I m a beginner. Please help

Davejms,

If you have yet to buy your first equipment, I'd second some of the recommendations above and urge you to spend time in the local dealers' listening rooms. You'll learn what sounds good to you, how to describe what you want to others, what brands are available and what they sound like.

I'd also suggest that you start off modestly. The internet has made the upgrade path easy with all the buyers and sellers that are able to find each other. It would be a shame if you were to spend a bunch right away on gear that doesn't meet your needs. You might be incluned to call the rest of us fools and leave the hobby. :-)

That is a tough question! While this forum is a great source, with very informed people, you may as well ask: What's the meaning of life? The best response I could give would be: determine your budget, find the speakers you want (I suggest you find speakers that have a high sensitivity, 90db, 8ohms, and then, and here is where the work begins, system matching. The problem I had when I first purchased, was that even though I bought good equiptment, at fair prices, they didn't work well with each other. If you are willing to buy new, and lucky enough to find a dealer who is both informed and honest, that would be the easiest way to go.(I tried this, didn't work). If you want to save a lot of money, or get more for the same amount, then you will have to do the work yourself. If this is the case, then be prepared for a lot of trial and error. I think the most difficult part is learning what it is you are looking for. A lot of equiptment sounds good on first listen, but after awhile starts to reveal itself. Also, and this is important to me, listen with the music you like, not the audiophile quality disks that sound great, unless you want to be stuck listening to recordings instead of music.

Dave, Welcome. It seems you've come to the right place and, after reading the responses you've gotten, I'm struck, yet again, by how many really thoughtful, intelligent and generous people are involved with this hobby. There's not much I can add to what has been said except to avoid jumping on the "Review" and "Name-brand" hi-fi train. When I started getting into hi-fi, I read every hi-fi mag and review looking to find the secrets of the ocean upon contemplation of a dew-drop. It doesn't work. Not trusting myself (and my limited knowledge), I'd read the reviews and seek out the "stellar" equipment in which so much reviewer praise had been lavished. I'd be lying if it didn't affect what I heard. I think it wise to consider reviews (and, in keeping with this, some of the larger names), but not to be ruled or dictated by them. As most of the other posters have said, tust yourself and your ears. There isn't a governing board that decides if your rig is righteous enough to be considered "hi-end hi-fi" (as, I think, I thought, almost expecting to be judged on the name-brands I had purchased - what a knuckle-head I was). There's a lot of great smaller companies out there that don't flash big ads (Meadowlark to name only one) but give great bang for the buck and provide exceptional sonics. It always comes down to the music and filling your home and family with all the wonders music can give. Thanks for putting the question out there (I wish I would have had the intelligence to do so when I started, it would have saved me a lot of frustration and dough) and good luck in your hi-fi adventure. Again, welcome.

Dave: Whether things like power cords make a difference is a subject of controversy, to say the least. The "everything-matters-just-trust-your-ears" school is well-represented here on Audiogon, and among the better-known audio mags. But there's another school, the "there's-no-effect-without-a-cause-and-where's-the-cause?" camp, which holds that one's ears are easily fooled into believing differences exist even among demonstrably identical sounds. You need to consider both sides of this argument, so I suggest that get yourself a few issues of The Audio Critic, just to round out your education. (I'll come back with details on a few worthwhile back issues in a day or two.)

Beyond that, here's my basic advice. The three most important factors in how well your system reproduces music are the recordings you listen to, your speakers, and your listening room. Sufficient amplifier power is also critical. Everything else is trivial by comparison, unless you intentionally seek out equipment with a particular "voice," which many people on Audiogon do (and which is a perfectly legitimate way to pursue this hobby, though it's not a fancy I share.) You have to decide what your priorities are, and listen and buy accordingly. Enjoy.

This is to follow-up on Rrgordon's advice. While most of what he has to say I agree with--particularly his recommendation that you look into good integrated amps--he has covertly taken a stand on one of the bigger dichotomies in the audiophile world. Namely, there are some out there who feel speakers are the most important component, and others who belong to the "source-rules" camp. Without arguing one way or the other, I would like to say that if you are looking at a modest system of around, say, less than $1200 for the whole thing, you should probably be spending close to equal amounts for each of the speakers/source/amp. Cabling, etc., is probably not the most cost-effective priority at this level. As your budget creeps higher, this balance will almost assuredly change, as you adopt your own theories. Check out www.goodsound.com for more advice on budget system building.