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High End System Building. How important is the matching, cabling and room? Thoughts ?

The last 20 years as an audiophile and now a dealer has taught me a very important lesson. Everything matters. The equipment can be great but no matter how much you spend the matching is very important. The cabling is also important. Some think cabling is all about making it sound better. I prefer my cabling to not get in the way. It’s like it can’t be a clogged faucet for your sound.  Materials and shielding are very important. In addition to that the room is very important. You may not have a perfect room but you build your system to work in the room you have. I don’t have all the answers but you can’t just spend money and have a great system. Combination of equipment, cabling and room has gotten me there. I’ve tried a lot of gear and cables and this is how I feel. What are your thoughts everyone? 

calvinj
calvinj OP
2,282 posts
 

@mahgister thanks for the clarification.  Respect my friend. 

brianlucey's avatar
brianlucey
139 posts
 

The room matters a lot, do everything you can afford.

Yet the next step is most important .... do not buy anything unless

a. You NEED it. How do I know? Because you are BOTHERED and can NAME the ISSUE you wish to SOLVE

b. You have done an A/B in your space and you PREFER the new thing, FOR SURE.

 

 

From here it’s never ending. Hopefully you will go many years with a set up, but you may not. When you have amazing Speakers, Amps, Cables, DA etc ... then you might in time be bothered and fine tune it with AC cables perhaps, Fuses perhaps, Caps and Resistors perhaps.

The better the system the more obvious is any small change.

Small gains are often costly ... that’s the reality. Do you need them? See #1

 

A great thing can be costly or not.  A bad thing can be costly too.

 

Enjoy the Process. For the Audiophile the system is the creativity, the instrument.

tony1954's avatar
tony1954
901 posts
 

@patrickcarey 

"best advice I can see on your audiophile journey is to try some stuff make sure there are returns or at the very least if you buy it used that you'll be able to flip it and sell it to someone else if it doesn't work for you so you're not risking a ton of money. "

With an unexpected divorce, followed by an unexpected retirement and a suddenly "fixed" income, I use the same methodology. The key is having the patience to put the time in to research and locate what you want. And to get it for a price that allows you to flip it if need be.That being said, if I am sure about something, I don't mind buying new.

patrickcarey
12 posts
 

@tony1954, @ghdprentice


Glad to read you have a similar experience.  Your methodologies are good.  Great sound is certainly a measure of personal taste, and ongoing tuning over time. 

Everything is a component. All the interconnects and hardware as well as room acoustics. 

I'll be digging into some UNobtrusive acoustic treatments in my future.  Might have to move to have a dedicated sound room :)

 

 

 

retiredfarmer's avatar
retiredfarmer
339 posts
 

Another thing of huge importance  is the quality  of the recording. Or of the lp, cd, radio broadcase. 

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