I wouldn't want to wish you ill, but have been highly entertained by your bouts of sickness and the unsympathetic responses. i will be sorry to see them go.
Hello Tamara, thanks for the message, you never know I may get ill again if they start to experement with my medication, as doctors are still practising and as they say they bury their mistakes, not sure who the unsympathetic responses are from more than likely from me. Well heres to my next bout of madness. Gerald.
Nice to hear your feeling better, a lot of truth can be exposed in moments of madness but it can be difficult to decipher !
John,
It's true most hifi systems sound very flat and uninteresting at low levels but as with class D amps, the combination of my class A amps and transmission line speakers makes listening at low levels no different to high except for the db level , I find I often forget to turn it up when nobody is about.
The PMC transmission line speakers i use still produce full truly deep bass as low levels they also put bass instruments in the sound stage unlike most speakers which just give you a big blob of low frequencies.
Tamara,
Thanks again for the advice yesterday, I have found my Gentle Giant lp's and have been playing "Aspirations " repeatedly.
Hi Tamara....which ones.....the bouts of Sickness or the unsympathetic responses .
Hi Gerald....I too have enjoyed the imaginativeness of some of your responses but for any potential offence that may have been imparted. In the nicest possible way we are all trying to tread a thin line to either prevent or avoid offence. I apologise if it sounded like I was "pulling you up" on the Golden-ears reference - that was not my intent, I was simply presenting a viewpoint....but what was foremost in my mind was the fact that so few people (especially on this Forum) really think of themselves in these terms. People are individuals (like yourself) and would prefer not to be "pigeonholed" but the implication of the message was that everyone thinks of themselves as "Goldenears" when in fact they are just ordinary folk trying to get information....
Hope you understand....best wishes for your prolonged recovery...
To electro, that explains it all, as you have class 'A' then you would enjoy that 'low level' experience that I so enjoy. Sounds like your speakers really are 'something else', as I say in an article that is not out yet.
Virtually all reflex designs work by storing one cycle of bass and reproducing it late. Transmission lines do not do that, so maybe a reason for the good imaging.
As for Gerald's condition, 'no comment' comes to mind.
To Bill, the general public think that anyone who spends thousands on Hi-Hi must be 'golden eared', or mad, as for the most part they can hear no difference at all. Think of all the radios on building sites, running on flat batteries and steeped in crossover distortion but they will happily sing along.
Audio is a strange subject, to those who hear the differences then they are more than apparent, but to those who do not, then they think all that do, must have 'golden ears', in reality we do all have similar hearing. I think the differences therefore can only be in interpretation and maybe conditioning.
Again we stray off technicalities and and back to the brain, if ones background of music was a tranny radio then maybe distortion would not be such an issue, however if it were live un-amplified concerts then I'm sure distortion would be a major issue.
Well...this could be my 1000th post and it is a pleasure to share it with you..
I see where you are coming from....and regrettably there is a truth there....
It's sad that comparing today with the 60s/70s and perhaps even the 80s, back then people prioritised obtaining a 2-channel music system, which they would they would switch on then sit down in front of for hours on end, giving it 100% attention rather than as a background activity. For some a good hi-fi was seen as being as much of a "Lifestyle" indicator as a sports car. (Perhaps that's even true today....)
In the 90s, surveys indicated (a trend that started in the US) that the acquisition of a Home Cinema system was 3rd on the list of necessities after a house and a car....
At that time I think people suddenly realised/rediscovered the relevance of an effective home entertainment setup....
Do young people sit down in front of a music system now - or do they prefer to carry it with them ? (Probably the latter judging by Boss nos 1 & 2 -- as Dave would call them )
It would be interesting to get their views and even their reaction were they to be positioned in the sweet spot in front of the carefully crafted John Fisher system and their favourite music played.....
A life changing experience?
All the best....and take care........................................Bill.
Wow Bill, impressed by the bigger picture input, maybe I am a Hi-Fi nerd, but when I was 27 and sex was probably 90% of ambition, maybe I got it wrong. At the time Hi-Fi was more important than anything and in retrospect maybe a Fiat 500 was not the 'babe magnet' motor. Now I have the sports car and the Hi-Fi but unfortunately do not quite have the same appeal to school girls, not that I could handle them if I did.
Now tonight I watched the original Roller Ball, a fascinating film, very futuristic, very 'new world order'. Now much of this film was set in the future, some parts were spot on and others seemed to miss the obvious. The score display board appeared to be white LED, great as they did not come out for another 20 years, the concept of wall mounted flat screen TVs great, but why did they have rounded corners. Afterall the very principle of TV is a rectangular picture with no corners, they were only a limitation of CRT displays, maybe just a lack of understanding.
However I did find the 'shoot the trees' scene deeply distressing, as if that is what we aspire to then I'm sorry something is very wrong. In the same way if being offered unlimited rewards can buy ones passion then we are seriously 'on the wrong track', to me, take passion out of life then very little is left.
I still sit down for hours listening to my 2 channel system, I just get totally absorbed by the music and time just disappears, I think good music is almost a higher form of language or communication between human souls, but then maybe I am as nuts as Gerald ( no offence Gerald ).
Younger people still seem to have a desire to listen to music but no interest in the sound quality, or creating new original music , all they seem to do is re- hash old music and talk or whine over the top of it which to me is just soul destroying. I know it is traditional for parents not to like their kids music but at least when I was a kid the music was new and original but my parents still hated it !
John,
You are spot on , if there is nothing in your life which you are passionate about what is the point of living. I know what you mean about the "shoot the trees " attitude i find it very distressing too but unfortunately there is a lot of it about.
...Yes....I neglected to mention the s*xual role of Hifi in the 70s as a "courting assist" during my historical account....but glad you filled in the gaps there mate !
Nope...you are not nuts.....I could not agree more with your admirable, almost poetical description of the purpose of music. Music, heard as it should be is a revelatory experience and in that respect I think you, John and myself are very much on the same wavelength....
You can't help feeling that if more people could experience this, the Music (and Hifi) industry would be overwhelmed by an explosion of interest....
It instantly puts you in touch with almost anything you care to listen to....
Bloody hell. it just gets better, go back six months and I seemed to be banging my head against every-ones opinion, now it seems not to be so. It seems that we are all on the same planet, all looking for the same goals, great stuff.
Yes I also think music is the ultermate truth in life, the leveller of all nations, the one common thread that could bring all humanity together, maybe it should be regarded as a 'universal religion'.
Bill, do you remember the film, Stanley Kubrick's, 'The clockwork orange', as I remember it, our hero met a girl at a famous bar in Chelsea, and proceeded to seduce her with his 'transcriptor' turntable. Such were my heroes in life, I often visited that same bar during my work time at Chelsea College, but never got so lucky. Mind you I never had a 'transcriptor' turntable, and I was never a violent person.
It took many more years to put my 'honey trap' together, and that consisted of a Thorens TD125 deck, Quad pre-amp, Radford STA100 power amp and a pair of ESL57 speakers, hell that did the trick, even with a Fiat 500 outside, funnily enough the change to a Morris 1100 brought me less 'street cred', however a J4 van redressed the balance, but I have never had so much fun since - even with an MR2.
Lets look at some other cars here, since the J4 van.
Fiat MX7, a beautiful little sports car in my mind, but girlies thought it a joke, a toy, it was described as my 'dinkey toy car' by a lady I thought the world of.
Rover 2000, never did anything, I blew up the engine at one point, expensive.
Ford Zephyr, a right 'hoods' car, many thought it suited me, (no idea why) 2.8L, you could see the fuel gauge drop after every 'getaway'.
Next a Citroen diesel, very sensible, never had to fill up, no fun but highly practical, after a few problems with the hydraulics I gave it away.
Then the first MR2, luxury, a 'fall in love' experience, a new experience, the first car I had ever owned that turned heads and received remarks like 'nice motor mate', and 'love the car' etc.
Now on to the second MR2, turbo charged, silver grey in colour, and goes so fast that it becomes frightening. So what next, a Ferrari, another flat, or the ultimate Hi-Fi, who knows.
Now if I believed that there was an ultimate Hi-Fi to be had/heard then I would go for it, but I've never heard one so far, and that is not through not listening, or taking the time.
Maybe listen to the Podiums next, at least they are a different principle, at least they are not 'reflex', they are intrinsically 'full range' and therefore have no crossovers and they are 'large area radiator' drivers rather than point sources.
Sorry but back to fundamental principles here, most sounds in nature arrive to us as a 'plane wave' not a 'point source', the two are very much the same at a great distance, but not in the confines of ones living room, IMO a plane wave is far more realistic. Food for thought, nothing more.
Yes....I do remember the movie and that turntable....
I recently learned that this particular Michell Transcriptor has a fascinating story to it....(more later)
You owned a Mk1 MR2 !!!??? Can't believe this - I owned one for 4 years - loved that car !!! (A new arrival forced the sale)....So I switched to 1905cc "Pug" - which consoled me a bit ! (154BHP/Ton )
The only way the MR2 can be described is "lizard-down-a-drainpipe handling"....(who needs Ferraris!)
Darn...I'll never sleep tonight now !!!
All the best................................................Bill.
Well I be darned (said with American accsent), I don't know the 'lizard down a drain pipe' expression I allways thought it was 'a rat up a drain pipe' but I guess we are talking the same thing.
Much as I admired the MK1, I never got one till MK2 days , the slightly rounded version. Never did like the latest, softop etc. that missed the design brief.
To me having a car with removable roof but with the security of any other car was design genius, both mine were T bar.
Wow what an overstatement of male decadence, is this a sex symbol or simply a dick extension. Sorry mate but we all conjure up pictures in conversation and my picture of you was a bit of a greeny, maybe living in a converted barn with a wood burning stove and enjoying apple juice and maybe cider at the weekends. Strange how conversation creates these pictures but I thought a horse and cart would be more your lifestyle, OK I admit a good horse.
No offence but that was simply the image I had gained. John...
Having written that, even I find it difficult to believe, is it possible to conjure up a complete lifestyle image from a few messages on AV-review, probably not, so I wonder why are the images so strong.
Now I think about Bill, Martin Logan speakers, pretty successful, now 'got it all' no real worries, a good person to have on the forum as he enjoys discussion and certainly enjoys life.
Sorry guys only my T5 ramblings.
Only yesterday I realised that we remember things in two different ways, suppose you spotted a number plate then you could either remember the numbers and letters as text or you could visualise a picture of the whole scene, then read the number from your 'snap' of the picture.
So in concluding to-nights ramble I have to run a suss on Tamara, IMO a good person, always out to support the 'downtroden', probably often wears a kaftan, a marginally hippy character, probably enjoys eastern non amplified music, very much a greenie, totally trusting, one who will always understand.
Perception of other people by just reading or just digesting their conversations, will always throw you into putting them in categories that your mind places them, and somehow you can picture what they look like, had the same happen in CB radio days, mate of mine started conversation with a lady CB'er, after a while they had arranged to meet/eyeball, he thought, by her conversations, that she was blond, slim and attractive, - And who was i to shatter his illusions, gave him directions to this lady's address, on knocking her door he was greeted by a peroxide blond about 15 stone with boobs hanging down on top of her belly, he came back in shock, and called me a Ba----d. lol
Electro, Johns perception of you is totally different to mine !!!!!
Carl, I was once a radio amateur (ham), and went down exactly the route of your mate. Anyway it's only a bit of fun, and I can't for one moment conjure up a physical picture from the chat.
It was meant to be a humorous post , it seems you may have taken it a little to seriously.
As for being a bit of a greeny I suppose that's partly true but I am much more complicated than that , I love nature and animals , my wife and i keep birds of prey and also do voluntary work for south Essex wildlife rescue, but the other side of me loves car's, speed the smell of burning rubber, not to mention power wasting class A amplifiers.
Going back to the car, it is a Vauxhall VX 220 Turbo , it has a Lotus Elise alloy chassis and running gear with Vauxhall fibreglass bodywork and creature comforts , it's powered by a Vauxhall 2.0 Turbo engine producing 200 BHP! but only weighs 900 Kilo's , 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds 150 plus top speed in standard trim but is very easily tune able . In the picture it is fitted with a hardtop which is easily removed , but comes as standard with a soft top similar to a " T " bar system . On the green side it returns between 30 to 40 MPG , and it looks drop dead gorgeous , what more could i want apart from a very reasonable price . Oh and yes I am going through a late mid life crisis because i can afford it now.
Carl ,
Perhaps the most frequent users of this site should post our perceptions of each other based on what we have picked up on the numerous postings all of us have left, i think it would be good fun!
lol
