I honestly don’t listen to a lot of systems. I’ve only gone to one audio show and only liked two of the systems (and those I liked a lot). It’s fair to say I’ve sort of grown up in a sheltered Brit-fi environment, with a heavy emphasis on Naim and Rega.
I was just at my local dealer getting the ND7 on my P6 replaced with an ND9 (good move, I’ll post on that elsewhere), and they were playing a Luxman system (integrated and turntable) into some Rogers speakers. At first they were playing on old Denon Telemann lp which was quite pleasant, though not transformative. We then put on Stop Making Sense - you know, that album that makes you want to get up and jump around? Weird - I just drifted off and got bored listening to it. Genius of Love? Bored. Girlfriend is Better? Bored. All perfectly nice and hifi…but…
I’m not the one who’ll post entire stories on the forum since I don’t have the time for it.
There is one thing I’d like to mention though and that excitement does not necessarily imply good to me. Boring could be fine for me too, actually, I wish many of you a boring life since some music, films, books and news is way to ‘exciting’ these days.
As Dreadful January morphs in February I was contemplating visiting a dealer … now I’m put off. But I will listen to Stop Making Sense (live / remastered from1999) whilst I make lunch.
I just found the Luxman system to be entirely boring. Warm, boring. Sure, hi fi, space, detail, etc.. Genius of Love…how do you not get up and dance? Listening to it through this system.
Last night I ended up playing ‘Psycho Killer’ and ‘Life During Wartime’ from the 2023 remastered version on TIDAL (24bit) and boring was not the first thing that came to mind!
You mentioned ‘hifi’ a few times.. in my book how can it be hifi if it doesn’t engage with you?
Sure one persons ‘hifi’ might not be another’s.. but in my book the whole point of hifi is engaging recorded music with you on replay….. otherwise what is the point?
Sure I suggest if the music was sombre and melancholy, you don’t want it to be transformed into exciting on replay, that would be crass, and vice versa .. but a good hifi should connect and engage with you the best it can with the replayed programme material…
Hmm it could be, I suggest to experience a good replay system, you need sources amp, speakers and room in synergy with each other… otherwise it can be an underwhelming experience… whether it be a Naim amp or not. Plenty of experiences of that over the years… typically with other people’s setups…
I am actually thinking about luxman integrated to simplify my setup and take a bit energy out of my current Nac282/Nap250Dr. Looking for a bit more relaxed and laid back presentation. But this could end up becoming boring after while. I am sure the Nac282/Nap250Dr will not.
Interesting. Imho HiFi is sort of cultural product and somewhat reflects cultural value.
As a fellow East Asian I could understand Luxman is designing system that one could enjoy and get relaxed through listening to music, after a typical, very long working day in Japan/East Asia. So not as exciting (higher damping factor) and forward, but defo warm and comfortable one could fall asleep on the sofa with music. The same to Accuphase and other.
I suspect its more whether you are treating music as passively background or listening in and participating with it in your head - and that varies from person to person, and perhaps their musical fluency - ie do they play and make music - rather than where they are in the world.
if you are following and ‘participating’ in your head there is no way you can fall asleep. Just like if you are watching an engaging film.
However if the TV is on in the background and you are passively watching it - just like passively listening to music, if you are tired you will fall asleep - I do.
Now in the limit if a replay system does allow you to connect with the music so you can ‘participate’ with it because key audible cues are filtered away then to my mind that is not hifi - but more a background music play back system… because some people prefer that over silence… or to have in the background when doing something else.
Both have their place - but rarely interchangeable.
If I was listening and enjoying 記憶 Ki-Oku I definitely would not want to listen to that fantastic album on an excessively warm system… or excessively bright system for that matter..
Back in the day, when I was living in shared housing, a friend bought a bottle of Poteen back from a trip to Ireland.
I knocked back a finger of the violently raw clear liquid and a few minutes later, went to my room to listen to some music.
Putting the “A” side of “Stop Making Sense” on the Thorens TD160S, I settled back to listen.
There quickly followed a period of completely black unconsciousness, followed by hearing the sound of the stylus clicking as it travelled around the centre of the disc.
When I got up and went to the deck to turn it over, I discovered that the stylus was clicking away the end of the “B” side.
Ever since then, I’ve thought that the title of the album seemed somehow appropriate…
I suggest you try a 252/SCDR instead of the 282 to get a more conventional presentation - a path I followed a few years ago and I really liked the 252/250DR combination. - then I decided to reduce box count and went in a nice non-naim direction for 4 years; back now with the components listed in my signature..with fewer boxes than a ‘full stack’ .
