On 27-Jul-96 06:31:00 John Allen wrote this to Bonnie Goodwin about CAR AUDIO 
ET AL.:
 JA> many people from many different walks of life, all over the world.
 JA> We even have a following in Russia now! I communicate with one
 JA> gentleman via E-Mail who advised that a PC in one of the few High
 JA> End Audio stores near Moscow either keeps updated printouts of our
 JA> Audio Echo or actually has it available for customers to browse.
        Wow.  Didn't know I was writing a column. 8^)
 JA>        If Car Audio remains, at the traffic levels and VOLUME we
 JA>        have recently
 JA> seen, we will be chasing away the very people that we wish to keep
        I would definitely prefer that Car Audio had its own echo.
I'm personally not interested in a lot of the car discussion material
and so would rather see it separate, but not because car audio is
itself uninteresting.  Otherwise, I would have just left the factory
stereo in my car.  However, now that I find my car stereo acceptable
sounding, I would rather invest my time and money in home audio.  I
don't neccessarily find the two areas incompatible, just largely so
due to the crowds they tend to attract.
        A serious audiophile isn't going to do his serious listening
on the freeway (at least I don't think he *should*) I sit and listen
to my stereo *instead of* tv, not *with it.* I can't give music my
full attention if I'm doing a crossword puzzle and likewise if I'm
watching the road.  I can't close my eyes and picture the soundstage
while going 65 on the Interstate.  (at least you'll hope I'm not if
you're in the lane next to me :)  
        There are some people who can't just sit and listen to music.
They need to be doing something else (visual stimulation for
instance and are trying to read a magazine at the same time, etc).  I
personally can't consider that very serious listening.  You don't read
a magazine at a live symphony concert, yet some people (I'm related to
one) could pay attention to a live concert but couldn't sit and listen
to a stereo for 5 minutes straight without doing something else to
save their life....  To these people a Car Stereo is *perfect* because
they get physical and musical stimulation at the same time (drive and
listening).  My problem with that is you can't devote your full
attention to listening that way.
        That's just my opinion on the matter and one of the primary
reasons I prefer to invest in a home system much more than a car one.
(I also don't want to have to go out to the garage and sit in my car
to listen to music if I'm at home and want to hear some quality
music or go for a drive just to listen to the stereo.)
 JA>        The reason that Echos like Audio will continue despite the
 JA>        Internet is
 JA> that the Newsgroups on the Internet are not Moderated, and you have
 JA> to read through 9 miles of off topic JUNK, insults, noise,
 JA> arguements and nonsense before finding something on topic. With the
        Well, I agree about *certain* Usenet Newsgroups.  I thought
I'd try rec.audio.opinion again only to find the most childish
message I'd ever seen from a green pen toting whacko.  (basically he
acted like Beavis in reply to someone's valid opinion about not
hearing a difference in cd players when levels were matched exactly).
I ditched that newsgroup for the 2nd time that very day.
        On the other hand, *some* Usenet groups *are* moderated and
have much higher quality content.  I *highly* suggest you take a look
at rec.audio.high.end.  Sometimes, it's almost /too/ scientific.  It
has its share of "Lp vs. CD" discussions to be sure, but they're much
more polite (impolite messages usually get sent back to the owner by
the moderators for editing).  It's really only a matter of starting a
topic you're interested in.  There are *many* professionals and
scientists on there as well, offering much technical insight into
various discussions.  It's the *only* audio newsgroup I'm currently
reading.  
        Traffic there is typically 30-100 messages a day, depending.
I just set my offline reader by subject and hit the skip button on
topics I'm not interested in.  The moderators typically send an
approval notice and post the message or send your message back (I've
never gotten a message back) within 24 hours.  So, there is a delay
like on Fido, but only 1/3-1/6 as long.  Given the relatively slow
traffic on here about high end audio, it's refreshing to see a
newsgroup dedicated to it.  The green pen folk generally dislike it
because there are so many scientific debunkers on there that won't let
them attribute opinions to scientific nonsense.  I'm not saying
they're not welcome, only that they can't get away with bogus
scientific claims.  (They're in full force on rec.audio.opinion and
one reason why there's so much drivel on *that* newsgroup.)
        Anyways, I'd reccomend rec.audio.high.end to anyone that can
get Usenet.  It's far from perfect, but it's a vast improvement over
most of the unmoderated audio groups and certainly a welcome addition
(at least for me) to the Fido Audio echo.  Give it a try for a week.
I've talked to several Carver Speaker owners of all models, seen
plenty of Legacy owners, Martin-Logan, B&W, Magnepan, you name it,
someone's got it (usually several).  Best of all, it's about *high end
audio* (not neccessarily meaning high price), not cheap receivers or
car audio (they have their own newsgroups).  It's even separate from
professional recording.  (There's a separate group for Bonnie's
speciality :)
--
...If hot air rises, why isn't Rush in orbit around Venus?
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