My first Shindo experience...

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by chessman

PC, sorry for initially misspelling "Stephen."

Nah, no worries, Randy.

[Face]

Originally Posted by chessman

I have not had enough coffee yet, but why is this a debate? Stephen was sharing his own impressions. How can his subjective response (his opinion) be "wrong?"

+1...

[shindostevesan]

It is interesting that even the professional reviewers--like Julius Coleman and Art Dudley--have a similar response to Stephen's when trying to tackle the sound of Shindo gear. It sounds so much "of a whole" that it is hard to pick apart--although certainly the very bottom few octaves are the most vulnerable part of any system's sound (and maybe the least important).

When I got my Petite Latours I was so impressed I decided to write a review of them--although I'm not sure what I was going to do with it (I wasn't an AA member then). Well, when I tried to compile my listening notes they were full of platitudes about how many ways the PLs "connected" "transported" "immersed" you in the music. I just gave up and enjoyed the music.

There is a somewhat indescribable essence to Shindo sound. But Stephen's review and this thread, as well as some others I've read here, do a good job of getting the point across. Bravo.

[kev313]

I don't know if there is a debate, although I do think that debate over subjective opinions a characteristic of people who are interested in thinking and learning. I would be the first to stand up and agree that Shindo isn't a modern hifi sound. I'm simply encouraging anyone with an interest in Shindo to approach it from that point of view. Anyone is of course free to use whatever tools they feel are appropriate to evaluate their Shindo experience. To me - in my TOTALLY subjective opinion - approaching a Shindo system like one would approach an Audio Research system is to miss the fact that this Shindo system sounds that way because it is supposed to. That's how Shindo wanted it to sound. Again, room integration issues are not what I'm discussing here.

[Puma Cat]

Well, I got all my test gear ready and we're gonna spend the afternoon doing in-room frequency sweeps and DOE's (Design of Experiments) on Shindo gear and speaker setup, all in the spirit of Julian "all amps sound the same" Hirsch! To hell with vinyl....it's mp3's and an iPod! Yeah!



Not....

[Whart]

Originally Posted by kev313

I don't know if there is a debate, although I do think that debate over subjective opinions a characteristic of people who are interested in thinking and learning. I would be the first to stand up and agree that Shindo isn't a modern hifi sound. I'm simply encouraging anyone with an interest in Shindo to approach it from that point of view. Anyone is of course free to use whatever tools they feel are appropriate to evaluate their Shindo experience. To me - in my TOTALLY subjective opinion - approaching a Shindo system like one would approach an Audio Research system is to miss the fact that this Shindo system sounds that way because it is supposed to. That's how Shindo wanted it to sound. Again, room integration issues are not what I'm discussing here.

Kev- I'm not a "Shindo" guy, so take it for what it's worth. I've heard alot of big, costly, complex systems over the years that had all the hi-fi attributes, but kept you in that zone of listening to the system because, at the end of the day, no matter how good the soundstage, or how deep the bass, it still sounded reproduced. I 'get' the idea of retro audio, although I've never listened to a full-on Shindo system and would like to at some point, particularly with the field coil.
I've gone in a direction that tries to straddle both schools, horns (albeit modern ones), SETs (not using old parts like Shindo) and never left vinyl. At the same time, I can introduce more modern designs into the system, e.g. a battery powered line stage, and achieve a form of musical bliss.
Obviously, anybody that spends serious bread on systems like these should be making informed choices and know where the trade-offs are. Just so you appreciate my perspective, before I went the horn route, I happily listened to various iterations of Quads, beginning in the early 1970's, because I was willing to trade off a lot just to get a lucid midrange. (And still have all that old stuff, including my Decca ribbons, awaiting restoration).
There are so many different paths to what sounds 'right,' it's just a question of where you make the trade-off.

[Freestone]

Sounds like the system went to a great home, and the new owner has some great friends.

Wine, music, view and friends - great combination.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Whart

Kev- I'm not a "Shindo" guy, so take it for what it's worth. I've heard alot of big, costly, complex systems over the years that had all the hi-fi attributes, but kept you in that zone of listening to the system because, at the end of the day, no matter how good the soundstage, or how deep the bass, it still sounded reproduced. I 'get' the idea of retro audio, although I've never listened to a full-on Shindo system and would like to at some point, particularly with the field coil.
I've gone in a direction that tries to straddle both schools, horns (albeit modern ones), SETs (not using old parts like Shindo) and never left vinyl. At the same time, I can introduce more modern designs into the system, e.g. a battery powered line stage, and achieve a form of musical bliss.
Obviously, anybody that spends serious bread on systems like these should be making informed choices and know where the trade-offs are. Just so you appreciate my perspective, before I went the horn route, I happily listened to various iterations of Quads, beginning in the early 1970's, because I was willing to trade off a lot just to get a lucid midrange. (And still have all that old stuff, including my Decca ribbons, awaiting restoration).
There are so many different paths to what sounds 'right,' it's just a question of where you make the trade-off.

Good post.

[kev313]

Originally Posted by Whart

Kev- I'm not a "Shindo" guy, so take it for what it's worth. I've heard alot of big, costly, complex systems over the years that had all the hi-fi attributes, but kept you in that zone of listening to the system because, at the end of the day, no matter how good the soundstage, or how deep the bass, it still sounded reproduced. I 'get' the idea of retro audio, although I've never listened to a full-on Shindo system and would like to at some point, particularly with the field coil.
I've gone in a direction that tries to straddle both schools, horns (albeit modern ones), SETs (not using old parts like Shindo) and never left vinyl. At the same time, I can introduce more modern designs into the system, e.g. a battery powered line stage, and achieve a form of musical bliss.
Obviously, anybody that spends serious bread on systems like these should be making informed choices and know where the trade-offs are. Just so you appreciate my perspective, before I went the horn route, I happily listened to various iterations of Quads, beginning in the early 1970's, because I was willing to trade off a lot just to get a lucid midrange. (And still have all that old stuff, including my Decca ribbons, awaiting restoration).
There are so many different paths to what sounds 'right,' it's just a question of where you make the trade-off.

Totally agree on that.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Freestone

Sounds like the system went to a great home, and the new owner has some great friends.

Wine, music, view and friends - great combination.

Also a good post. Now all we need is my cat Lucky to hang out there with us...he loves Bill Evans and Chopin.

Lucky, listening to Brailowski playing Chopin...