Another Audiophile Conundrum

[MylesBAstor]

What do you do when someone asks you for advice and then disregards it? Or worse, is the type who asks for advice from twenty people and then never does anything.

Case in point. A person I know recently asked my opinion about an older preamplifier and should he buy it? I told him to save his money because the piece always sounded bright and solid-statish to me. World famous reviewer tells him the only problem with the preamplifier is the capacitors and if he changes out the parts the unit is world class and incredibly three-dimensional. Upshot, this person buys the unit, changes the caps and then complains to me that the unit is unlistenable and has zero dimensionality. Ughhh....

[mep]

All you can say is "I told you so."

[Leif S]

Welcome to my life lol

[Hugh]

My $0.02. :-)

IF they asked for my opinion then I'd give it to them straight and then added a disclaimer akin to...your finding may or may not be similar to what I said so feel free to ask others.

This, BTW, included our own products.

[jnr]

I've just come to expect it. It may be scarier when they take my advice.

[MylesBAstor]

I've just come to expect it. It may be scarier when they take my advice.

Good one Jack!

[gjm]

Happens all the time!
The biggest difficulty I have is I like 'different'. My liking for a specific style of reproduction is documented elsewhere, but I'll frequent the path less traveled in my search. This means I tend to discount out of hand many of the manufacturers that may be considered mainstream, and even a great many that are less well-known.
As such, any recommendation from me will be well-considered and the subject of a great deal of thought, culminating in a suggestion that will often be met with the response "Who?" Or... "What? Never heard of them!"

Still, as Jack acknowledges, the problems could really start if someone took my advice. At least by recommending something fewer people have heard I ensure only the most adventurous will follow up.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

I rarely give advice directly, other than to suggest what I personally like for me.

example: Q: What preamp should I buy? ME: I've liked the BlahBlah XL MK2 in my system, Thought the Yadayada Signature was pretty nice too. Q: What do you think of the Superlicious Extreme Modified by Jones and Carbunkle? Me: Never heard it. Got no opnion...

A few times I've had friends ask me to really help them shop for a complete system, and that's fortunately always worked out well. Many years ago (early 80s) a coworker said she was about to spend $1200 for a big rack system from May Company (a department store chain that long ago went out of business). Suggested she check out my system, and then we go shop in her price range. She ended up with a Thorens TD160, Grado cartridge, Creek 4040 integrated amp and Rogers LS2 speakers on Linn Index stands. Sounded wonderful!

Even in my reviews, I make it clear I'm only describing my opinions based on my system and my personal biases.

[MylesBAstor]

Happens all the time!
The biggest difficulty I have is I like 'different'. My liking for a specific style of reproduction is documented elsewhere, but I'll frequent the path less traveled in my search. This means I tend to discount out of hand many of the manufacturers that may be considered mainstream, and even a great many that are less well-known.
As such, any recommendation from me will be well-considered and the subject of a great deal of thought, culminating in a suggestion that will often be met with the response "Who?" Or... "What? Never heard of them!"

Still, as Jack acknowledges, the problems could really start if someone took my advice. At least by recommending something fewer people have heard I ensure only the most adventurous will follow up.

Yes, I think there's a difference between an audio fan and being more thoughtful about making a recommendation. I think the later begin with getting to know everything about the person, their tastes, room, current equipment, etc.

[Johnny Vinyl]

And don't recommend anything that's 50% beyond their budget. Keep it real.

[gjm]

Absolutely!
For me, that's one of the great things about less well-known, (maybe esoteric?) products and manufacturers. The prices tend imho to be more realistic.

[MylesBAstor]

Great suggestions to keep in mind!

[russtafarian]

Here's the other side of the question: How do you learn about audio? Ask your friends for advice, of course.