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Werd,If you knew anything about me, or even followed any of my posts, you'd know I've taken years to find what I feel is a great system. I listen to everything before I buy it (unless its used), and I also research the measurements behind anything I am considering. I've documented much of this here and on AVS forum (see my sig link), publicly. Get a clue, werd; you have NO idea what you're talking about. Don't you have better things to do than follow me around and argue with everything I say (and end up being wrong every time)? I think I have an e-stalker folks... My gut tells me someone like you won't quit, so I'll be the bigger man and ignore your lunacy from here on out.
You do have an agenda, and thats to sell your speakers to anybody that stumbles into the lair of your misinformation on the whole hobby. I guess the whole scheme is to get people to spend all their money on your speaks. Hey all the power to you. But in all fairness your scheme sits right in the face many people who take this hobby seriousily. So if you don't mind, sources, cables and anything other than speakers do play a big role, a much bigger role than you will let your potential buyers in on...
Post your gear Bill
yah thats what i thought....
Hmmmm....Jim was eloquent in his wording, I will be blunt:#1 most important component in your system is YOU.you account for most of what you hear, all on your own.If spending thousands of dollars on boutique amps, pre's, and DACs is your bag... rock on! There are some really trick pieces of kit to be had. If swap meets and garage sales are your thing, and you find a vintage tubed integrated for 10 bucks that you plug into your system and it transports you to your happy place... you scored! If you would rather blow your wad on a bitchin' set of speakers, I think that is a great place to start, because they are the last thing in the chain; and the link that connects your system to your ears. I think the original recording impacts the sound even more than our systems that reproduce them. Great recordings sound better than crappy ones, no matter what they get played back on.Good topic, and a good read (for the most part)Cheers
1) the room is nearly always the only room you got. period. Fiddling with the room is cool if your into that stuff. My preference is to use the other stuff already in the room as the modifying influence. (the junk they sell as room stuff looks like canned ca ca IMO)2) the argument about DAC and cheap or expensive transports should be in another thread, NOT this one)3) IMO: the percentage of cost allocation changes at different price points. (An idea not mentioned prior, in this set of posts)IMO: at LOW ($500 total to $5000 total price point MOST of the money should be spent on speakers, that is more than one-half of all money just for speakers.At a higher value total spent the speaker portion should start dropping, and the electronics should be more of the total.As for the folks who are in this 'for real', they spend differently than newbies, because they KNOW WHAT THEY WANT.Thses percentages are for newbies. Everyone else does whatever the hell they want based on personal equipment biases.Many of the arguements are from folks who have personal preferences and have had a LONG time to develop them.I used to have $3000 speakers with $1,500 total amp.preamp then about the same $1,500 for all sources. So the 50/50 of speaker to all else was what I owned. this was back in 1985. (It was about the same 50/50 for me back in 1965 when I bought my FIRST hi end stereo, with JBL speakers, and a Fischer amp)Today I have $5,000 speakers, and a $4,500 amp, a $4,000 preamp, and $10,000 LP sources, and about $7,000 CD source playback, with another $5K in power conditioning.So you can see my speaker portion has plummeted!=================================================BUT any other combination is possible for a wise and well educated audiophile.=================================================So ARGUING about what is the right amount to spend, for a well educated audiophile who has been in audio for a long time and knows what the want.. is hogwash all around. IMO.Some folks spend a fortune on one area, some other in another, and they both have good systems, just different, with different priorities.For newbies, it makes sense to try and allocate the funds.The one thing I would avoid as a newbie: no money in budget for any afteermarket cables. , no aftermarket powercords. Buy only cheap cables if any. Mogami, or Kimber PBJ, ir BlueJeans, or other cheap cables. Save your money for the electronics and speakers.
Everyone is different but there is one sure thing -- audiophiles will constantly look for improvement.
I guess some of us have very different opoinions as to the relative importance of the stuff. Here is my ratio:Analog Source: 31%Digital Sources: 14%Preamp: 16%Power amps: 16%Speakers: 7%Cables: 16%I think that analog sources are the most challenging and expensive to get right from a manufacturing and performance point of view. Great preamps are not easy either, hence the cost.
What price point? If you are asking me for a recommendation of specific components, you are going to be encumbered with my personal biases. I get asked for recommendations all the time and need to know you very well personally before I would even try to recommend anything.The criteria for a musically satisfying system are many and so many are personal. As as small sample: usability issues, domestic constraints, acoustic space, maintenance tolerance, tweaking desires and abilities, musical taste, personal turn ons and cues for "the live music experience" and the list goes on and on...and on.
