Words From the Wise

1. Ask your self why you want to buy audiophile grade gear? Is it for your enjoyment or to empress your friends?

2. If your answer to 1 is for your enjoyment then you need to buy gear based on what your ears enjoy.

3. If your answer to 1 is to impress your friends, then make sure you buy only well known, high dollar gear.

4. Explain the problems you will run into, if you don't live in Chicago, LA or NYC then you will be hard pressed to ever listen to any gear before you buy it, because there are never any dealers around anymore. They have all closed up. So you will have to develop a good relationship will an out of town dealer. And your friends, they will never be aquainted with the names of some of the best gear out there.

5. and lastly, not only do you have to listen and enjoy your equipment, you have to look at it every day, so my advice is to buy gear that looks as good as it sounds. There is nothing worse than a great sounding piece of audio that is in a plain black box. Of course, just like the Ears, our eyes see everything different. And that's what makes the world so wonderful! I personally do not like the looks of Meridian, naim, and etc. stuff may sound good but it's hedious to look at, I prefer Jadis, line Magnetic Audio, audio with character!

There is more, like are you too lazy to get up off the couch to change the volume or do you need a remote? Do I need bells and whitles or do I want the simplistic style? Solid State or Tube? Handmade construction or printed circuit board construction? All these things and more will help you to decide what to listen to and try out.

I hope this is what you wanted to know.

I know this is going to be unheeded considering my recent involvement with another thread but here goes: You're a complete idiot if you spend more on snake oil than you did on your gear. I'm referring to wires and cables, receptacles and plugs etc. Your gear is capable of only so much. If you want serious improvement, spend it on gear. Either by internally upgrading what you have, or replacing it.

You are correct, it won't be heeded, but that does not mean it's not true. There are more people on this site, that believe what you said, than you might think. I think the pervasive audiophile peer pressure keeps many quiet.

I've done more stupid things than I care to admit to. But who's ever learned anything the easy way;)

- Every speaker and / or system sounds different. But, they are all supposed to sound the same. So, what's accurate? No one with any sense really knows for sure.

- Speakers are indeed the soul of your system as much as no two people are alike (see above).

- If you want to hear it, I imagine you will. Who am I to say no to that? It doesn't hurt anything.

- Never under estimate analog source material. Those 40 year old records sound great.

- Never under estimate high bandwidth digital (SACD and 24 bit digital) they sound great too.

- a very good system will never like all your source material. That's normal. Some source material is simply good music that sounds bad.

- Near field listening will get you there sooner. Your room was never a part of the original recording (those ambience reflections are already in the music). So, keep your room out of it if you can.

- Buy quality components you enjoy. To replace cheap equipment that you like, that died, will probably end in frustration as it isn't available any more (it' all broken by now!). Better to have nice things a long time. And, they hold their value if you have to part with them.