One of the most interesting from a High End Audio Reviewer

[Dan]

"an internal governor on spending large sums of money on things that have nothing to do with family, friends, or activities that in some way improve the plight of others. It’s simple: I no longer feel good about buying super-expensive gear, even at accommodation prices."

My position now as well. I'm actually kind of ashamed of myself for having spent so much on what I think of now as narcissistic bullshit. Having a family has changed me into a far better man although my local hifi and watch dealers would disagree

 

[Thomas savage]

"an internal governor on spending large sums of money on things that have nothing to do with family, friends, or activities that in some way improve the plight of others. It’s simple: I no longer feel good about buying super-expensive gear, even at accommodation prices."

My position now as well. I'm actually kind of ashamed of myself for having spent so much on what I think of now as narcissistic bullshit. Having a family has changed me into a far better man although my local hifi and watch dealers would disagree

It's great to have things in your life ( other humanoids) that you love so much they become so much more important than yourself...,

That's how I feel about maintaining my old under pants... they are more important than me and looking good...

Welcome to the forum that embraces personal development

 

[Old Listener]

My wife and I have always had such an internal governor. We've never had a gusher of money that would sustain spending money over and over on audio or any other really expensive hobby. We figure out what's important to us, define our needs, calibrate what we have to spend and make careful choices. Then we live with those choices until they break or our needs change.

 

[Thomas savage]

My wife and I have always had such an internal governor. We've never had a gusher of money that would sustain spending money over and over on audio or any other really expensive hobby. We figure out what's important to us, define our needs, calibrate what we have to spend and make careful choices. Then we live with those choices until they break or our needs change.

That's lovely, I found if one is reasonably happy and embraces the natural Beauty of life one then stops needing to compulsively buy new things and keep spending huge amounts unnecessarily.

 

[Sal1950]

I still do not think everything sounds the same, though. It is just the the differences are getting smaller and the law of diminishing returns is more pervasive than ever.

I have to pat myself on the back though. I saw that the emperor had no clothes 10 years ago. It was largely marketing to our human weaknesses and vanity as audiophiles that was driving much of the high end and its insane upward price spiral.

Eventually the prices may rise to the pain level of the less po'. It would happen in stages. There would still be others even less po' that think it's ok.

A few months back I replied to a post where someone was looking for a good DAC near the $1500 price. I suggested one for $500 that would do what he wanted and is good. The person didn't think much of that.

I wonder how much of this direction hasn't cost High End audio it's user base already?
As the perceived cost of a decent Hi Fi has grown to incredible levels for the readers of Stereophile, TAS, etc; the reader numbers have declined. I hear it constantly asked "is Hi End dead? How is one to get excited over buying a new piece of gear when the guru's are telling him the only piece worth a damn costs 3 to 10 times what his budget will allow? When guys like Dennis or myself reply to threads asking for direction and we reply with a very top performing budget priced component we are ridiculed and dismissed. "you can't buy good sound for that little".
How many have walked away from the hobby disillusioned thinking he can't play in the game?

 

[Thomas savage]

I wonder how much of this direction hasn't cost High End audio it's user base already?
As the perceived cost of a decent Hi Fi has grown to incredible levels for the readers of Stereophile, TAS, etc; the reader numbers have declined. I hear it constantly asked "is Hi End dead? How is one to get excited over buying a new piece of gear when the guru's are telling him the only piece worth a damn costs 3 to 10 times what his budget will allow? When guys like Dennis or myself reply to threads asking for direction and we reply with a very top performing budget priced component we are ridiculed and dismissed. "you can't buy good sound for that little".
How many have walked away from the hobby disillusioned thinking he can't play in the game?

Digital killed high end audio as a main stream concern imo .. it's a luxury goods market now and that will always be the way.

 

[Sal1950]

Digital killed high end audio as a main stream concern imo

yes your right you are always right and it's frankly humbling to be in the presence of your rightnus a gift you give freely to the world, you are a inspiration to me and thank you for being so..., right.. the silly vinyl resurgance fad has injected a TON of money into things temporarly. At least till the fad dies off.

it's a luxury goods market now and that will always be the way

Yep, for many reasons it will never again be the 70s and 80s for High Fidelity .
Glad I lived it.

 

[Thomas savage]

Edit yes your right you are always right and it's frankly humbling to be in the presence of your rightnus a gift you give freely to the world, you are a inspiration to me and thank you for being so..., right.. the silly vinyl resurgance fad has injected a TON of money into things temporarly. At least till the fad dies off.

Yep, for many reasons it will never again be the 70s and 80s for High Fidelity .
Glad I lived it.

Some might argue, given the nature of Contemporary music making it sound worse by using a TT is some how poetically pertinent.

Not me though I love them block rocking beats and grimy licks..

 

[Sal1950]

yes your right you are always right and it's frankly humbling to be in the presence of your rightnus a gift you give freely to the world, you are a inspiration to me and thank you for being so..., right.. the silly vinyl resurgance fad has injected a TON of money into things temporarly. At least till the fad dies off.

HEY, quit putting words in my mouth. LOL

 

[Blumlein 88]

I wonder how much of this direction hasn't cost High End audio it's user base already?
As the perceived cost of a decent Hi Fi has grown to incredible levels for the readers of Stereophile, TAS, etc; the reader numbers have declined. I hear it constantly asked "is Hi End dead? How is one to get excited over buying a new piece of gear when the guru's are telling him the only piece worth a damn costs 3 to 10 times what his budget will allow? When guys like Dennis or myself reply to threads asking for direction and we reply with a very top performing budget priced component we are ridiculed and dismissed. "you can't buy good sound for that little".
How many have walked away from the hobby disillusioned thinking he can't play in the game?

Yes, it is very frustrating. You begin to feel like Sisyphus sometimes. I did have a handful of people PM me when I posted the 8th gen copies vs digital originals, and also when I had several DACs that I recorded for comparison. They said things like, "thanks you just saved me a ton of money". Or " I was about to give up on being able to get good sound. I just love music. You have shown me I can afford to love it and have great sound without being rich." So sometimes it makes a difference. These were all people who lurked and never posted or rarely posted. As those threads received 10,000 plus views, I try and tell myself there are at least dozens more who found the information helpful and liberating from the high quality equals high cost meme which I didn't hear from.

If people didn't black ball Amir, it might be good to make recordings of various USB clean up chains and post the results for people to hear themselves. Some people are convinced using their ears without their eyes.

 

[Rodney Gold]

I use a $299 front end to my system ... a squeezebox touch .
I also trust my ears ...my target curve is set by ear..after I have measured and corrected...

 

[Thomas savage]

I use a $299 front end to my system ... a squeezebox touch .
I also trust my ears ...my target curve is set by ear..after I have measured and corrected...

Nothing wrong with your ears for personal preference in a situation like that.

 

[Analog Scott]

Look at Wilson, YG or Magico. Don't tell me things have changed much over the years. These companies are owned by the chief speaker designer. Would the owner fire himself and hire someone else to redesign their products?

http://magico.net/product/ultimate.php

This is not "much change" in Magico's previous approach to flagship loudspeaker design?

 

[amirm]

I have not seen those at any show in US. Do they import them here?

Welcome aboard by the way.

 

[Sal1950]

The TAS review is dated 2006

 

[Analog Scott]

I have not seen those at any show in US. Do they import them here?

Welcome aboard by the way.

Thank you for the warm welcome! I think they are made to order. I haven't really looked into them as a consumer. They are out of my price range to be sure. But I did find it interesting that they took such a radically different approach with these speakers.

 

[Superdad]

I have not seen those at any show in US. Do they import them here?

Import them? Magico is a USA firm--in Hayward, California.

 

[amirm]

Import them? Magico is a USA firm--in Hayward, California.

Ah, for a second I thought we were talking about Focal.

Hayward brings back terrible memories of gridlock traffic when I lived and worked south of there!

 

[tr1ple6]

http://magico.net/product/ultimate.php

This is not "much change" in Magico's previous approach to flagship loudspeaker design?

The "much change"comes in the form of the price. They were $229,000 according to the TAS article from 2006, now they are way north of $600,000. That speaks volumes about the state of the audio industry. You just proved @dallasjustice point

 

[Analog Scott]

The "much change"comes in the form of the price. They were $229,000 according to the TAS article from 2006, now they are way north of $600,000. That speaks volumes about the state of the audio industry. You just proved @dallasjustice point

The change I was refering to was Magico going from a flagship speaker that was a conventional 3 way loudspeaker to a horn loaded design. That was a huge change in design philosophy. The increased price of that loud speaker system since it's introduction to the market is not relevant to the actual change in design philosophy I was citing.

But to your point. I fail to see how the price increase of this one unique, built to order, extreme luxury item speaks volumes about the state of the audio industry. I am not sure how any one product can speak volumes about an industry as plentiful in diversity of products, design philosophies and marketing strategies as is audio.

Do you know anything in particular regarding this speaker specifically and the substantial price increase since it's introduction to the market to 11 years ago? Do you know whether or not there were or weren't real world economic reasons for the price increase? Do you know whether or not the cost of building did not go up in accordance with the retail price increases in that time frame? Do you know that Magico didn't initially under price the speakers and had to raise the price to compensate? I don't think one can form a meaningful opinion about Magico or their pricing without knowing these things. Personally I am not interested in making any assumptions about it. The little bit I did see on how these monsters are built seem to indicate that they are really difficult and expensive to build. That they are also only made to order just makes them even more costly to produce. You simply can't assess value of such a product the same way as one would with a mass produced common consumer product.

Either way I'm defintiely not too worried about it. Over priced, under priced, reasonably priced...it matters not to me. They are definitely out of my price range. I don't even think I could get them into my stereo room without knocking down part of a wall.