Mid-Fi, Hi-Fi or.....?


For some time I have been collecting vintage (60's/70's) gear of various levels of quality.  Trying to step things up, I am now running a NAD C 375BEE integrated amp through Thiel CS 1.6 speakers.  Am I in the "hi-fi" world now?  If not, where?  LOL.......thanks!!

johnnotkathi

The distinction between low-fi and mid-fi and high-fi, vintage or not , is essentially based on price tag level today or in the past...

Independant of price, any system parts which are synergetical to begin with and well embedded in their mechanical,electrical and acoustical working dimensions will create and reach at least a minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold...

This threshold can be improved to a maximal one with highly costlier upgrade and essentially a dedicated acoustic room ...

I do not take seriously now price tags, for sure TOP design quality cost money, but this is not enough to give a satisfying acoustic experience... This is easy to verify ...

Owning high quality design is not enough, it takes embeddings mechanical,electrical and especially acoustical controls devices ...

Today we can even buy relatively qualitative good gear for relatively  low price then the way we embed them in our room matter most than buying new design presented as being "better" ...

I trust  first knowledge and experiments  and in second only the price tags of a piece of gear...

I had that very same integrated for a number of years, it is very good. However, I wanted to see if I could do better and added a separate preamp, bypassing the one in the NAD. This was a significant improvement and removed some of the grain in the sound. It really comes down to your ears, and budget of course. If you are happy, then it’s hifi!

BTW, these offer a nice improvement to the sound over the metal jumpers on that integrated: