griffithstrife
New member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2016
- Messages
- 22
- Thread Author
- #1
I Love speakers, and I love amps and, well all things audio! I have had an incredible journey with audio my whole life. I am very excited to see where else my journey will take me. Lately, that excitement has been overwhelmed by a nasty trend growing more and more popular. Fanboys! They are nasty, weak and so vocal that they drown out intelligent conversations. Before we get to that, please let me tell you some of my journey. Hopefully knowing where I am coming from, will help me explain myself.
When I was a child TV was my life. No education no real childhood till I was 11. I would wake up, eat, drink and sleep on my own. If I got to eat with my family, I was paranoid a beating was coming. My childhood was for all intents and purposes the film, “Cable Guy”. I knew my life was not normal, but I wanted to know what normal was. TV and film showed me that. It taught me how to socialize. Now here is where this leads to audio. At the age of 11 my father takes me to pick out his new stereo. B&O 9000, I think, but I was 11. That is where I saw these massive towers, with a basketball on top and a gun on top of the basketball. 802 Nautilus, but to me, 11 year old me, they were art.
We got to hear them, I mean I could not believe it. I had no clue the price, but the shape, the style. The speaker had a presence in the room. At 11 I felt it, I could see it. My God though when the music started my whole body quivered. The price might have been $12 or $14k it might as well of been $500k to me. Once I saw them hooked to a TV, I knew 2 things in that moment;
1. I would need to build me a home theater.
2. One day I would have those speakers or better.
Thus began my audio journey. After saving for 5 years, I got me an aiwa 5.1 system. Wow, what a piece of shit. And I knew it too. I had no clue what meant what, or how to describe my problems with it at the time. It’s so funny because I remember watching a THX video on discreet 5.1 systems and how they worked. I remember being mad at George Lucas for saying how each channel could only produce the specific sound for the scene. But in my AIWA system every speaker produced all the same sounds as the other speakers. This was with Dolby. I knew this needed to go and so it did. About 6 months later I bought me some Wharfdale floor standers. They looked good and sounded good to me, I remember getting a onkyo amp and piecing together the rest of the 5.1.
This setup would last me about 2 years. By then I had saved up some cash and wanted a giant killer. You know, every speaker 20 years ago during the dotcom boom was a giant killer. Till this very day I still don’t know if those swan systems where made by AIWA.
But after enough research, Axiom Audio had my money. M60, VP160 and the big surrounds to match. I got an SVS sub too. Well, in my head I was the shit. Not my dream system but with the Rotel amp, I was cool with it. I could not really listen to music with it. I had lots of DVDs of shit like the Eagles Hell Freezes Over. Hardly ever music though. I knew the speakers were the problem, so after about 5 years I upgrade everything.
M60 to M80, VP160 to VP180, but still sucked to me, for music at least. This was my first run in with fanboys. I remember on the Axion forum that nearly everyone on there thought Axiom was the best. It was odd to me. I thought it might be a Canadian thing or something. But please understand I owned these speakers too. I enjoyed them too, but these people, they said crazy shit like “If you gave me a pair of 800 Diamond for even trade I would not trade my M80”. That’s real and they were serious. How fucking stupid is that? If there is no emotional value, why would you not take the really expensive speakers and sell them? See now? Free M80s. Like I said though, I let it go figuring, hey it’s a Canadian thing or something.
I put my upgrades on hold. I did not want to buy something unheard with no return policy. I was definitely not going to buy the 802D2, which I loved, but after 20 years I felt something should be better by now. Which leads me to a beautiful trip to France. I awoke one morning and went down to grab some breakfast across from the hotel. And by luck an audio demo,. I still don’t know why but there they were, Sopra 2s in orange running on a Devialet. That sound, that sweet, sweet sound. I felt 11 years old again.
As soon as I came home I got to work. 3 months later my system was delivered. Wow, what a difference. I know sound and I know value. The Axiom speakers are great amazing value speakers, but, the Sopra 2s rivaled systems that I heard that cost 60k. The Axioms rivaled Vienna Acoustics, not a knock, just honesty.
Almost immediately I began to notice similarities of the Devialet people and Axiom people. They both seem to exist in an alternate reality where nothing is subjective except genuine facts. I loved all my Devialet products, but these people did not like or love theirs.
No, these people have faith, faith that nothing is better and nothing will ever be better. Which is fine, I can respect that, I can even appreciate it. The thing I can’t handle is when these people want to enforce their feelings as reality. I am happy you love your $40k 1000 pro. Please enjoy it, love it but stop trying to tell me it’s a bargain. Stop trying to tell me the 1000 pro beats MBL, Gryphon and D’agstino. I am not going to get into all of Devialet’s problems, hopefully my point is clear.
After getting poor support from Focal and Devialet, my ears began to wonder what else was out there? The final straw was when the Devialet blew 2 cones on my Sopra. The 220 pro core infinity had to go but I was going to keep the Sopras. Until I got no help what so ever installing the new cones. Just, “here are your cones. Good luck asshole”. That got me on the hunt again. Which lead me all the way back to B&W with the 802D3s.
Now my point in all this is not to tell you that I know the 802d3 is not my final speaker. No, my point is to say when did sound go from a journey to a product? I mean I remember at age 11 in the Modia store listening to my dad talk with Mike Blust, his salesman “The great thing is Frankie, that no matter your sound, no matter your flavor, someone is always doing it better”. That resonated with me. I remember the first night listening to the beolab with my dad. He asked me what I thought. I asked if this was the same money as the Nautilus? “Yes!”, he shot back smirking, as if he expected to hear something good. All 11 year old me could muster in that moment of WTF was “You got fucking robbed”. Now remember what I said earlier about my childhood, now look how much my father had changed. No beating, no anger, he simply replied “to you I got fucked. To you. This is my sound”. Sure he was a fanboy but he understood the other speakers were much, much, much better… I mean different.
The thing that really angers me is these guys who answer every question with what ever they own. What speaker do recommend, A or B? First post is “I recommend you try Q”. OP buys A. First post is, “did you try the Q? what did you not like about the Q?”
How did we get to this place where your speaker or amp is your identity? How did we get to a place where if you bought something, if you spent your hard-earned money on something, you can’t critique it or admit that something, anything could be better than it? This new world in which I am living is baffling to me.
So, having said that, and after reading this article
The F*ck*d up nature of The Audiophile Audio Industry - 13th Note HiFi Reviews
Can you believe this piece of shit? It reads like an April Fools joke. He wants to be paid for ads for speakers he gives good reviews to. That is the definition of bribery. He is mad that no one bribed him enough! The fucking balls on that guy, but, that was not even the kicker. The best part is he basically admits to spinning things for sales.
So, after seeing so many fanboys corrupting the industry, and now seeing reviewers plain out admit they want bribes, I have decided to to do something about it.
I will be starting my own podcast, 2 Ears Up. We will not award bests, we will award new levels of achievement.
This sound for this price.
This soundstage for this environment.
And guess what? If something is shit, we will say it. Politely but firmly. The object will not be to sell you something. But too engage you in something bigger than one’s self.
When I was a child TV was my life. No education no real childhood till I was 11. I would wake up, eat, drink and sleep on my own. If I got to eat with my family, I was paranoid a beating was coming. My childhood was for all intents and purposes the film, “Cable Guy”. I knew my life was not normal, but I wanted to know what normal was. TV and film showed me that. It taught me how to socialize. Now here is where this leads to audio. At the age of 11 my father takes me to pick out his new stereo. B&O 9000, I think, but I was 11. That is where I saw these massive towers, with a basketball on top and a gun on top of the basketball. 802 Nautilus, but to me, 11 year old me, they were art.
We got to hear them, I mean I could not believe it. I had no clue the price, but the shape, the style. The speaker had a presence in the room. At 11 I felt it, I could see it. My God though when the music started my whole body quivered. The price might have been $12 or $14k it might as well of been $500k to me. Once I saw them hooked to a TV, I knew 2 things in that moment;
1. I would need to build me a home theater.
2. One day I would have those speakers or better.
Thus began my audio journey. After saving for 5 years, I got me an aiwa 5.1 system. Wow, what a piece of shit. And I knew it too. I had no clue what meant what, or how to describe my problems with it at the time. It’s so funny because I remember watching a THX video on discreet 5.1 systems and how they worked. I remember being mad at George Lucas for saying how each channel could only produce the specific sound for the scene. But in my AIWA system every speaker produced all the same sounds as the other speakers. This was with Dolby. I knew this needed to go and so it did. About 6 months later I bought me some Wharfdale floor standers. They looked good and sounded good to me, I remember getting a onkyo amp and piecing together the rest of the 5.1.
This setup would last me about 2 years. By then I had saved up some cash and wanted a giant killer. You know, every speaker 20 years ago during the dotcom boom was a giant killer. Till this very day I still don’t know if those swan systems where made by AIWA.
But after enough research, Axiom Audio had my money. M60, VP160 and the big surrounds to match. I got an SVS sub too. Well, in my head I was the shit. Not my dream system but with the Rotel amp, I was cool with it. I could not really listen to music with it. I had lots of DVDs of shit like the Eagles Hell Freezes Over. Hardly ever music though. I knew the speakers were the problem, so after about 5 years I upgrade everything.
M60 to M80, VP160 to VP180, but still sucked to me, for music at least. This was my first run in with fanboys. I remember on the Axion forum that nearly everyone on there thought Axiom was the best. It was odd to me. I thought it might be a Canadian thing or something. But please understand I owned these speakers too. I enjoyed them too, but these people, they said crazy shit like “If you gave me a pair of 800 Diamond for even trade I would not trade my M80”. That’s real and they were serious. How fucking stupid is that? If there is no emotional value, why would you not take the really expensive speakers and sell them? See now? Free M80s. Like I said though, I let it go figuring, hey it’s a Canadian thing or something.
I put my upgrades on hold. I did not want to buy something unheard with no return policy. I was definitely not going to buy the 802D2, which I loved, but after 20 years I felt something should be better by now. Which leads me to a beautiful trip to France. I awoke one morning and went down to grab some breakfast across from the hotel. And by luck an audio demo,. I still don’t know why but there they were, Sopra 2s in orange running on a Devialet. That sound, that sweet, sweet sound. I felt 11 years old again.
As soon as I came home I got to work. 3 months later my system was delivered. Wow, what a difference. I know sound and I know value. The Axiom speakers are great amazing value speakers, but, the Sopra 2s rivaled systems that I heard that cost 60k. The Axioms rivaled Vienna Acoustics, not a knock, just honesty.
Almost immediately I began to notice similarities of the Devialet people and Axiom people. They both seem to exist in an alternate reality where nothing is subjective except genuine facts. I loved all my Devialet products, but these people did not like or love theirs.
No, these people have faith, faith that nothing is better and nothing will ever be better. Which is fine, I can respect that, I can even appreciate it. The thing I can’t handle is when these people want to enforce their feelings as reality. I am happy you love your $40k 1000 pro. Please enjoy it, love it but stop trying to tell me it’s a bargain. Stop trying to tell me the 1000 pro beats MBL, Gryphon and D’agstino. I am not going to get into all of Devialet’s problems, hopefully my point is clear.
After getting poor support from Focal and Devialet, my ears began to wonder what else was out there? The final straw was when the Devialet blew 2 cones on my Sopra. The 220 pro core infinity had to go but I was going to keep the Sopras. Until I got no help what so ever installing the new cones. Just, “here are your cones. Good luck asshole”. That got me on the hunt again. Which lead me all the way back to B&W with the 802D3s.
Now my point in all this is not to tell you that I know the 802d3 is not my final speaker. No, my point is to say when did sound go from a journey to a product? I mean I remember at age 11 in the Modia store listening to my dad talk with Mike Blust, his salesman “The great thing is Frankie, that no matter your sound, no matter your flavor, someone is always doing it better”. That resonated with me. I remember the first night listening to the beolab with my dad. He asked me what I thought. I asked if this was the same money as the Nautilus? “Yes!”, he shot back smirking, as if he expected to hear something good. All 11 year old me could muster in that moment of WTF was “You got fucking robbed”. Now remember what I said earlier about my childhood, now look how much my father had changed. No beating, no anger, he simply replied “to you I got fucked. To you. This is my sound”. Sure he was a fanboy but he understood the other speakers were much, much, much better… I mean different.
The thing that really angers me is these guys who answer every question with what ever they own. What speaker do recommend, A or B? First post is “I recommend you try Q”. OP buys A. First post is, “did you try the Q? what did you not like about the Q?”
How did we get to this place where your speaker or amp is your identity? How did we get to a place where if you bought something, if you spent your hard-earned money on something, you can’t critique it or admit that something, anything could be better than it? This new world in which I am living is baffling to me.
So, having said that, and after reading this article
The F*ck*d up nature of The Audiophile Audio Industry - 13th Note HiFi Reviews
Can you believe this piece of shit? It reads like an April Fools joke. He wants to be paid for ads for speakers he gives good reviews to. That is the definition of bribery. He is mad that no one bribed him enough! The fucking balls on that guy, but, that was not even the kicker. The best part is he basically admits to spinning things for sales.
So, after seeing so many fanboys corrupting the industry, and now seeing reviewers plain out admit they want bribes, I have decided to to do something about it.
I will be starting my own podcast, 2 Ears Up. We will not award bests, we will award new levels of achievement.
This sound for this price.
This soundstage for this environment.
And guess what? If something is shit, we will say it. Politely but firmly. The object will not be to sell you something. But too engage you in something bigger than one’s self.
.
