• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

What advice you wish you could have given to your younger self or someone new to this hobby?

We haven’t gotten the industry to send speakers to Amir or Erin routinely, but I think it’s different to say that companies send review units to reviewers where they think they will get a review versus the pretty bold claim that they “work really hard to prevent their speakers from being measured.”

That’s like Ferrari. Where you aren’t allowed to buy future Ferraris if you show the car in a bad light.

It is pretty easy for PS Audio to just send speakers to magazines that don’t have measurements - the fact that they sent it to places like Hifi News strongly suggests that your claim of them working hard to prevent speakers being measured is false.
False? So where are the CEA 2034 for Tekton and PS Audio? Please show me.

Aside from the one that Amir did, which was sent to him by a member? The word is that Tekton and PS Audio get the reviewers contractual agreement that there speakers will not be measured via the CEA 2034 standard.



Here’s the problem. You start with a $200/pair speaker and then save up $800. Do you get your $800/pair a speaker if it’s twice as good? That’s what you can afford and it’s twice as good (let’s say it’s a subwoofer or the next line up in the speaker so you get better bass).

The key is that you shouldn’t spend the $800. Keep enjoying your $200 speaker. Next year you have saved $1600. Do you get a speaker that is now 5x as good? No. That’s what you can afford, but you have the be patient.

Now you get to $2000. Is that an order of magnitude better? No. We know we are beyond the point of diminishing returns.

Now you got $3000. You find a speaker that feels like it’s an order of magnitude better but it’s 15x the cost. That’s when you buy.

If you have a Studio 530, you can get better speakers as you move up the chain but it is better to make a big leap even if there’s a KEF LS50 or Ascend Sierra LX that’s clearly better and something you can afford right now.

The key is buying what you can afford at the beginning, using the resources here whether it’s $300 or $1000 or $5000. Then stick with it until you get to something that you feel, by your own metric, is 10x better.
No, if I can afford $800, I shouldn't have been cheap and only spend $200, I should of spent the entire $800. Then when I can afford, $2,000, I shouldn't be cheap and spend only $1,600, I should of spend the entire $2,000. Then I plateaued in my earning and stay at $2,000.
 
"You just listen to CDs; you don't need a preamp - don't try to upgrade it, just get rid of it."

"Those directional arrows on the Monster interconnects you were given don't mean anything."

"Competent solid state power amps sound essentially the same, MOSFETs aren't going to sound more "refined" than bipolars, and your current amp will last for another 15 years, easy. Sit tight - Purifi is coming."
 
Buy a good pair of headphones.
Get rich. Loudspeakers in a tiny apartment will never work that well.
Small differences are small and not important in the long run.
 
Stick with Revel Concerta line instead of upgrading to the Ultima line. Over time as my hearing gets worse, they start to sound similar. Buy the best subs I can from the start as these make a difference during teh entire journey.
 
I honestly can’t think of anything, audio-wise. I look back at my audio past and don’t regret a single thing, it was fun learning that way and trying lots of gear. None of which I regret owning.

I’d much rather tell my younger self to start wearing ear protection earlier while playing gigs and at practices. Still paying for that one.
 
I honestly can’t think of anything, audio-wise. I look back at my audio past and don’t regret a single thing, it was fun learning that way and trying lots of gear. None of which I regret owning.
I feel the same way, being able to look back on an eventful audio biography including many personal encounters with outstanding personalities from this field. Not forgetting the opportunities to experience exemplary installations live.
 
Last edited:
"Run Forest Run!" In my case "Run Scotty Run!" Actually the only thing is/was finishing the rooms before retiring vs retiring and finishing the rooms.
I retired officially a few months ago and the only resolution for the new year is take the Elixirs out of storage and put them in a freshly painted, treated
music room, finally. They haven't been played in almost 5 years and never with changes I made.

Regards
 
Last edited:
'Stop trying to fix problems with cables'

'Stop buying turntables (but keep buying vinyl - it will appreciate in value more than gold)'
 
I’d much rather tell my younger self to start wearing ear protection earlier while playing gigs and at practices. Still paying for that one.

Good point! I wished, someone older and wiser would have told me that and I was matured enough to heed the warning.
 
We haven’t gotten the industry to send speakers to Amir or Erin routinely, but I think it’s different to say that companies send review units to reviewers where they think they will get a review versus the pretty bold claim that they “work really hard to prevent their speakers from being measured.”

That’s like Ferrari. Where you aren’t allowed to buy future Ferraris if you show the car in a bad light.

It is pretty easy for PS Audio to just send speakers to magazines that don’t have measurements - the fact that they sent it to places like Hifi News strongly suggests that your claim of them working hard to prevent speakers being measured is false.



Here’s the problem. You start with a $200/pair speaker and then save up $800. Do you get your $800/pair a speaker if it’s twice as good? That’s what you can afford and it’s twice as good (let’s say it’s a subwoofer or the next line up in the speaker so you get better bass).

The key is that you shouldn’t spend the $800. Keep enjoying your $200 speaker. Next year you have saved $1600. Do you get a speaker that is now 5x as good? No. That’s what you can afford, but you have the be patient.

Now you get to $2000. Is that an order of magnitude better? No. We know we are beyond the point of diminishing returns.

Now you got $3000. You find a speaker that feels like it’s an order of magnitude better but it’s 15x the cost. That’s when you buy.

If you have a Studio 530, you can get better speakers as you move up the chain but it is better to make a big leap even if there’s a KEF LS50 or Ascend Sierra LX that’s clearly better and something you can afford right now.

The key is buying what you can afford at the beginning, using the resources here whether it’s $300 or $1000 or $5000. Then stick with it until you get to something that you feel, by your own metric, is 10x better.
High-End loudspeaker manufacturers are simply never going to send a pair of loudspeakers to Amir or Erin, they would consider that there would be no financial advantage because ASR members are just not the right demographic, so no sales and the very real prospect that their designs will be exposed as being really not all that great and that information might just filter back to their customer base.
Keith
 
High-End loudspeaker manufacturers are simply never going to send a pair of loudspeakers to Amir or Erin, they would consider that there would be no financial advantage because ASR members are just not the right demographic, so no sales and the very real prospect that their designs will be exposed as being really not all that great and that information might just filter back to their customer base.
Keith
Not just high-end, even some non high-end simply won't get their speakers measured, they would even make sure they have the terms of a review agreed upon before sending their products in to a reviewer. They work hard to make sure their speakers aren't measured. If one of their customers send their speakers in to get measured, that's something they can't control.
 
High-End loudspeaker manufacturers are simply never going to send a pair of loudspeakers to Amir or Erin, they would consider that there would be no financial advantage because ASR members are just not the right demographic, so no sales and the very real prospect that their designs will be exposed as being really not all that great and that information might just filter back to their customer base.
Keith
Agree 100%. Just saying that choosing to send speakers to all reviewers is very different from suggesting that some companies “work really hard to prevent their speakers from being measured.”
 
Agree 100%. Just saying that choosing to send speakers to all reviewers is very different from suggesting that some companies “work really hard to prevent their speakers from being measured.”
This is what a reviewer friend and a dealer told me. They didn't say Tekton and PS Audio specifically, but alluded to them.

I have no reason not to believe them, therefore I stand by my statement that some companies work hard to prevent their speakers from being measured.
 
- Don't buy a speaker with crossover in the presence area
What is your definition of "presence region"? 1-3 kHz, 2-4 kHz, 4-6kHz, ... ? Just wondering, since some use different ranges to define it.
 
The key is buying what you can afford at the beginning, using the resources here whether it’s $300 or $1000 or $5000. Then stick with it until you get to something that you feel, by your own metric, is 10x better.
If I could buy speakers (or any component) that I perceived as 10x better, I would be much more motivated to spend money on audio. But I'm not, because my satisfaction saturates rather quickly. If my audio enjoyment were logarithmic, so I could get twice the pleasure by spending 10x the money, I might still be motivated to buy, because I have 10x the money now. But the reward to cost ratio for me is even weaker than that, past a certain quality level.

I do most of my istening in near field at modest volumes. I recently bought a pair of small Genelecs monitors with matching sub, to replace a nearly 30 year old pair of similarly sized passive monitors and sub. The Genelecs are clearly superior, but not twice as good as the old ones, which weren't bad. Maybe 50% better. And the increase in my enjoyment when I listen to the music, not the speakers, is less than that. Maybe 20%.

Clearly I am at end game for my listening context. The guys here who want rock concert slam in the enormous great hall in their mansion have a much more challenging problem to solve!
 
Last edited:
End game? Surely this wonderful game never ends.
 
(... We'll still be kicking out the jams in heaven/valhalla.)
 
Last edited:
What advice you wish you could have given to your younger self in this hobby?

Buy used only.
Buy a solid amplifier with way more power than you think you'll ever need.
Buy Dirac Live

--->

Audiophile bliss for cheap.
 
Cheaper still : Foobar2000 and MathAudio RoomEQ. (Free)
Just sayin.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom