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Re: I met another dealer who despises Stereophile and TAS and equipment reviews.

Otari, You hit the nail on the head when you said "Fact is most audiophiles are like lemmings." However I think changing it to "Fact is most new audiophiles are like lemmings.

In time after much expense and many hard earned lessons some audiophiles come around and realize that A) My audio system should make me happy first & others second, B) There are many, many outstanding audio products that aren't reviewed in the audio mags (for whatever reason)so there could be an undiscovered diamond in your local audio salon.

Audiophiles just need to remember this... 90% of the time you'll listen to your system alone. No one else will be there to critic it so build your system so that it makes YOU happy, when YOU listen to it. Sure consider what others say and "if" their advice seems good to you merge it into your criteria for building a system.

For years I placed to much emphasis on what my friends said. I would actually change components based on their criticisms so that when they came over they'd approve of what my system sounds like! Trouble is, most times I didn't like how my system sounded after the change even though they did. Yes, I was an audiophile lemming.

All that stopped many years ago. Now I buy what I like & the world be damned. If HP, JA, MF or anyone else says that particular component sucks and I happen to like how it sounds, I say who care what they think? I like how it sounds & THAT'S all that matters in the end.

I have an online audio group called SETriodes. Here's what I tell new members when they join....

Everyone has the right to like any style music and any type of equipment they choose to. Some prefer tubes to solid state, triodes to ultralinear, analog to digital, digital to analog or even convenience over obtaining the last bit musicality from their system. Some like Jazz, some don't consider Smooth Jazz to be Jazz. Another person love's Smooth Jazz and doesn't like older Jazz and so on. Remember if YOUR system makes YOU happy, and if you enjoy listening to Miles Davis or Kenny G or Bach, or Yanni, or Johnny Cash, or Marvin Gaye or Snoop Dog, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or says. This is all any of us should strive for anyway... TO END UP WITH A SYSTEM THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY WHEN YO PLAY THE MUSIC YOU LOVE!

If audiophiles would assemble a system with that in mind, they'd be a whole lot happier with the systems they assembled in the end. When I bought my present system ONLY the speakerwire had been reviewed (Nordost Blue Heaven) since then and quite a bit later 2 more components have been reviewed. First the Aliante's Pinafarina One were reviewed by Lars in Ultimate Audio. Next this month in TAS the Stibbert by BlueNote was reviewed by HP. I was delighted to see that both of them concurred with my opinion of these products, but had either, or both of them, come to the opposite conclusion and said they stunk, it wouldn't have mattered one little iota. To me this system produces the sweetest music I've ever heard. It makes ME happy 100% of the time and that's all that really matters!

So I say read the reviews, compare what you hear against what they said they heard, but trust YOUR ears in the end. Build a system that makes YOU happy when YOU play the music YOU love and YOU'll end up with a system YOU love to listen to! If that's not clear enough consider this example. If you believe your wife/girlfriend is beautiful and you friends said "Damn dude that girl's ugly, would you dump her because of their opinion or trust what your eyes and heart tell you? Audio is the same way, trust your ears and your heart and you'll be happy with it as well.

PS: Otari, your mother-in-law wasn't wrong. The Levinson 33H amp are one the nicest electric room heaters I've ever seen too! They make nice music too.... :> ) If you'd like to see my electric room heater click the link below.

Thetubeguy1954


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