Documentary film, from A.C.A. crazy Audiophiles

[skaloumbakas]

Hi all,

We are very humbled indeed to announce the release of a documentary film about our Club and its members' "extreme" audio views, which has been filmed on March 2006 and has already received an enthusiastic welcome.

Sorry, if some of you may have seen it already, as discussions are in progress in many Audio Forums around the world.

What we would propose though, is a visit to the "who-when-why" (http://aca.gr/event06-3.htm) page, which is highly informative and recommended! It contains pictures and film scenes, links to the protagonists' audio systems and 2 direct links (just in case one of them gets out of bandwidth...) to the documentary film itself!

Enjoy...
PS: The documentary is a 20 min .mov file, requiring the latest version of "QuickTime" and a speed Internet connection, if possible...

[hjames]

VERY cool film - you all are fun-crazy!

[SUPERBEE]

Perhaps I should do one on JBL fanatics?

[Mr. Widget]

I missed this thread... a friend sent me the link and I watched it today... a really well done and honest look at our insanity. OK, not all of us share this level of "commitment".:D


Widget

[Steve Schell]

Many thanks Christos for making us aware of this fine film. I tried to load it when you posted, but could not get it to run. That's typical- I'm computer challenged.

The film has made it to You Tube; a friend just sent me the link. It is very enjoyable and visually beautiful. Those who have not seen it should watch it in full screen mode.

Audiophilia is one disease where, once you have contracted it, you are cured!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xs1aUws0Lrs

[Storm]

:D

Glad I am happy with my setup and I am glad I dont have that type of money to indulge. I am sure if I had that amount of money, I would try but I would doubt I would ever get rid of my Altecs.

Those guys are crazy! I know they share the same passion, but yikes!

-Storm.

[elliot]

Storm, I had a visit from a couple of the members here at my home the past couple days. They are quite passionate but not stubbornly opinionated, kinda cool. I bought a Classe cd player from one member sell pending on my Krell FBP 600, and eyeing this a Lindemann 680 cd -sacd player from another one. (wow it was realy awesome) All within a couple days Some of them have really funky over the top gear. I will be joining the club, it will a great opportunity for me to listen to some great music from various set ups. Can't wait. I will be posting some of my experiences in the future.

[Titanium Dome]

Looks great. Congrats on celebrating your passion.

[skaloumbakas]

Just for safety, Ken Barnes (the film maker) uploaded to www.youtube.com (http://www.youtube.com) and I have uploaded to www.dailymotion.com (http://www.dailymotion.com) ;)

In http://aca.gr/event06-3.htm (http://aca.gr/event06-3.htm) we have embedded the second, but if you go straight to YouTube or DailyMotion, you loose the background info a descent audiophile should know (sic, he, he, he...)

IMHO quality of DailyMotion is also better... :)

I am glad you have enjoyed the film :applaud:

[JBLRaiser]

:D

Glad I am happy with my setup and I am glad I dont have that type of money to indulge. I am sure if I had that amount of money, I would try but I would doubt I would ever get rid of my Altecs.

Those guys are crazy! I know they share the same passion, but yikes!

-Storm.

buy a continuous stream of more and better(or worse) audio equipment. It becomes very time consuming activity. I probably bid on 20 items a week on Ebay, looking for the next audio high. It may be a tube, LP , junker for parts or a new SET amp.

[elliot]

buy a continuous stream of more and better(or worse) audio equipment. It becomes very time consuming activity. I probably bid on 20 items a week on Ebay, looking for the next audio high. It may be a tube, LP , junker for parts or a new SET amp.

Tell me about it JBLRaiser. I change my system every five years. Almost done again. Buying a tuner and maybe that cd player then going to enjoy for a few years.

[JBLRaiser]

Tell me about it JBLRaiser. I change my system every five years. Almost done again. Buying a tuner and maybe that cd player then going to enjoy for a few years.

having posted before seeing the film, I'm just a backyard tinkerer, with hand tools and some scrap wood.

[Titanium Dome]

buy a continuous stream of more and better(or worse) audio equipment. It becomes very time consuming activity. I probably bid on 20 items a week on Ebay, looking for the next audio high. It may be a tube, LP , junker for parts or a new SET amp.


Tell me about it JBLRaiser. I change my system every five years. Almost done again. Buying a tuner and maybe that cd player then going to enjoy for a few years.


having posted before seeing the film, I'm just a backyard tinkerer, with hand tools and some scrap wood.

You guys make me feel better. I never have more than about a dozen items in the basket on ebay at once. I usually win one or two a week, and those are normally the "finds" that were miscatalogued, misspelled, or just poorly presented and thus were cheap.

To change JBLRaiser's analogy to a medical one, those guys are brain surgeons while I'm practicing medicine with bones and rattles.

[macaroonie]

is this not the point of JBL ? http://youtube.com/watch?v=snmJ32T7jLA&mode=related&search=

[LowPhreak]

I'll probably get shelled for this, and that's OK, but I'm going to be honest...

I used to be similarly afflicted with this stupidity called "audiophilia". (I don't call it "insanity" or some such - because people say that as almost a term of endearment, as if...oh my!...one has no control over what they're doing with this, along with a chuckle and a wink and a nod. :rolleyes: )

Came the day that I looked around the room at all of the stuff I had or did have, and all of the time, effort, and money I'd spent over the years, and realized that what I had been engaging in was actually a very wasteful and ridiculous self-indulgence. How silly it was to spend that kind of money/effort/time just to be able to sit in a room like some whacked-out hermit and be able to better hear someone pop a beer can in the 9th row at a Pink Floyd concert, or some fat, unwashed oboe playing oddball smack his lips before making love to his instrument, or to see how much my subwoofers could deflect the needles of the nearest seismograph, ad infinitum.

I had thought back at how many times I had actually felt embarrassed to spend those excessive sums of money on audio gear, and how ridiculous I must have looked to "non-audiophiles" for trying to justify it, let alone the contortions I'd go through in setting up and tweaking various components and the room, the time & effort I took in mulling over every minute detail of dozens of components before my next "upgrade", the endless debates with other audiophiles, the listening sessions at dealers, the selling and trading, the searching for audiophile recordings...

To be totally honest, much of it wasn't about the music. Some of this audiophilia-slash-stupidity was driven by the fun/cool factor of the next new piece of gear, and the ego boost that I had something better than "they" did, and/or that I was more intelligent or more perceptive when it came to what I could discern in the music and the components.

Please, don't tell me that many of you here haven't felt the same at some point in your audiophile trajectory.

It occurred to me that my time on Earth could be better spent doing other things - more productive, more meaningful, less self-absorbed, and healthier activities. I simply reached the point where in the end, it didn't seem worth all of the trouble and obsessiveness. So I pretty much got off the audiophile merry-go-round.

I guess that makes me a "rehabilitated" audiophile. I've been able to find contentment with much less expensive, lower maintenance audio stuff, and I'm glad I did.

[mikebake]

Good post, and for me it has been self-indulgence, too, except I obsessed less on the gear than some, and it was always about the music in the end.

[johnaec]

So I pretty much got off the audiophile merry-go-round.I'm just curious, (really!) - what did you finally end up with for your sound system? ('Sorry if I missed this elsewhere...)

John

[Titanium Dome]

I'd consider myself an enthusiast/collector/music lover.

There are people who spend more time watching TV than I spend with this recreation. Some people spend more time eating. Some people spend more time changing components on their bikes or tweaking their cars. Some people spend more time in church, synagogue, or mosque, or some spend more time painting graffiti. Some spend more time hating people who are different, or beating their spouse or abusing children.

As a hobby, pastime, or recreation (or even profession), this audio passion is a pretty good one to pursue. But as in all things in life, you need some balance and proportion. If it consumes you, then it becomes an addiction, and that could be bad for you.

Still I'd rather see someone addicted to this than to hate or bacon.