[bikerhifinut]

I fear that some may be missing the wood for the trees in this interesting discourse.
Ok my username gives the game away in that as well as my interest in radio, which was my initial introduction to the hobby as a curious 11 year old with a ****** good Physics teacher, I have and have always held a keen interest in good quality music reproduction right from the days when our neighbour and good friend of my father had a garrard 401/SME3009/V15/leak valve pre-power/home built corner speakers and it was amazing to the then 12 year old me. We subsequently had a modest by todays standards MP60/G850 with rogers ravensbrook amp and Wharfedale denton speakers, later supplemented with an Armstrong 524 FM tuner. It sounded amazing after the old dansette junior! And I imagine would still sound good today. The Amp and speakers are still in the family and one day I will find a good MP60 and recreate that first experience.
Anyway, good as it was and it was very good, father and i clubbed together, I was working by then, and we bought a Pioneer PL12D which was wowing the press at the time and that too was a revelation in reproduction. The PL12D still works although I can hear it rumbling like an empty belly i suspect the motor mountings are perished so hopefully an easy fix as 88 year old Dad still loves it.
Anyway, the point is this, since when were those who desire good quality reproduction some sort of source of fun and entertainment for otherwise sane individuals?
Sure there's a whole well of snake lubricant and more to be tapped, but to tar with the same brush all audio enthusiasts and mere music lovers who only want to experience a pleasurable auditory entertainment that connects them to their favourite pieces is surely more than a bit unfair?
We can all chuckle at the carved wooden chopstick rests that decouple your speaker wires from floor sourced vibrations, these are obvious p*sstakes and other somewhat wacky ideas. My own personal giggle was reading a review that suggested a set of 4 inch wire links to replace the wee bits of bent brass joining the HF and LF inputs of biwireable speakers would somehow lift their performance rather than just a couple of bits of the no doubt bog ordinary multistrand off a roll wire that was inside the speakers.
But there are out there still a fair few manufacturers and designers of honest equipment of integrity, the fact that a lot of it seems expensive is I think a symptom of a modern society that seems to appreciate the price of everything and the value of nothing, a saying much loved by my mother of all people although in a different perspective to this.
Good gear is well made, will last longer, and ethical manufacturers will as far as they are able in view of their own supply chains, give long term back up and servicing even to the point of equipment long out of production. A couple of British (at least in name for one of them) manufacturers spring to mind as i write this. Their gear is and never was "bargain basement" but as second hand buys they hold a good value and with reason.
I enjoy my "affliction", I take great pleasure from the restoration of a classic, or even just old, piece of audio reproduction equipment and am impressed with the restorations I have seen here by people who are concerned with preservation, power to them. I have for my sins dabbled with DIY audio and along the way learned much about what works and what doesn't, even to the point of experimenting within my budget with some of the more arguable, possibly wacky, theories. But how does one learn if not by experience and trying?
I confess now, I recently achieved a lifetimes aspiration, that of the purchase of a pair of Quad electrostatic speakers model 989, something I have hankered after since seeing and hearing my Physics teachers pair of ESL57. he was no mean performer on the French Horn so knew a thing or two about music as well as amateur radio and radio astronomy. These things cost me the sort of money that would make some here blanch, even though they were less than a quarter of the price when new. Partnered with a tatty but perfectly functioning 405-2 they did not disappoint. Maybe the psychology of spending serious (for me) money has coloured my judgement. Who knows, but i am happy and it was a lot less than a replacement motorcycle for my much loved Triumph Sprint, the sale of which financed these purchases.
But please gentlemen, know the difference between Audiophile (whatever one of those is) and Audiophool. And Audio Enthusiast and/or music lover, because from here the lines seem to be getting blurred.

Andy.