kremrik,
"This is basically a paragraph telling readers how sucky his $100,000+ system sounded without the $6,000 power cord. It’s this kind of thing that I think throws noobs like myself off."
Boy, you said it! I think things like that are enough to throw all of us off. But, if they can’t get good sound with that kinda money then I personally think they need to give it up! Fortunately for the rest of us though, I don’t see anything like that as a requisite for getting good sound.
I can’t say I would disagree with any of the advice given here so far. But, most of us who could offer you the benefit of our experience would likely not want to go in whole hog with our advice and get you upside down on anything in terms of your overall budget, of course, especially since you’re basically just starting out. That said, it’s at least a worthwhile strategy IMO to not worry **too** much about ’overspending’ (just a bit, anyway) and getting just one, solidly good piece of gear that may be just a bit more than you need at the moment...whatever type of gear that happens to be. Later down the road, when it becomes time for you to upgrade some other piece, you may be glad you already made that choice initially, making it easier for you to A) isolate and identify the remaining candidates to upgrade without having to necessarily revisit that first choice, and B) increase the odds of success of integrating your next choice, if you can also spend on it the same way. Yes, it will be more expensive in the long run and will take a bit longer that way, but I’d say it’s worth it to avoid the usual newbie trap of spending ’just enough’ for now and ’just enough’ later only to then be more or less dissatisfied with whole thing at some point afterward...and **then** realizing you’re really stuck again in exactly the same box you happen to be in now - which component do I spend on first, and how much do I spend??
Think of your system components as a chain that’s only as strong as the weakest link. Of course, you could identify just the weakest link and just replace that, but what I’m saying, and what I suspect you may already know, is that that doesn’t mean the rest of your components would all be equal after that. Unfortunately, as anyone here can tell you, as soon as you replace the weakest link, you may then notice another one. Don’t worry though, none of it means you’re crazy, that’s just the price of admission to the asylum...to which we all say: "welcome, and make yourself at home!!" And as long as replacing one weak link only reveals another, then I would say it’s ok to buy just a little better quality on one piece than you might need at the moment...trying to hit the nail exactly on the minimal head at this stage of the game may prove to be futile...(informative, maybe...always learn what you can from mistakes - but futile in terms of preventing you from spending more). I imagine most us start out this way, but find we have to change our plan of attack accordingly.
But, this way, the truth is, as I see it, you’d really be in ok shape for now - just a general plan to upgrade all, or most, of your gear (but not by any over-the-top amount), even if that takes a while, it gives you plenty of elbow room to work with as you go, and also the kind of time it may take for you to hunt down the right piece(s). From the sound of it, you really like the Music Hall, so maybe that might be one to upgrade last, or not at all. I, too, agree that tryings things out during the return period is a actually great way to go.
Just some food for thought, maybe.
.John
