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The people who suffer from the vintagtism in audio are special breed of Audio Morons™. Those people discovered a single focus of interests in some kind of vintage item and this focus became a point an unconditional dedication and fanatical devotion. What is remarkable that most of the Vintage Sufferers very fast switch their attention from the alleged sonic benefit of a given vintage solution (actual or imaginary) to the superficial worshiping of the solution’s status

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Yes, there were some interesting implementations in past, I would not argue about it. However, it is also well-know that many of interesting ideas and implementations from the past were not rendered adequately in accordance with the modern, way evolved demands for sound reproduction. It is fine when people USE DISCRIMINATIVELY, SELECTIVELY AND PURPOSEFULLY some vintage “crème de la crème” solutions but it never happen among the Vintage Sufferers. In fact that blindness to recognize and evaluate the actual results is what distincts the Vintage Sufferers (the appalling type) from the people who just employ selected vintage elements to accomplish the objectives they have in their minds (the respected type).

Vintage Sufferers live in the realm of myths and audio folklore. They frequently are Audio Groupies and for them even mentioning of some vintage products put their perception into semi-orgasmatic state. The Vintagers’ audio awareness is completely wiped out by the religious adulation on the vintage focus and in many instances it reaches a semi-clinical status. What I mean is that in many instances the audio events in which the Vintage Sufferers involve overdue any imaginable common sense. What I am saying is not related to personal audio preferences but I am saying about the very elemental common sense, not even Audio common sense. Just for sake of illustration here is an example that will make you to understand at WHICH LEVEL the majority of the Vintage Sufferers operate.

A year or so ago I visited one of those Vintage wounded Morons – Jonathan Weiss from Pennsylvania’s Oswald's Mill. The guy himself, like all the rest Vintage Sufferers, appears on internet as a person who elegantly jangler with vintage audio slogans and host an annual bash parity of Audio Groupies. Through the actual familiarity with the Oswald's Mill patient the smoke is evaporates and the reality of audio interests and audio familiarity become too self-evident – I when over it as a few others who warned me before my visit. Jonathan built a large installation with many vintage elements and what is the most remarkable that many, very many of his audio steps in his playback did not make any common sense. They do not make sense intellectually and they do sound exactly as they should – like the sonic residues of the very stupid and completely brainless actions. I am very far from criticizing the Sound of Jonathan playback – it was not Sound where it even worth to begin taking and Jonathan would not be a person who would understand the explanation. What I AM CRITICIZING however is the level of seriousness at which the Jonathan Weiss and the rest of the Vintage Sufferers Waste APPROACH THE SUBJECT OF SOUND REPRODUCTION. Do you want some specifics? I can give you a one out of many dozens that I have experienced at that listening room….

Jonathan had a phonostage that was a vintage pro-audio devise. I do not remember what it was but it was something in the style of Telephunken/Klangfilf from 50s. I think we all past that period evaluating those devises but Jonathan stuck in there… nothing wrong with it of course. Jonathan told me the fairy-tales about that phonostage - I hardly was paying attention to all of it frankly speaking as I have my own opinion. Then I paid attention to something that was remarkable. Jonathan proposed listening analog (I brought a few of my own LPs) and asked me which cartridge I would like to hear, all of his cartridges were vintage. Then he flipped up and played a few cartridges on his single TT/arm, asking which one I liked better. I kind of looked at him and did not understood what he was doing. I asked. He replayed that he has some MM and some MC cartridges and he do not know which model sound be better. Let me to highlight what Jonathan did: he re-mount the cartridges in his tonearm without even remote considering the something might be changed in the cartridges setup. They were different cartridges by design and even if to forgot (!!!!!) the overhanging, VTA, azimuth, absence of a an any even the most rudimental alignment protractor and any other things then … it might surprise even the most moronic people – Jonathan did not use even any objective measure to  measure tracking force. He juts switched the cartridges “as is” with no single adjustment, offering me to listen them, presuming that his vintage phonostage is the one that will “do sound” of his analog. I actually refused to play any of my records unit at least a VTF scale will be employed. A mechanical scale found after quite rigid search, Jonathan did not indicate that he knew how to use it…. The point of this story is to illustrate that the given Vintage Moron tomorrow will read lectures about the performance of his vintage phonostage. This illustration unfortunately is very emblematic and very-very many of people who worship the Vintage-dip sonic un-reasonability have within their mind the same level of SERIOUSNESS ABOUT SOUND as that Oswald Mill’s bluff has. I uselessly do not comment publicly upon my experiences regarding my private visits but since the Jonathan Weiss is kind of have already slaughtered himself I see no reasons do not use that Audio Cretin as an educational illustration.

As a type the Vintage Sufferers have invented a bogus stratification with themselves and they even run own vintage hype marketing to navigate “believes” across the hierarchy of those vantage layers. However, all of their Vintage literature has absolutely not relation to Sound that the Vintage Sufferers get out of their systems.

One of the most appalling, from my point of view, directions that the Vintage Sufferers go is their clustering themselves in bogus internet sites, user groups of the actual communities that are specifically dedicated to one specific vintage subject – would it be juts a product or a company. Thos communities are filled with incredible amount of Morons treating any issues with extraordinary amount of bias, prejudice and self-inflicted narrow-mindedness. It is not surprise that I found the Vintage Sufferers as one of the most appalling audio types.

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