Keith.......That was an enjoyable read that presented some interesting points to consider about how we listen and what we listen for in our systems.
Reading that article reminded me of an experience I went through many years ago in the pre-digital era around 1981. Having been serious about sound reproduction since 1968 when I purchased my first decent audio gear, I had come a long way or so I thought in developing trained ears. Through these years I had assembled a number of different sound systems. Amps, speakers, turntables, phono cartridges, reel to reel tape machines had come and gone as I gained knowledge and made improvements.
What happened to my pleasure of enjoying music gradually faded to the background as my obsession with searching for sonic flaws in my system took over my consciousness. This didn't happen overnight. I didn't even realize it was happening until one day I was listening to an album I knew well and had played innumerable times. Instead of enjoying the music, allowing the sound to capture my imagination and involve me emotionally, I was sitting there slightly uptight and irritated, unable to relax as I searched for any infinitesimal moment where I might hear the faintest sound of any type of distortion. In other words, I had become a fanatic searching for the tiniest irregularities in sound reproduction. My sound system had become lab equipment in some ongoing research experiment. I constantly searched for inner groove distortion, stylus tracking issues, tonearm resonances, rumble, wow and flutter, feedback, on and on. I was no longer hearing music because now the sounds were more or less just variable test tones to aid the exposure of flaws I knew must be present no matter what, and I was on a mission to find them. I was out of control and had completely lost my enthusiasm for listening to music.
Once I came to the realization that I had lost the true purpose for owning all this audio gear and accepted the fact that I was driving myself mad with my behavior, I made the decision to quit listening to my sound system. I told myself the best thing I could do was to embrace silence because there is no distortion in that. And so it went, I shut down the sound system. I allowed nearly seven weeks to pass without listening to my sound system, not even the tuner. I played my guitar, took long walks, went to bed early, visited some clubs where live jazz was played at night, and slowly adjusted to the peacefulness that gradually came over me. I spent time thinking about how obsessed I had become with my sound system's performance and began to realize there is a time and place for critical observations, the reviewers hat so to speak, and there's a time and place for simply enjoying the purpose of owning audio equipment, just listening to music.
At the end of week seven I began to feel I was ready to reengage with my sound system. I had done enough thinking about what had driven me to near insanity that I felt I could now control my thoughts and find that space in my mind where music arrived first. I made the move, turned on my sound system, placed an LP on the turntable and sat down to listen. My first impression was how fabulous I thought the system sounded. I had gone nearly two months without listening and was keenly aware of the excellent reproduction and the joy of listening to music in my room again. On occasion I found myself wanting to slip into that reviewer's hat but caught myself and controlled my attention to remain focused on the music, follow the beat, feel the bass, embrace the event, relax. It became a continuing lesson to retrain my mind, learn to ignore the nitpicking of the gear and remain immersed in the musical performances. It slowly became second nature and exciting to hear the music and not the gear, except for those times I intended to critically evaluate equipment. To this day I occasionally slip into the reviewers hat without conscious thought, then catch myself and shut it down. I don't want the audio gear to be the reason I spend so much time in my sound room. I want to listen to music.
