Oppositions aside, most wouldn't know the difference. |
Yes it's possible but only up to a point which is a good thing. If you have a good source your system will continue to improve and reveal more as you build around it. The same holds true if it's a crappy source and great speakers or whatever component mix.
|
No you really can not but just remember sound is relative and not related to cost, some of the best sounding gear does not cost that much, especially speakers.
|
No. in fact substandard equipment may not only mask differences but reverse what ought to be the true outcome. The dumbest things ever are the folks who compare some $20k speaker to a $2k speaker on youtube. yea, after compression, jitter, conversion in the laptop, and playing through the 1" speaker i ought to be able to discern the deltas. Uh, huh.
OK, now on the the caveats. Don’t confuse cheap with poor quality, or expensive with good. There are many cheap components i really like, and many costly components that i find somewhere between uninspired and plain bad. Some of those quite famous too.
Its worth mentioning that there are some modestly inexpensive reference quality speakers out there. By and large they accomplish this magic through a) good engineering and b) an almost total lack of bass. So, if you *know* they lack bass, and account for it, then sometimes you can make valid comparisons....within boundaries.
But at the end of the day, revealing is revealing. I had one prototype that i was pretty satisfied with in my downstairs and lab systems, and which several audio folks with good ears pronounced darned good at the price. ...Then i took it "upstairs".... and the truth came out :-) It was good but had its limits. I bit the bullet and made the changes i wanted to all along and now it truly sings. Maybe some day it will even see the light of the market.
G
|
Is it really possible to critically estimate tt or cartridge characteristics using for example cheap monitor speakers or other weak component in the system ? If what you call "cheap monitor speakers" are professional studio monitors (near field monitors, if they are small) then you will be able to hear everything, normally monitors designed for monitoring in the mixing/mastering studios. They lack bass, but the rest of the spectrum is there. Good near field monitors must be neutral. Some small vintage studio monitors are inexpensive. You will hear the difference even with small bookshelf speakers, but hi-fi speakers are colored, far from being neutral.
Cartridge is the key factor in high fidelity reproduction of phonograph records. This is logical, since the cartridge, via the stylus, makes the first and only contact with the record. It is the unit which transforms groove undulations into electrical signals. The stylus has to move (to the left and right, up and down) at very high speeds, deal with extremely high forces, yet maintain surface contact at tracking forces consistent with low record wear, and ensure high channel separation for stereo reproduction.It is cartridge performance, therefore, that determines basic sound quality before the signals are amplified and played through your loudspeakers. Advanced stylus profile (natural diamond) distributes the stylus pressure over a much wider contact area within the groove than is possible with conventionally shaped diamonds. This provides greatly reduced wear on both record and stylus at the recommended tracking force. In addition, the advanced stylus profile (such as FineLine, Shibata, LineContact, Stereohedron, MicroLine or MicroRidge…) also provides better tracking ability and lower distortion at high frequencies in the critical inner turns of the groove. Compared with other stylus materials the advanced profiles do cost more, but the extra expense is fully justified by the resulting superior performance and extended life
|
