Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room
Once again, magically expensive items are only different in your mind
40hz:
Anyway, my point is that I always have bought my audio equipment only after actually hearing it play my favorite kind of music.
-Shades (April 20, 2014, 10:38 AM)
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LOL! :Thmbsup:
I always run Do You (Feel Like We Do) from the Frampton Comes Alive! album; Baroqu and Blue from the original Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio album; about 10-15 minutes of Loreena McKennitt's Nights from the Alhambra album; and Peter Gabriel's performance of Sledgehammer and Shaking the Tree from his Secret World Live album before I'll commit serious money to any audio playback equipment.
If those sound good, anything else I usually listen to will too. (I have a distinct bias for live performances plus good vocal, piano, flute, and string bass reproduction in case nobody noticed. ;D)
40hz:
I spoke with one of the more respected luthiers alive at the NAMM show a while back and he told me we are in the golden age of guitar making given a lot of convergent factors. I don't know any reason why that wouldn't be true for violins as well.
-Joe Hone (April 20, 2014, 12:32 AM)
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There have been several solid scientific studies starting back in the 50s that attempted to analyze why a Stradivarius violin sounded so good. (FWIW I much prefer the darker sound of a Ceruti violin to the sweeter quality of the Stradivarius.) Those studies and experiments led to some interesting outcomes.
To my mind, the most profound was the ground-breaking work of luthier Carleen Hutchins that resulted in a modern family of violins usually referred to as the Violin Octet.. More on Carleen and the Hutchins Consort can be found here and here.
Which just goes to show that, when it comes to violins, the arguments that "old is better" and "there's nothing new to be had" are simply not true. 8)
xtabber:
There have been several solid scientific studies starting back in the 50s that attempted to analyze why a Stradivarius violin sounded so good. (FWIW I much prefer the darker sound of a Ceruti violin to the sweeter quality of the Stradivarius.) Those studies and experiments led to some interesting outcomes.
To my mind, the most profound was the ground-breaking work of luthier Carleen Hutchins that resulted in a modern family of violins usually referred to as the Violin Octet.. More on Carleen and the Hutchins Consort can be found here and here.
Which just goes to show that, when it comes to violins, the arguments that "old is better" and "there's nothing new to be had" are simply not true. 8)
-40hz (April 20, 2014, 02:53 PM)
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A close relative is a respected violin maker and restorer, and also teaches violin making. He has always told me that, except for cheap mass produced violins (and violas, cellos and basses), each instrument is different. Quality does not depend on the age of the instrument, but rather on the skill of the maker and, for older instruments, of the craftsmen who worked on them over the years.
He also explains that violin makers adapt the instruments they work on to the tastes of the musicians who own them, which leads instruments to change over time. He likes to say that very little in any 300 year old instrument actually remains from the original builder. But old violins that are still in use tend to be among the best, because those were the only ones worth the high cost of maintenance and repair over many decades.
The value of older violins built by Stradivari and other well known makers has more to do with their rarity and the desires of collectors than anything else. Good modern violins cost less because they are not collectors items, but they are not cheap either. Young musicians often have to take out large loans or mortgages to acquire an instrument good enough to qualify them to play in a major orchestra or chamber group.
Fred Nerd:
I'm a wannabe audiophile. And I think a lot of it is a kind of OCD; we want it to be perfect, and if we believe it IS perfect, then we can relax and enjoy it more.
I'm suspicious of 'premium' sound systems enhancing the bass to give an extra depth which makes the speakers sound better on first listen but is actually not an accurate reproduction. One reason why I hate trying to judge speakers straight up. It might sound better now, but is it genuine?
I've heard that CDs are purposely flattened so they don't clip on low to medium speakers so it sounds better on average speakers.
People who work in professional studios tell me that the final mix sounds a lot better before it's turned into CD format but I haven't gotten to confirm this.
Also I listen to the start of Alison Krauss's New Favourite to quickly judge a new sound system on how it holds bass. That song is much harder on speakers than dance music.
crabby3:
Break out of the cycle -- find alternative way to perceive quality other than money!
-mouser (April 07, 2014, 06:22 PM)
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I believe it is up to the individual. Once I learned that quality and higher price don't always go hand-in-hand I started saving a lot of money. ;)
My train of thought is usually: Price > Functionality > Usability > Quality. But it can also be: Functionality > Usability > Quality > Price.
My cash is always part of the equation because if money is the root of all evil I'm surely not going to Hell. ;D
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