Words From the Wise

FIRST AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!! You must use your imagination. Imaging,depth,and all the other things that you cant "hear" just close your eyes and tune out everything else and imagine the band in front of you and at first youll notice the singer placed firmly in the middle then the purcussion in the center and with enough time you will ntice the drums sound behind the singer and the giutar in front of the piano and eventually you can hear the singer walk from one side of the stage to the other. Depth is something that can only be found in high end.Any good stereo can place instuments left or right its called stereo but when you can tell how far back or how close the instuments are you are getting close to the "magic".This is depth.

SECOND!!! Never have a TV on while listening it only takes away from the experience.Always close your eyes and yes listening at night does sound better for many reasons one is less people on the power grid so you get cleaner power but that doesnt matter as much as it just sound better.

THIRD!!! do not believe anyone including yourself. only trust your ears and dont be afraid to make mistakes. buy used that way its broken in and if you dont like it you can usually turn around and sell it for exactly what youve got in it.

AND LAST!!! cables espically rca,s make a difference but not untill you get your rig RIGHT.Cables are for fine tuning not correcting a lack of sound qaulity.However once you start adding great cables you will find that they do make a HUGE diffrence but only for fine tuning a well designed and listened to system. Have fun!

Amp,Pre-amp,source,speakers(sized to room). Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply deluded by his favorite component. The amp is the "heart" of your system, period.

IMHO it's as follows:
1) The room.. it makes or breaks the system
2) The room..it makes or breaks the system
3) Listen for yourself before buying
4) The latest itineration is necessarily the greatest.
5) Price doesn't necessarily determine how good the piece is.
6) Get the front end right and your'e on your way.
7) Your system is only as good as its weakest link.
8) LIsten to ALL types of music before buying
9) Listen to a recording of a piano before buying
10) Buying used isn't always a bad idea..Thanks A'gon!
11) Experiment with placement of speakers and equipment in the room

12) Maybe this should be 1st...WAF is VERY IMPORTANT!! Or so my husband
says..:0)

I thought of more but I believe is the MAIN cause for upgrading too much and being a heartache to us sometimes and yes it does happen!!!SPEAKER PLACEMENT!!!!!People dont play with their speakers enough!!! Moving them twice and one of the moves was for grandmas stay that week doesnt count!! I try at least once a week now(but ive been doing it for years)to move them in out toe them a little just to play with the imaging and front back to control my low end and placement.Think of the placement of your speakers as a control or controls like presence,bass, treble,imaging and midrange. You are able to change all of these things with only moving a speaker! the first piece to play with is your final piece in your rig the speakers.Alright thats my rant and goodluck to us all God knows we need it!

Get a real sense of what you are striving for;high end 2 channel,casual listening,surround sound,tube or solid state;but decide which way you want to proceed and get the speakers you can build around with proper system matching of components.
Also you need to understand the acoustics of your listening enviroment and be able to correct any areas that color or degrade the sound you are striving to obtain.
Speaker cabling and interconnects is just as important as well.
Lastly use this site to put your system together saving big $$$ and also ask questions in the proper forums when you have to.