Hi. I'm new to this forum, having just purchased an RR2150.

I thought I'd share some thoughts on audiophiles, aging, and reproduction of live performances.

Some (or all) of my comments may be outside the box, but here goes anyway.

Is this as good a definition of "Audiophiles" as any? "Those of us who try to reproduce the sound in our homes or cars as to sound as close to a live performance as possible" (based on available resources, space, spouse, and technology.) "High end" audiophiles often obsess about every spec of perceived distortion down to .001% that may be caused by cables, jitter, one component or other, or room resonances. Here is what I think about all that:

90% of us who love music and audio experience more "distortion" at live events than we do with a $1,000 audio system. Most live venues have audible HVAC systems, people coughing and moving around, and often maladjusted sound reinforcement systems. Consequently, even with our greater than 0.001% levels of distortion in our home systems, our greater than +/-3db frequency response, and inability to get much below 25Hz, our living room performances are going to sound BETTER than live.

That is why I will not obsess over sound qualities that I might imagine rather than really hear - for another five grand.

This brings me to age. Many of us are over the age of frequency drop offs. By that I mean when we turn 40, most of us lose 5 to 10 db over 10kHz. Those over 50 perhaps 10 to 20 db over 8kHz, and over 60, well, you get the picture. (I'm 68)

Does that mean we should get speakers with psychotic tweeters that sound like a flock of hungry crows to compensate for our HF loss? Or turn up the treble plus daisy chain a few graphic equalizers and turn up the heat on every octave over 3kHz?

Some audiophiles believe the equipment SHOULD be tweaked to compensate for hearing loss. I disagree and here's why:

If an audiophile is as defined, "our attempt to accurately reproduce a live performance", and we are the ones experiencing the live performance, complete with our built in mechanism that cuts most frequencies over 6 or 8kHz by 20db or more, then that is how we hear a live performance. That is the performance we should hear in the living room. That performance does not require elevated treble settings to hear what we heard at the live performance. This is my theory of "old fart" hearing relativity. What we hear live is relative to what we hear in the home. That remains the pure definition of "audiophile": Hearing in the home what we hear at a live performance.

Thoughts? Comments?