… and we have plans to expand its scope over the course of the next few weeks and months.

Yes, we know that we review something when we get it, saying we will say more when it is broken in, only to pull a Harry Pearson (sorry HP ) and never end up getting back to saying anythnig about it. It is not that we don’t have anything to say, but there just really hasn’t been the context - something else is always going on.

Well, we have ideas on how to fix this - so we will have sections in which it makes perfect sense to ‘get back’ to components. Hopefully this will help get me in the head-space required - none of our products here suck, or we wouldn’t carry it (which I think makes us unique, but I digress) - but it still requires some effort to come up with the necessary delicacy to talk about plusses and minuses, and just exactly where something fits into the n-dimensional sonic character space that we call high-end audio reproduction.

Coming up:

* We got the new Sound Lab Ultimate 1 loudspeaker upgrade in today. We will write about the before and after….[we know from other reports on the web that the efficiency is better, but we have heard nada about how the sound has changed - I guess it isn’t important? A big WTF to all those people.]

* We are getting the Audio Note M10 preamplifier, which finally squeeeeeeeked through customs today, in tomorrow. That is going into the Marten Coltrane system, along with the Audio Note Kegons and the Emm Labs CDSD and DCC2 digital equipment on the HRS MXR rack, with Brinkmann’s Balance turntable (with Lamm Lp2 phono preamplifier) heading the show. Anyone else notice that this will take 7 - 8 shelves? And we have 4? Should we add this as a Fundamental Law that the number of shelves will always be exceeded by the number of components?

[The solution is to put the 3-box M10 on the floor on HRS M3 platforms with the Kegons (and Balance powersupply and heater). Can you just see is dancing a jig to get to the turntable through all the cables and powercords and platforms for 5 (five) f-i-v-e components? Too bad my daughter isn’t here… at least SHE took ballet lessons and knows a little about tiptoeing]

* Harmonic Resolution Systems is sending out a MXR equipment rack, in silver paint, to the show for our room (thanks guys!).

* The Marten Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers should be in Denver tomorrow to start their squeeeeeeeeeezing through customs.

* With the Audio Note Kegon amplifiers on the Marten Coltrane speakers, we will move the Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers, which were on the Coltranes (a match made in heaven, and I think most people who visit would agree) to be on the Audio Note AN/E SEC Silver Signature loudspeakers. I am not sure this has ever been tried before - never heard of it anyway - so this should be interesting.

The Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspeakers have been playing 24×7 since we got ‘em. Seems like it has been awhile… so we will take a more serious listen - before the Sound Labs take back that system in listening room #2.

There is probably more…. Comcast has been down for 5 out of the last 7 days (they are usually down just a day or two a month). Kind of puts a crimp in our surfing habit - but we have a dial up connection through Earthlink that allows us to do this blog and write and answer emails - to do just about everything except post show reports…..

But before we switch to the RMAF Show channel….

The reason people have so many problems with upgrading their systems in an orderly fashion is due to a lack of discipline…

We are all human… and being responsible for upgrading our systems, our human frailties impact the result.

1. Something is wrong… which component is doing the stinky? You, Sir CD Player, ARE the Weakest Link. [Human managed SA Optimization]

2. Someone else’s system sounds better in some way…. What can we purloin from their system to make ours as good in this way as theirs. Pardon me Sir, can you spare a Pair of 300B tube-based Single-ended Triode monoblock amplifiers? [Human managed Genetic Algorithm]

3. There is a sound that you dream about, a sound that is the ultimate sound. . You know what you want, and you, all the time, search and think about how to get there. Imagine if you will (and we all do), a music that is so pure, it takes your problems and makes mincemeat of them; so intricate and self-consistant it reduces reality to a charactercher of itself; … sound of thunder, speed of lightning, …. welcome to… the ‘Upgrade Zone’. [Goal directed A*Star Optimal Path Searching Algorithm]

Anyway, part of recognizing these approaches for what they are and looking at the correspondingly more disclipined, algorithmic apporaches is to try and prevent us from making as many natual human mistakes when we upgrade our system, to achieve a more gratifying result.

OK. Lots more to say - but for now… Hope you all enjoyed…

In summary, then, we have:

I. Simulated Annealing - When some number of the system’s components judged the weakest get replaced.

II. Genetic Algorithms - When the system ‘mates’ with another system that sounded good and so ‘inherits’ components from that system creating a 3rd child system. (Thanks to Steve O. for this one).

and I want to add another:

III. The ‘A Star’ (often written ‘A*’) optimal path finding algorithm - in this case from the original system to a better system.

The A*Star algorithm searches for the best, most direct and cheapest path by looking at paths that appear to be in the direction of the goal. This algorithm presupposes that there is a goal in mind.

I think one of the other of these three algorithms are executed, subconscously, by people on the system upgrade path. That III is going to be more successful than II, and II than I, seems to be a truism.

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It might be an interesting thought experiement to think about how, for example, a computer program that took a database with information about all known components, and, starting with your current system, could map out different systems that would improve the system, in the direction you want it improved, for each given price point.

I.E. What Neli does when you call her up (because we are comfortable recommending things we don’t sell)

This database would store information about each component, its warmth, its ability to control the bass of a speaker, its micro, midi and macro-dynamic capabilities, every sonic attribute we can think of. In effect, it would map each component’s location to a point in an n-dimensional space.

1. First the person using this computer program would type in all their current components. The program would then plot out the location of where their system is.

2. Then, the hard part, the person using this computer program, would have to pick a point in this n-dimensional space as the place they would like their system to move to eventually, how they would like their system to sound in the best of all worlds.

3. Finally, they would type in the amount of money they would like to spend, and perhaps other contraints like keeping the number of tubes below, say, a dozen, for heat reasons.

4. Then, pushing a button, they would get a graphic showing the systems that matched their monetray requirements along the path from their current system to the ultimate goal.

[Think of it as on Star Trek; with a million planets, how do they pick which one to go to for their shoreleave? They are going to need to use a program like this - can’t just go to Riisa all the time ].

In the Audiophile’s Guide to the Galaxy, we have mapped some quadrants in this space: Impressiveness, Enjoyability, Emotionality, Magic… next we have to map out the stars and planets.

Audio Trek.

15 more days.

We are spending a lot of time on the RMAF show preparations these days…

Deciding what furniture to have them take out of the room, and which to leave in

Making up a full page ad for the show directory (the booklet they hand out to attendees)

Getting our room posters made up that show the current list of product lines we carry… we added a few lately: Kharma, Elrod and Acoustic Zen (we love their Adagio speakers), and of course we lost Acapella.

Getting new business cards made up (we usually use the impetus of a show to update our business cards, if they need it).

Making up and printing out our handouts that we give everyone who comes to our room which describes each component we have in our system.

Focusing a lot at the gym on the muscles that are needed to Carry Heavy Equipment - especially those involved going up and down stairs.

Coordinating with everyone to get everything to show up on time for the show - things are looking positive lately on this front … (* W * H * E * W! *).

Creating the pages for our usual RMAF 2006 show report which are looking awfully empty right now…. The photo of the sunset was taken from our room at the show on I believe the evening of the last day of the show last year.

Drawing up the diagrams that show which components are going to go on which shelves of the equipment racks. We are taking our glossssssss black HRS ‘MXR’ rack, and HRS has graciously offered to send us out a loaner MXR rack, in silver (see pictures of a silver MXR in our photo rich HE 2006 show report).

And, of course, deciding which equipment to bring. It is tempting to bring the whole store to the show…. but not very practical, unfortunately.

Its firming up a little bit. Mostly what is changing is which manufacturers and distributors are goijng to be able to make it. I think we added 2 and changed 1 since the last post was initially written (it has been updated since).

* Marten Design Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers
* Audio Note U.K. Kegon amplifiers
* Edge Signature One amplifiers
* Audio Note U.K. M10 preamplifier
* Emm Labs DCC2 and CDSD Signature Editions CD / SACD player
* Brinkmann Audio Balance Turntable with Titan cartridge
* Lamm LP2 phonostage
* HRS MXR equipment rack and assorted M3 Isolation Bases
* Nordost Valhalla interconnect (10 meter run from preamp to amplifiers)
* Jorma speaker cable
* Shunyata power cords
* Elrod power cords

In the Audio Note / Audio Federation room, there will be:

* AN/E SEC Silver Signature loudspeakers
* Kageki amplifiers
* M8 preamplifier
* TT1 turntable with Arm Two
* Acoustic Dreams equipment rack and amplifier stands

In attendance, besides Neli and I and Steve, local customer and invaluable assistant, will be:

* Dan Meinwald - Importer for Marten Design and Jorma Design
* Laurence Blair III - Importer for Brinkmann Audio
* Leif Olofsson - Marten Design
* Jorma Koski - Jorma Design
* Dave Cope - Audio Note U.K. Answer Man (next door in the Audio Note / Audio Federation room, room 9026)
* Mike Latvis - HRS (Harmonic Resolution systems)
* Steven Norber - Edge Electronics

The questions posed in the last post are difficult questions… well, the answers are difficult, anyway.

But there are a few guiding principles we think one can use to navigate the process of system evaluation and upgrades:

1. Recognize the absolute failure of magazine reviews and online forum consensus to consistantly recommend components of a high quality.

There are a lot of reasons behind these failures… we mentioned a few a couple of posts back.

2. Most components are good at ’something’ - just make sure you know what that something is and how it relates to #3

3. Understand your personal preferences and trade-offs - and understand that they will change both with life maturity and as the number of your audiophile experiences increase.

Nobody is rich enough to buy the perfect system. No, even hiring a live bands won’t give one a ‘perfect sound’ [for example, Jimi and Mozart just ain’t gonna be able to make it that early in the day, sorry].

So there ARE going to be tradeoffs - things that you will have to accept which are not going to be perfect. Know which things are OK for you personally if they aren’t top-notch.

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How does one know what sound one really, really, really wants?

Saying it is the absolute sound (of a live acoustic instrument) is a cop out. For one, many of us like amplified music - which often sounds ‘better’ in our homes than it ever did live. Second - where are we sitting at this acoustic event? A close-mic’d recording would have us sitting in Yo Yo Mah’s lap.

Besides, do we even like Cello music? At what time of day? Do we like it as loud as it is live? Louder? Do we want the player to play with experience or with passion? Do we want them to play without mistakes - or do we want to feel like the player is extending themselves and makes a few mistakes in order to reach heretofore unheard of heights of skill with their instrument?

But all this is perhaps irrelevent.

What we really want in a sound is governed by how we want it to impact us.

Sometimes we want it to stir up the adrenaline - to make us feel bold and powerful.

Sometimes we want it to remind us of the beauty that still exists in this world.

Sometimes we want it to surprise us.

Sometimes just to entertain us.

Always to make us FEEL SOMETHING.

What do we want to feel? How can we tell? Is it like food - do we need a well-balanced diet of musically-induced emotional / psychological experiences? How do these interact with /affect / get affected by / replace feelings we get from other experiences in life?

I’ll say one thing - musically-induced experiences seem to have a higher quality, a more aesthetically pleasing as well as a ‘higher consciousness’ if you will, about them than the everyday events in our lives. Well, I find that to be true in my life anyway

[It is my opinion that most high-end systems and components target the listeners who they think want to be impressed by the technical aspects of an audio reproduction system - so that often a system does not induce any deep, complex responses in the listener at all - nothing except an appreciation of the technical wizardry of 21st Century humans and a latent feeling of annoyance with a dash of mild headache].

Last post broke down the optimization process into three main steps:

1. Recognizing that a system needs improvement and that it cannot be improved without some radical changes
2. Choosing what those changes should be
3. Evaluating the resultant system for sound quality improvements (or lack thereof )

Hopefully after some thought we might be able to apply some of the techniques from Simulated Annealing algorithms to our dilema here.

Looking more deeply at step 1.

*** Some people are happy with what they have and no matter what other system they hear, they are able to always convince themselves that their system is ‘better’. These people should not be reading this

*** Some people read the trade magazines are the online forums and hear about how just absolutely wonderful something is and this gives them an urge to upgrade. There is nothing that they can hear that is wrong with their system, but that ephemeral ‘better component’ haunts them - making them wonder if their system may not be so good after all.

How to debunk what they are reading so that they don’t feel like they need to upgrade all the time?

How to learn to differentiate between needing a system upgrade and just reviewer-inspired equipment lust?

How to stop this imagining all the time as they listen to each song about how the song would sound probably so much better if their system just had X, Y and or Z?

*** Romy [if I understand him correctly ], at the GoodSoundClub, thinks that a person should always have a clear idea of exactly how they want to improve their system, what property of the sound that they want more of and what they want less of, before they start upgrading.

How does one know how they want to improve their system?

How does one differentiate between infatuation with a different sound a natural preference for a particular sound?

How does one know beforehand whether a particular sound will help one grow in their depth of mucisal appreication, and what is just sugar coating that will take one into on a detour?

How does one know what sound one really, really, really wants?

*** Some people hear a system and they like something about it a lot in comparison with their system - perhaps the bass is better controlled, or more powerful, or the pacing is much more natural and engaging. Sometimes every aspect of this other system they have heard is appealing (in which case they should attempt to replace theirs with an exact copy of this other one, if they can afford it. Done, Finito.). But sometimes the other system sound also has aspects that are not as appealing.

Should they inquire further and see about upgrading their own system to get some of these positive attributes they are hearing?

They only heard this sound for a few minutes, maybe hours - what will it be like to live with? Will they learn to hate it?

How to get the good things from this other system into their own?

Which components in that other system are what is making this aspect of the sound that they are liking so much?

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Well these are all hard questions.

I know that other hobbies are also so inflicted. Electric guitarists buy and sell amps and guitars like there is no tomorrow (they call it having GAS - Gear Aquisition Syndrome). Looking for that particular ’sound’ that will both be ‘theirs’ and also be appealing to their audience. We don’t usually have much of an audience - though the ones that we do have, especially the non-audiophiles - should be listened to closely to see if we are anywhere in the ballpark of having a system that sounds enjoyable in a natural sense. Even the finest wine tastes good to a neophyte - so should our finest hifi systems sound good to the non-audiophile.

More next time on some ways to help think about maybe finding an approach that might work for some of the questions above…

For myself, the main question is and will always be:

How does one know what sound one really, really, really wants?

Or needs.