Words From the Wise

1. Speakers do not make more difference than any other component.

2. Speakers make more difference than ALL the other components COMBINED.

3. Item #2 can be proved in less than 15 minutes to anyone willing to sit and listen.

4. Don't be an ass about your own system or anyone elses.

5. Have fun.

1) The most important thing in your system is your source. Regardless of whether you use CDs, LPs or tapes.
2) The second most important thing is what you use to retieve the music. On a LP system it would be A) Cartridge B) Tonearm C) Turntable. In a digital system it would be your A) transport and then B) converter.
3) Everything from there through the speaker goes in descending order of priority. Which obviously isn't to say speakers are not important, but they will never ad what your TT or CD player did not retrieve!
4) The most important part of your anatomy in listening is your imagination. No system sounds as good as live music so let your mind fill in what's missing so you can enjoy rather than nitpick what's missing.
5 The seond most important part of your anatomy is your ears, take care of them.
Bishopwill was right in his conclusion HAVE FUN!!!

"You can't cheat an honest man" applies well to audio consumerism.

- You will never know or have heard everything. Always be willing to be proven "not entirely correct."

- All good music is about life; its passions, pleasures, tragedies, unrequited longings, joys, loves and pains. So be willing to grant that all musical genres have something to say worth listening to.

- Sometimes the artist DOES know what he's doing better than you do. As Mel Brooks once said, "I'm the performer, you are the audience. I outrank you."

- Before you REALLY listen to planars for the first time, be warned they can be more addictive than narcotics. ;)

- Your tastes and hearing were not acquired in a lesser school than that other guy's. Be willing to politely speak your mind no matter if you are a majority of one.

- Bose is bad, but not that much worse than a lot of lo- & mid-fi gear out there at a similar price point.

- Almost every mistake you're thinking of making has already been painfully made by someone earlier. Most folks on Audiogon are gently trying to keep you from their historical errors.

- It's reproduced music, nothing more or less. No one in audiophilia is going to die over it. So have a good time.

Before going nuts, as I have many times, go back to the basics . Simple things. Don't keep your components too close together, especially amp and preamp, keep your digital on a seperate circut, install dedicated 20 amp lines for your power amp and most important dont have your interconnects and power cords tangled, or bent. You can spend zillions on cables, but if their all bent and not coming straight out of the back of your unit {some of us use wall units with small holes, push a component back, and dont realize the stress we are putting on the cords} then your system will be inconsistent. Remind yourself to check all interconnects are firmly in place and all cords are flowing freely. Sounds simple, but sometimes we miss the obvious.