Cleviebaby wrote:

20 years ago, I stopped worrying about whether or not my Linn Sonndek was set up properly, or whether this type of turntable support worked better than that one, and bought a B&O system.  I then just listened to the music and have been happy ever since, although instead of worrying about set ups and cable, I now collect vintage B&O, which I suppose is just another sort of obsessive behaviour. 

In some ways the sort of 'tinkering' that audiophiles like to do seems almost contradicatory to the very reason I like B&O.  The only bit of tinkering I have done is to use 2 squash balls cut in half under my Beomaster 4400 which seems to diminish the hum from the mains transformer on this 34 year old Tuner Amplifier.  But I really hope that doesn't make me an 'audiophile'.

Cleve

 

I was going to suggest squash balls as well but note that the supports Rich is using are probably the same price! Admittedly one can play squash with the balls before one cuts them in half!

To round out that story a little, my guy got a counter top place to water jet them to the exact circular dimension of the base, so when you look at them you really wouldn't know there was anything different unless you're one of us and tuned in to the little details.

bayerische wrote:

Silent wire MK5 digital coaxials from the soundcard to Beolab 5's. Just for the good looks. 😎

Be aware that you'll have to play them for about a week before you'll get the most out of it 😁 

Beobuddy wrote:

bayerische wrote:

Silent wire MK5 digital coaxials from the soundcard to Beolab 5's. Just for the good looks. 😎

 

Be aware that you'll have to play them for about a week before you'll get the most out of it 😁 

And also make sure the arrow on the cable is pointing in the proper signal flow direction.  [:'(]

I guess I am, or used, to be what might be considered an "audiophile" but not an audiophool.

One of the things that I find enjoyable about B&O is it basically freed me of the obsessive need to worry about different components, etc. I'd already moved from subjectivist to objectivist in my philosophy, thanks to a number of helpful people (including E. Brad Meyer of the BAS, and Ken Kantor who was running NHT then, and others). I had gone thru a number of controlled listening tests and disabused myself of the belief system prevalent in a lot of audiophiles. Nothing like having your nose rubbed in reality as it were to help clear up your delusions. Or course, some people stick with their delusions and manufacture all manner of reasons why a controlled test "obscures" what they know to be true. Kind of like N rays.

But, doesn't mean I don't like good sound, just that I focus on things that matter most, like room interactions, speaker quality, etc. I found my purchase of the Beosound 9000 and Beolab 8000's liberating, didn't obsess about anything, just sat back and reveled in the sound quality, which is astoundingly good IMO. In my room I get incredible imaging and smoothness, almost rivaling planar speakers, but without the sometimes exaggerated depth they produce. I also found that being able to control bass and treble and, gasp, loudness from the remote was very useful for adding a touch of eq for problematic recordings.

As for loudness, I found the B&O loudness setting to be very useful for low level listening, instead of becoming boomy it just made late nite listening much fuller and more musical. I've found that most systems don't sound good at low levels, with the B&O loudness settings and such, they system is quite satisfying at low volume.

Jeff wrote:

I guess I am, or used, to be what might be considered an "audiophile" but not an audiophool.

One of the things that I find enjoyable about B&O is it basically freed me of the obsessive need to worry about different components, etc. I'd already moved from subjectivist to objectivist in my philosophy, thanks to a number of helpful people (including E. Brad Meyer of the BAS, and Ken Kantor who was running NHT then, and others). I had gone thru a number of controlled listening tests and disabused myself of the belief system prevalent in a lot of audiophiles. Nothing like having your nose rubbed in reality as it were to help clear up your delusions. Or course, some people stick with their delusions and manufacture all manner of reasons why a controlled test "obscures" what they know to be true. Kind of like N rays.

But, doesn't mean I don't like good sound, just that I focus on things that matter most, like room interactions, speaker quality, etc. I found my purchase of the Beosound 9000 and Beolab 8000's liberating, didn't obsess about anything, just sat back and reveled in the sound quality, which is astoundingly good IMO. In my room I get incredible imaging and smoothness, almost rivaling planar speakers, but without the sometimes exaggerated depth they produce. I also found that being able to control bass and treble and, gasp, loudness from the remote was very useful for adding a touch of eq for problematic recordings.

As for loudness, I found the B&O loudness setting to be very useful for low level listening, instead of becoming boomy it just made late nite listening much fuller and more musical. I've found that most systems don't sound good at low levels, with the B&O loudness settings and such, they system is quite satisfying at low volume.

Hi Jeff

I found your post rang more than quite a few bells with me, re my past audiophile nee audiophool experiences with Naim Audio as regards the obsessive need to worry about the kit all the time, and the endless tweaking, maintainence and 'upgrades'.  

Hopefully I'm cured with my 'Road to Damascus' Naim to Sony ES experience - a dose of reality if there ever was; if not quite yet, hopefully some B&O purchases will likely cure me once and for all.. 😁

Best Regards

John.. 😐

Greetings all, Audiophile or audiofool ? This question begs to answer : we enjoy listening to good music via good standards, equipment..

My system consists of 2 x analog  :BEOGRAM 3404 w/ intact MMC20cl + THORENS TD160 w/ retipped Axel MMC20EN shibata<> BO adaptor.

SIMA *preamp+amplifier (modest 50 watts/channel), CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CD player .

For radio FM listening and TV- Bluray, these are fed through a BEOMASTER 3300.

All sources are output via switched BW DM70 hybrid electrostatic speakers. 

I don't use any fancy interconnects or cabling, just heavy 12 gauge cable for the speakers and a reliable PHILIPS power bar. 

The only mods done to the components were as follows : refurbish the ESL panels and 1 power supply * date manufacture-March 1971.

I fitted the preamp with an additional DIY phono stage as I didn't want to switch cables via 1 phono input and this replaced the unused TAPE input.

Finally for turntables, *stabilty and isolation*, they rest on 3/8 marble tiles on top of 1.5 inch styrofoam sheet backed with 1/4 inch MDF board.

My personal take on these variables: 2 identical songs on CD<>record, I'll opt for the vinyl  and BG3404-MMC20cl = 1st choice..pure joy to listen to records.. for older +/or inferior pressings the THORENS w/ MMC20 retip shibata. The radio section in the BM3300 is outstanding, sound quality is excellent and the remote capability is ideal for TV-DVD watching.

Am I an audiophile ? Yes , I enjoy listening to music and using esoteric quality equipment brings out the best albeit I'm still not 100% sure what they mean by soundtage.. dark(er)?sounding.. slam..

To sum up ,one of my friends ( an audiophile) wisely stated , "MOTORHEAD won't sound good on any system !" and I totally agree.

You had me up until Motorhead.  Sometimes you just gotta hear "Ace of Spades."  And as Butt-head once said, "He can do whatever the (heck) he wants.  He's Lemmy."

Beobuddy wrote:

bayerische wrote:

Silent wire MK5 digital coaxials from the soundcard to Beolab 5's. Just for the good looks. 😎

 

Be aware that you'll have to play them for about a week before you'll get the most out of it 😁 

Atleast! 😁