Putting Curtains in the Man-Cave

As he placed the trade paperback sized piece of metallic graphite on top of the amplifier, and stepped back ... the bass improved, and the clarity took a jump up.  He then muttered something like a curse word and removed it and stepped back.  Yep.  A bit muddy.  Back it went.  Clarity and defined bass.  He sighed and returned to his listening chair looking somewhat defeated, but not daring to remove the thin brick from the top of the amp.  The subtle improvement proved far too significant to ignore. Debunkers? Welcome to my world. Cognitive dissonance.  Insanity.  It goes by many names, but for a technically minded audiophile, there is a point once where it dawns on you that everything matters, and some things that seem to have an effect on the quality of sound simply makes no sense.  I think a lot of audiophiles can develop coping mechanisms when faced with this.  The simplest thing is to deny the evidence of your senses...

The vinyl LP ... the once and future king? God, I'd love it if the 12" vinyl record would the dominant media once again - or at least be a preferred choice, roughly equal to the various alternatives. And from lots and lots of news reports of the meteoric growth it seems to be experiencing you might conclude that it is simply a matter of time before it reclaims it's usurped throne. Despite the buzz, and the growth, and its currently small slice of the music pie, the LP is likely to be a niche format for awhile.  There are a few things people aren't talking about that explain why.  We call them "Challenges" rather than "Barriers" since it is very possible to overcome them if the popularity growth proves to be solid, not fleeting as many lazy journalists seem to think. Estate Sale of Vinyl - this will be hotly contested by various used record shops. Challenge 1 :  Used Vinyl is becoming harder to come by and is rising in price If you a...

Pure silver stranded wire ... the last inch to sonic nirvana, or hokum ... opinions abound, and all too common is that people don't actually trust their ears ... Cables are some of the most hotly contested and infuriating aspects of our hobby.  You can easily spend the price of a component on a single cable if you aren't careful.  People will have opinions, but sometimes the right cable or cables can and do help maximize the money you spent.  And complicating things is the varying quality and levels of electronics - with, generally, better speakers and electronics benefitting the most from high end cables. A rational discourse about cables of the "Does it/Doesn't it" variety ... The same can be said for speaker placement and room treatments, too, but I think the so-called "debate" over cables is probably the most emotionally charged.  And yes, and the arguments go something like this:   "I tried out XYZ cable, and found the sound ...

November 1975, the Date when Sony opened Pandora's Box! Why would I put a picture of the first Betamax player in an article about how Stereo is in the middle of it's golden age?  The conventional wisdom is that the VCR ushered in the doom ("Doom, I say!") of the home stereo, and we've watched a multiple decades death scene as people lose interest in stereo playback given the new options like home theater, mp3 players, and streaming services on headphones. The golden age of stereo system was from about 1950 until about 1980 where people chose to fill their evenings with glorious music and companies poured their efforts and money into 2 channel playback ... The conventional wisdom was right in its facts - but wrong in conclusion ... The Thing is, the Golden Age, wasn't ... Before the VCR, there were a few simple truths that is easy to forget if you are over 40, and unbelievable if you are under it:  The only commonly available source of prerecorded perfor...

Except, they really are not competitors. Interesting article in the link below.  Says that digital downloads dropped 6% in 2013.  They compare it to the continued rise of vinyl sales. While we're all very happy to see vinyl continuing to grow in popularity, since it really does bring a lot of good sound to the table, we are a little skeptical that MP3 and Vinyl are actual competitors since most of the folks use MP3 and LP's differently. I think it isn't surprising that MP3 continue to fade in the face of streaming services which offer the ultimate in convenience and cost reduction. What would be interesting is to track the progress (or retreat) of LP and high resolution downloads over time.  Since those tend to be more "event" than "sonic wallpaper."  But, honestly, if you are dedicated to music, you will be invested in multiple formats both high and low quality and fill your day with music when you can, and enjoy the silence when you can't...

As 2013 gives way to 2014, those of us contributing to Putting Curtains in the Mancave want to sum up the year from our perspectives.  We learned quite a few exciting things, but we'll also put on our psychic hat (Sorting Hat?! Hufflepuff?)  and make a few predictions for the year to come! The Venerable DL-103R still kicks butt! Things we learned in 2013: Killer deal for analog:   We found that the Denon 103R ($380 retail) offers a sound that is well in excess of its price, showing you don't have to spend thousands of dollars in order to have top flight sound.  It isn't perfect, but for a large collection of used vinyl, it will do as good or better than pickups that cost multiples of its price.  While there are a lot of other "big bang for the buck" pickups out there, the Denon blew us away in it's overall music presentation. Concert Vault - thousands of live concert performances of artists you know and love! Sonos still is our "go to...

The world of music irrevocably altered c.1880 I have often wondered how music got started in our culture.  I imagine, back in the mists of time, someone, somewhere took the various melodic calls and strung them together into a melody and then taught the various tribes-people the things she or he had done.  And at that point we had actual composed and arranged music.  It is hard to tell if language came first or music - so entwined both are in the way we are wired.  Without getting too romantically colored, it must have made the long nights more pleasant and the unity of the tribe stronger. In the subsequent milennia, music has been used for multiple purposes, and new genres and ways of music distribution have been central to our religions, entertainment, and government.  In fact, to extend the old joke about "death and taxes" I do believe music has always been and always will be with us. But fast forward to the era of recorded music, which began a little...