you get what you pay for- sort of. i.e., i had a hafler
300w/ch amp which was much better than a denon amp that it replaced- smoother sounding. but then i lugged home a levinson 23 (200w/ch)-used that was going for a good price.
it took 5 minutes to realize how much better the levinson was- much richer textures to instruments. there was no going back- i got a USED ML-23.5 which stayed in my system for a very long time. but let's face it- most people's paychecks don't cover $5,000 amplifier purchases, and it takes years until the right sound comes along at a price that you can afford. i waited for several years until i could get a pair of speakers that represented "to me" the audio end of the road- they cost $12,000. were they better than my b&w 801's?
way better. but i then heard the 801's with pass aleph amps,
and they sounded like a completely different speaker (again, much better, but the amps were $14,000 at the time-the speakers cost a third of that am't). i amuse myself when i recall the argument i used to make that you could build a state of the art speaker for no more than $2-3k/pair considering the cost of materials and workmanship. it's probably true- there are $10,000 guitars out there that cost
$600 in materials. sometimes i wish my father had been a carpenter instead of an accountant...
300w/ch amp which was much better than a denon amp that it replaced- smoother sounding. but then i lugged home a levinson 23 (200w/ch)-used that was going for a good price.
it took 5 minutes to realize how much better the levinson was- much richer textures to instruments. there was no going back- i got a USED ML-23.5 which stayed in my system for a very long time. but let's face it- most people's paychecks don't cover $5,000 amplifier purchases, and it takes years until the right sound comes along at a price that you can afford. i waited for several years until i could get a pair of speakers that represented "to me" the audio end of the road- they cost $12,000. were they better than my b&w 801's?
way better. but i then heard the 801's with pass aleph amps,
and they sounded like a completely different speaker (again, much better, but the amps were $14,000 at the time-the speakers cost a third of that am't). i amuse myself when i recall the argument i used to make that you could build a state of the art speaker for no more than $2-3k/pair considering the cost of materials and workmanship. it's probably true- there are $10,000 guitars out there that cost
$600 in materials. sometimes i wish my father had been a carpenter instead of an accountant...