Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Obnoxoius and Audiosnob reviews (the best of)

Does anyone have a link for the most obnoxious or snooty comments made in a review?

I came across this Stereotimes article while perusing reviews on the Parasound amps. The first four paragraphs (past the specs) make my stomach uneasy from the dizzyness experienced caused by extreme eye rolling. The little titles above the sections truly elicit a vomitous response.
Apparently dropping 2 grand on an amp is hinted at being "low fi" (mid fi starting around 6k).
I would hate to see how he would describe the category of $300-$500 receivers.

I generally try not to pay too much attention to people who sound/act like the only air fit for them to breathe is bottled and imported from the Swiss Alps.

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I own a $20K CD player and a $15K amplifier (well actually one $15K stereo amp and a pair of $16K monoblocks, but I digress.) To me, living with this level of gear day in and day out has become the norm, a privilege almost taken for granted.

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Ha!!! That's nothing, man! I pay over-$40K ANNUALLY as school tuition for my 3 daughters. HAHAHA... HAHA... HA... ::sigh::

I read that same article yesterday while obsessing over the Halo P3/A23. I don't see how recorded music could sound any better than how it's coming out of that equipment. He should take back his "hi-fi" gear, "settle" for the Parasound and have a beer (imported and expensive, of course).

Excuse me while I go puke. I can't even afford the Parasound!! My H/K 525 is the highest I'm about to go right now, and I've been paying that off for months. Those people really drive me insane. That's why I like these boards. It's really kind of refreshing to go to an audio "place" where people don't sneer at you for not having $1000 cables.

How's that HK for 2 channel music?

Well, given that my mind may be skewed, and that my speakers are not all that great, and I do listen using Dolby Pro Logic II and a sub, it's pretty damn good! I was actually pretty amazed yesterday when I cranked it up with some Bach, Dave Matthews, Ozzy, Victor Wooten, and Coltrane on it (I like listening to a wide variety of music at once). The CDs varied in mastering quality, but they all sounded really good to me.

PLEASE stop mentioning the Parasounds. Please. Seriously. Every time you do, I go back to their site, cry a little and then consider screwing up my finances.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! Think of the children!

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Ha!!! That's nothing, man! I pay over-$40K ANNUALLY as school tuition for my 3 daughters. HAHAHA... HAHA... HA... ::sigh::

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Well at least that might be 40K to play with once they are finished.
However, if they go for the golden PhD, that could be about 10 years....each.
Eeeek.

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FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! Think of the children!

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Semi,
These are the children you want to have?
Possibly have and don't know it?
Or the neighborhood children that you taunt with older guy classical non-rap music and such?

Wow, all in school at once? That's gotta hurt.

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PLEASE stop mentioning the Parasounds. Please. Seriously.

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Okay, no Parasound. But while you are still at the web browser, look at this one. This is what I would call a REAL MAN'S AMPLIFIER.



Look at its specs -- from 250W @ 8ohms, it increases linearly up to 2000W @ 1ohm. Look at those FORTY FOUR (44) power transistors working in parallel. Look at the 3kVA, finned troidal transformer. Don't forget about those (NO JOKE) 0.4-Farad x 2 power capacitors. And above all, look at how BEAUTIFULLY built it is!!!

Heh-heh... Thanks for letting me vent some of my National Pride!

I'm going to go cry now. That's just mean, Sushi. :-)

no need to go to the porn site from here,those amps were great...thanks sushi!!!!......ron

Not to worry. Just use my patented 'quick-and-dirty' method of boosting your audio-ego and say, "It probably sounds like crap."

But sushi, its yelllow!!

Let us go back and review this nice Halo JC1 instead (1200W @ 2ohm) because it is a lovely metal with blue lights.

You're all dicks.

Chesseroo:

My physical symptoms were very much the same as yours...

"I'm typically confronted by a protracted and awkward silence and that befuddled, tilted-head look that your dog gives you when you change his food from Alpo to Purina."

More like "Have you been smokin' those funny cigarettes again???"

I'm a real newbie (been 10+ years since I did any shoppin' for home audio but I'm learnin' folks!) so let me ask a question...do people like that ever review Axioms? I'd have to think from a price point alone somebody like that would have a bad first impression...not "high" fi enough...

Take care all.

Larry

watching this man fail a blind test against a receiver would be priceless.

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do people like that ever review Axioms? I'd have to think from a price point alone somebody like that would have a bad first impression...not "high" fi enough.

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I think you hit the nail on the proverbial head. The price point is obviously no where near what this guy would want to review for speakers. The best reviews i've read to date are the conglomeration of actual users and forum posters. They typically pick out (in far more plain english) what the speakers are like, ups and downs.
I really hate all the flowery, descriptive multi page reviews of things that really do not matter at all, like the air that surrounds the equipment or how changing the colour finish on the audio rack greatly enhances the bass.
Eeeesh.

I just picked up a Brystons 4B (2 x 250w or 1 x 800w bridged)
With loudness vs my Rotel RSX 1065 100W x 5 (120w x 2) the Bryston at 250W is just only a little bit louder at all volume levels. Were the Bryston totally kicked ass was in the lower level detail, soundstage and lots and lots more information. My same setup was like night and day when I installed the Bryston on the pre-outs of my Rotel receiver. All this time I was a firm believer that you would not notice sound quality between amps ... yes between Denon, NAD, Yammy and Rotel. The moment you use separates ie Bryston, Classe and Krells at least. I noticed a big difference. I was almost set with a Parasound 4004 2 x 200w channel amp but this Bryston deal came forward.

That low fi mid fi stuff does make me cringe.

ps: I also tried the Bryston with my 3Ti and they absolutely sang. The mids and bass detail was even more engaging.

Sorry my err... I mean Aragon 4004 or Parasound Halo A23...I'm just a tard sometimes...well maybe all the time.

Saturn:

Ur, welcome to the club?

Which 4B did you get? A new SST or a used ST/Pro? I see some good deals on some 4B Pro that I won't mind picking up if it's a significant improvement over the run of the mill "mid fi" integrated.

Just the ST version. I found the price between ST and SST was too great of an overall improvement.
Well for quality its better sounding than my Rotel which was not a slouch at 120w x 2 or 100 x 5. It definitely was not louder but low level information is definitely much more, soundstage and imaging specially mated with the PMC mains I currently run.
Remember the pro version over ST is just the extra balanced connections. You would only benefit if you run XLR interconnects. If running unbalanced RCA interconnects there is no difference. As per some people that have told me.

Saturn

Well Saturn, I actually have been told different (hence the question) - the Pro (and the NRB) sounds somewhat, urm, "Pro". Although to be fair the amps were probably compared against Classes and CJs instead of NADs and Haflers of the day.

I'd still be interested in what the older 4Bs sound like. There are some awesome deals to be had with a Pro.

haha.. im still using a kenwood amp that I picked up from Futureshop a few years back for $250 cnd. right now thats all I can afford, and since I have never listened to higher end gear I am satisfied with it. But I know, as soon as I go and take a listen to a quality amp I'll be wondering how I ever managed with that kenwood.

Speaking of amps, has anyone heard any of the Blue Circle products? The BC28 looks pretty decent. A tube/solid state hybrid running at 120 watts/channel into 8 ohms.



you can check out their site here:
http://www.bluecircle.com

Ask around Audiogon. I always thought the Pro models were strictly XLR balanced. You do get a more supposedly cleaner full sound with XLR. Hence the Pro stamp. But when run unbalanced RCA its no diff than the ST version. Again this came from heresay rather than actually me hearing with my ears. So my thinking was if you get a Pro version and not run balanced it would be no diff than the ST version. I checked out the spec and both have the same spec. That does mean much. Send a note to Bryston. They are good with supplying info.

I have listened to them with Vandersteen speakers. Great amp. Same league as the Conrad Johnson. Some people that like tube amps would be better qualified to answer those questions. 2X6 and real70man I believe run tube amps.

Well this isn't quite a review but nonetheless, it is some advice i found on the AVS site which is a good example as to why i generally avoid that forum.
Hometheatrespot.com has been far more practical in obtaining quality advice, much like the Axiom forums (no offense intended for avid AVS readers, this is just my personal view...sushi's recent post on the speaker break-in debate was an excellent exception).

The link to horrible advice is here.

The reposted text is as follows (original topic is about placement of surround speakers in a HT):

John A [SEE THE LINK FOR THE USER INFO]

Yes, but if you'll note, they show the couch up against the back wall which is a real no-no, so sometimes companies just whip out BS because it's easy for people to understand rather than explain the right way to do something. So, listen up folks, here's how to do it right:

5.1 - Rear speakers ~45 degrees off rear axis which is a compromise position with the speakers 90 degrees apart.
6.1 - Center rear behind, "rear" speakers at 60 degrees off axis.
True 7.1 (doesn't exist, but will soon) - "Rear Back" speakers at about 20-30 degrees off axis, side speakers about 1 foot behind your head

In all cases, the speakers should be at or just above ear level, the speakers should be pointed at the person furthest away for "time-intensity trading" and should be directional designs, not "dipolar surrounds". Included in directional designs are bipole and dipole speakers where the the front wave is pointed at the listening position and the rear wave is pointed away for ambience creation, such as Mirage, Magnepan, Martin-Logan. All speakers, including the rears will sound better and more natural if they are away from the walls with the baffle 2.5' or more from the wall. I submit that most people who prefer dipoles have never actually heard a well-setup home theater. Most magazine writers don't know how to set up a home theater and simply slap the speakers up against or mounted to the walls, which is "normal", but not high-end. All speakers should be at least 5' away from you and the listening position should be at least 5', preferable 8-10' away from the back wall.

You can do this "to taste" and experiment at will, but if you do so, it will be less "right" and less faithful to the intended experience. Dipolar speakers are a MASSIVE diversion from the intended experience and are nothing like the sound of a good home theater nor are they anything like the sound of a movie theater or mixing stage. Even movie theaters are massive compromises in order to provide "decent" sound to hundreds of people and is seriously lower fidelity than what the sound engineer hears while mixing the movie. The sound engineer in a studio has his set up much more like I have described, generally with 5 or 6 identical speakers surrounding him, away from the walls on stands with himself towards the middle of the room.
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I specifically think the part about ppl who prefer dipoles as never having heard a "well setup" HT as being broadly sweeping and rather obnoxious. Apparently Alan, being a former magazine writer, does not know how to setup his home theatre.

Hey Alan, do you need a hand with that "normal but not high-end" wall mounting? (Just kidding).