Words From the Wise

Tbg, I'm with ya, as I changed out my cdp and preamp last summer/fall and my heads still spinning. I even needed to reposition my speakers, further treat the room and outgrew my cabling, as crazy as it sounds! Before the changes my cheapo Monster power conditioner was adequate or unnecessary. Now with the much higher resolution gear all things were reassessed and a decent power conditioner was added. Then my room was further addressed. My cabling which was good, became another bottle neck and dealt with. The deeper I've delved into this, the more EVERYTHING MATTERS. If one area is weak all things can suffer. This is like algebra as one or more change can alter the whole equation.

I concur with having the wife audition with you before buying-my wife can be in the next room with the washing machine going and she can hear a difference when i change inter connects_ I kid u not---and she sure looks better than my buddies sitting on the couch listening to music--lol---seriously-women hear more than we do-----great music and a pretty gal--doesnt get better than that my friend

1. The match between speaker and amp
2. Clean power via dedicated spur and passive conditioning
3. maximum suppression of RFI on all connections
4. Dealing with room modes through acoustic conditioning
5. and yes: not being too stingy on source components, but only in fifth place

1. The match between speaker and amp
2. Clean power via dedicated spur and passive conditioning
3. maximum suppression of RFI on all connections
4. Dealing with room modes through acoustic conditioning
5. and yes: not being too stingy on source components, but only in fifth place

1. Ask your self why you want to buy audiophile grade gear? Is it for your enjoyment or to empress your friends?

2. If your answer to 1 is for your enjoyment then you need to buy gear based on what your ears enjoy.

3. If your answer to 1 is to impress your friends, then make sure you buy only well known, high dollar gear.

4. Explain the problems you will run into, if you don't live in Chicago, LA or NYC then you will be hard pressed to ever listen to any gear before you buy it, because there are never any dealers around anymore. They have all closed up. So you will have to develop a good relationship will an out of town dealer. And your friends, they will never be aquainted with the names of some of the best gear out there.

5. and lastly, not only do you have to listen and enjoy your equipment, you have to look at it every day, so my advice is to buy gear that looks as good as it sounds. There is nothing worse than a great sounding piece of audio that is in a plain black box. Of course, just like the Ears, our eyes see everything different. And that's what makes the world so wonderful! I personally do not like the looks of Meridian, naim, and etc. stuff may sound good but it's hedious to look at, I prefer Jadis, line Magnetic Audio, audio with character!

There is more, like are you too lazy to get up off the couch to change the volume or do you need a remote? Do I need bells and whitles or do I want the simplistic style? Solid State or Tube? Handmade construction or printed circuit board construction? All these things and more will help you to decide what to listen to and try out.

I hope this is what you wanted to know.