• Forgot to discharge the HV caps in a tube amp resulting in one broken tube, several wires ripped in two, and severe lacerations to hand, wrist, and arm.
• Dropped the cart on the LP when the phone rang, taking out stylus and speakers (actually speaker fuses, fortunately).
• Rigged your stereo to use as your alarm by wiring it to your alarm clock resulting in a twofer:
  • First realizing using the buzzer caused rapid power cycling of the relay circuit and subsequently discovering electronics dislike having their power cycled on and off a few times a second; and,
  • After figuring out the right way to wire the relay forgetting to turn the volume down after a loud night's listening and waking up roughly a six-block radius at 5 am the next morning.
• Constructed a giant speaker cable with various wire gauges all neatly bundled and loomed with nice shrink-wrapped tinned ends only to realize it was way too big to fit any speaker connector made by man. By, like, half an inch. But the resistance was super-low.
• Ripped open your speaker boxes to drill holes to connect aforementioned speaker cable directly to the driver.
• In a rare moment when the tech was thrust out on the demo floor (boss should know better) spent time explaining why horns suck to some old geezer who was surprisingly robust and knowledgeable in his defense of these big gigantic corner horn things. Paul Klipsch. Oops.

Etc.

I bet you feel like a new man after these confessions, I'm finding it cathartic just reading it ..

 

[Wombat]

I bet you feel like a new man after these confessions, I'm finding it cathartic just reading it ..

I was waiting for the point when Don discovered sex.

 

[Hugo9000]

I was about to like this until mention of Bryan Adams .

Hmm, perhaps you'd prefer my choice that ended many stereo wars when I was in college: Ethel Merman! Everyone else immediately backed down every time.

No, it wasn't her infamous disco album, in case anyone wonders haha! I had tried Wagnerian opera, but the peaks weren't sustained enough to battle the rockers, so I "enlisted" Merman, inspired by the old joking tales of her wartime service as an air-raid siren!

 

[Blumlein 88]

I was about to like this until mention of Bryan Adams .

My initial idea upon reading Bryan Adams was something much worse than your comment. I demurred. I too was liking the comment, and then coming to a screeching halt as I read Bryan Adams.