Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site

Hi everyone,

As I said, I never intended to be the advocate of the devil. Now that this thread seemed to have resolved that the Shroder tonearm is either over-hyped, or at any rate that its  manufacturer is beneath contempt because of his association with OMA, it seems people have moved on to a much wider ranging issue. By the way, for the sake of fairness, and to avoid ambiguity, I would like to say that my unqualified view is that Frank Shroder should stand or fall on the basis of the merits or demerits of his tonearms, not his business associations, unless Mr. Weiss is, and it is clear that this is the case, so beneath the acceptable norms that no one in their right mind or with a modicum of decency should associate with him.

Romy wrote:

I think it is wider then just Schroeder arms. Did you see ANY discussions about the Sonic Quality of hyped products? Did you pay attention that they do not exist? I mean the herded morons constantly believe that they talk about Sound but in reality they just recite the artificial taking points were given to them by the people who light up the hype. I have seen zillion exemplas and I do have very high sensitivity to distinct an original thinking about Sound from the empty-headed semantic blabbering about audio where words have no sensed meaning (90% of all conversations by audio people).

Saying all of it in the Schroeder thread I do not insist that nether Frank Schroeder or his arms are subordinates of the above mention percentage. As I told above I have my rational do not give damn about anything Schroeder-related. The fact that Schroedists admiration I have heard about are coming from the sleaziest scams do not help to the Schroeder tonearms.

Since this thread has moved somewhat from its initial heading, I would think that the topic now under 'scrutiny', that is the duplicitous nature of all discussion surrounding hyped products, would seem to merit its own thread. I agree with some of the views stated above, but not in the absolute terms in which they are put.

I know for a fact that if I were to stand accused of such a charge, a number of unpalatable facts would come to light about me, and I would have to hang my head in disgrace. I do read a fair number of the unappetizing press, whether originating from the UK, the US and continental Europe. I have made purchases more than once on the basis of some of these ‘hyped’ recommendations, specially cartridges, tonearms and analogue playback devices, since  these are rather hard to have demonstrated satisfactorily at home or at shows. And yes, I have eventually sold 90% of the ‘moronified’ components I bought on the basis of these various reviews, hyped opinions by industry  cheerleaders etc. Often then I have learnt the hard way.

“A sadder and a wiser man

 He rose the morrow morn”

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, ST Coleridge

My gained wisdom on the ‘morrow morn’ still has not prevented me from making these same mistakes all over again. I do show more caution than previously, at least I hope so. If anyone has a burning desire to know what I envisage as my next blind purchase – it would be the OPPO 83SE to use as a source in my home cinema system (they are not represented in the UK), and possibly the SME312s to compare to my current previous generation SMEs. This will be in the summer when I have completed a couple of property purchases in the next few months with a view to moving to France permanently or semi-permanently someday. In some ways, Romy, your present circumstances mirror mine although we differ so much in our views, attitudes and pretty much everything else I imagine.

For about a year now, I have been preparing for the possibility that I may decide to move at some point in time. My approach has been somewhat different to that advocated at a number of places in the relevant thread, based on past experience with movers. Since that thread has now moved on, and this one is rambling aimlessly, I will include my advice here about moving companies and movers – never trust them, as it is enough for a rogue element to be present for the worst to happen. I have dedicated custom, heavily padded, boxes, some with secure individual compartments for delicate  accessories etc. made for everything that I want to keep long-term. These boxes are made here on the premises and will withstand the rigours of travel. Some of them have industrial strength lockable caster wheels to facilitate movement of rather heavy equipment. I use reliable people I trust, who know me and my equipment well, to become movers for a day when it comes to moving all the delicate and vulnerable components/stuff. The boxes are sturdy but can be completely dismantled when not in use. In this way, I know I will be ready to move easily, and again as and when the need arises. This plan has now been in motion for about 5 months and is about 70-80% complete I would say.

All the best

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site