GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: Playing music for visitors.

Post Subject: Separation AnxietyPosted by Paul S on: 11/7/2008

For several years, while we were very involved with the local arts, Sarah and I entertained quite regularly. During those gatherings, I liked to carefully choose the music and gradually turn it up until it became an integral part of the soiree. As a rule, Sarah would have no trouble with this, unless/until she finally became conscious of the sound, per se, at which point she would angrily demand that I "turn it down!" But up to that point of "separation", there were no problems, either for/from Sarah or the guests.

Likewise, I have had my best musical fixes while I was floating in that Precarious Bubble that joins Moi, Great Sound and Great Music. This condition has been met in many different ways, under many different conditions, from mind-altered dorm room portable, to half-drunk, half-asleep automobile FM and CD, to fully alert, fully prepared, Righteous Big System Fix in my listening room via what is without a doubt the best "system" I have assembled for the purpose to date. No question in my mind that the Big Fix is a matter of perception and that the perception is a sense of Oneness with The Sound of Music.

The repeated/repeatable experience/vindication of this observation/belief has been my own Philosophers' Stone. And like any addict, I suppose I am more motivated by expectation than by fufillment.

I am presently playing it pretty straight in terms of sonic "fidelity", and I ahve been taking my lumps, big time, because the damn thing won't work predictably when the electricity is bad, which it so often is. I don't know what it would be worth to me to have a system I could just switch on and sit down with for a Guaranteed Big Fix, but I am so skeptical of hi-fi at this point that I really don't even take this idea seriously anymore. Rather, I just gladly take what I can get, when I can get it.

More troubling is the thought that my ideas still swirl around efficiency and frequency extension, as though I can simply go Forward without sacrificing/losing Everything that Matters. Clearly, one tenet to think about is playing music for onesself instead of for others, since they are no certain gauge of The Fix in The End.

Paul S

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site