On pleasure

I firmly believe the Gentleman Audiophile is a pleasure seeker at heart. However, I need to blog about the difference between a GA and a geek. Whilst I might still be accused of being a geek or nerd – I fully acknowledge the geeky nerdiness of having my own blog - I need to clarify why I chose the description ‘Gentleman Audiophile’ in an attempt to distance myself from the nerdy community that infests the world of the general Audiophile.

Firstly, there is obsession. In a sexual context you have all sorts of obsessive and generally vulgar behaviour. These may be tolerated, and may work for some people, but a Gentleman would be aware of, but not partake in, perfidious practices such as these.

In the possibly saner world of technology, there are video gamers who spend hours slaying demons, photographers whose pixel count and lens library is outweighed only by the number of average photos they rarely take, and computer wiz kids that rail at the latest Macintosh because it is slightly faster than the one they bought six months ago, that nevertheless performs perfectly well and is entirely fit for purpose.

In short, obsession with the act of playing games or owning equipment without enjoying the experience those tools are designed only to facilitate.

The Gentleman Audiophile is a connoisseur and should be aware of the technology, conversant with terminology, understanding of what works and what doesn’t work, thus remaining suitably informed to be able to make wise decisions without making the seeking of information an end in itself. All of the time remaining balanced and focused on the act of seeking pleasure in the music, the act of enjoying the listening experience, and not the act of reproducing it.

The acid test would be – is this an activity I can share with others, my partner perhaps, or is it always going to be flying solo? Is this pleasure one to be shared or is it performed secretly, an Onanistic exercise in tweaking, arranging and displaying that is as much about caressing the hi fi as it is about letting the music caress your soul.

Bachelor Audiophiles, to clarify my point – I refer to the ability to share the pleasure of musical enjoyment should the occasion arise, whether with a friend or a partner, although you may currently be single and be sharing the music with yourself; I differentiate once again between love of music and love of equipment. All of us may enjoy the solo music session and should feel no guilt at the pleasure. Best of luck to you at convincing someone to sit with you for a while, but if you do, consider the gift of music you may be able to give them.

So, on pleasure – as a result of my theory on how the Gentleman Audiophile seeks pleasure, I have concluded it is unnecessary to display equipment ostentatiously, unless it needs clear air for cooling. It is, indeed, unnecessary to design one’s listening environment to exclusively (I note: exclusively, rather than sympathetically) suit the hi fi; the music must flow in comfort to allow both the Gentleman and any others to enjoy in mutual pleasure.

My hackles rise when I see pictures of towers of equipment sprawled out between speakers, dominating a dedicated listening room in a Macho homage to metalwork and blue LEDs. For a start, between the speakers is not the ideal location for equipment, in both my experience and of those I trust. Then, it smacks of consumerism, showing off, a lack of balance and judgement in the Audiophiles solution to musical reproduction.

The internet is littered with such systems. I’m sure that several eminent manufacturers would be dead in the water were it not for geeks and nerds such as these. Fellow Gentlemen, I urge you to exercise restraint and constrain your urge to Peacock your wares in view of those whose pleasure should be sought in the music and not distracted by the shiny things you bought to make it so.

Pleasure combined is pleasure multiplied, a synergy that clearly enhances the act of listening to fine music. Sharing the experience adds the pleasure of conviviality, of mutual respect and enjoyment of the artist. Have a fine glass of wine, perhaps wear comfortable clothes, use tasteful and artfully deployed lighting and decoration to enhance the listening experience and not detract from it. All these pleasures combine with the act of musical reproduction to drive a wholly greater pleasure than just lowering a needle or hitting a play button.

If those listening sessions result in some tweaking of speaker positions, a trial of a new cable or some equipment, why not? The balance struck by the Gentleman is in combining necessary refinement to achieve greater musical enjoyment with the act of enjoying itself – and that is the art I love.

Final point on wine – the enjoyment of wine parallels the enjoyment of hi fi for the Gentleman. It may or may not be pertinent to drink wine whilst attempting a critical listening experience to evaluate a change; I will leave that to your conscience. I note that, for all the same reasons as I have listed above, pay attention to the pleasure of the wine itself before falling into the trap of the vinophile and announcing the provenance of your wine, the cépage and the terroir, the cost, displaying the fancy label, the trumpet-sized glassware, or indeed quaffing it like mead before passing out on the floor.

(Side note to a fellow gentleman: falling asleep during your own listening sessions whilst your invitees, myself included to the surprise of many, remain awake - is considered a Faux Pas)

Enjoy