Do we really care if 'sound' is a misnomer ?

estreeter

Super Member
This character from PF seems to feel that hi-fi is a 'scam' simply because what we perceive as 'sound' is nothing more than vibrations - mate, I dont care if it's gamma rays from Mars, if it gives me joy to experience those vibrations via something more sophisticated than a pair of iBuds, then I'm going to spend my money on the toys I attach value to.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue75/skoff.htm

Like most of these 'sound science' arguments, this comes down to the same argument - are the pleasure centres in our brains stimulated entirely by a series of external electrical impulses ? Mr Skoff can rattle on about the imperfections of the physical world until he literally falls dead at a keyboard - compared to the noise/vibrations from traffic and other human activity, I attach a great deal of value to the vibrations emanating from the transducers in my headphones and speakers. Thoughts ?
 
^^^

Is so, it went over my head. Not familiar with the publication or the author, so very well could've been. Can't really understand why someone would want to pontificate about the subject at such length....unless they're just an ass.
 
You don't think that piece was just a little tongue in cheek?

I think he was having a dig at the objectivists and the engineer fraternity, but he took something which should have been a single paragraph and banged on for far too long. In any case, even if this hobby/business/obsession is one giant 'scam', how it any different to classic cars or baseball cards or <insert subjectively enjoyable obsession here> ? Is photography a scam because very few of the people who spend serious money on gear actually get paid of their efforts ? :scratch2:
 
I just see a Merill audio advertisement on top of it. Never heard of this brand. Maybe it is not in Holland.
 
Looks like one very long brain fart to me.
Everything we see, hear, smell, taste and feel is in our brain and it works.
 
I kinda like this guy. Maybe his last name is a pun. This article seems like a pretty good history of "hi-fi" consumers and marketing.
 
Looks like one very long brain fart to me.
Everything we see, hear, smell, taste and feel is in our brain and it works.

Really, Will Robinson ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix

The Matrix would explain a great deal about why reality has rarely met my sky-high expectations and why I prefer to surround myself with prog rock when most of the 'serious' critics loathe the genre. Some people just spend way too much time trying to make sense of the lyrics instead of surrendering to the music. :thmbsp:
 
Tongue in cheek. He starts out with the definition of sound and says "SEE - IT'S ONLY VIBRATIONS IN THE AIR, THERE IS NO SOUND!"

There is no spoon.
 
Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

actually, it has long amazed me the subtlety with which a groove molded (not cut; remember that the records we actually buy are produced by stampers, not a lathe!) in a hunk of cheap plastic -- transduced, equalized, amplified, and impedance-matched -- then used to vibrate a piece of paper (or plastic or metal) can sound so much like the real source of the vibrations in question.
 
Obviously, the notion that sound doesn't exist because it is vibrations in the air 'sounds' like the work of a philosopher, not a biologist. The perceiving of those vibrations, whether through air, water, or even through the earth under them is vital in how many organisms recognize what is safe, dangerous, or even sometimes what is to be eaten or to be mated with. Survival, procreation, evolution for humans and most of the animals, and perhaps some plants, humans pay any attention to would be impossible--or if possible very unlike what we know--if not for the perception (including the enjoyment of) these sorts of vibrations we normally call sound. The only really good thing about that alternative world, however, might be that nothing like a philosopher could have ever evolved.
 
I read that piece when it first appeared. In context of having read Positive Feedback for some time, it's very clear that it's tongue in cheek.
 
What an odd article from a strange fellow.

I guess when you make a living writing, you gotta write something if you want a paycheck. (even if it provides little or no value to the reader)
 
Not to worry, that gear you think you see isn't really there because the light you think is reflected from it to your eyes is only photons, meaning light doesn't exist. ;)

This is not all that far-fetched. In a color photography course, the instructor said that color is not out in the universe, it's in our heads. What is out in the universe is electromagnetic radiation in various wavelengths. which our brains interpret as color. Of course, the gear is "really" there, but illinoisteve makes a good point. What is out there is one thing; what we perceive and how we interpret is another.

I'd say vibrations are in the air, while sound is our experience of those vibrations. As our listening skills improve, we become more able to reach some consensual agreement and repeatability on what we heard.
 
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