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Low-Fi Experience


Anybody have any recent low-fi experiences?

A buddy of mine recently went out and bought a Kenwood HT in a box set. Comes with 2 standard bookshelf speakers, 2 smaller surrounds, and the center, along with a 100W 8in subwoofer with a kenwood DD/DTS reciever.

He got it at a major retailer for about 260 bucks, about half price of MSRP due to a sale going on.

I was somewhat impressed with the sound of it.
Since my HT is history and a 2 channel system in progress, and i have no surround sound, i was thinking of picking one of these up for the living room. I still plan on building a dedicated HT, but untill then i think this will suffice, and probably even last as a livingroom surround rig for some time.

The thing is i was real suprised by how it sounded. It actually sounded pretty good. Granted, it doesent sound as good as a decent High End system, but it was not only tolerable, but rather enjoyable, and very forgivable of the shortcomings with such a handsome price.

I think alot of it has to do with the fact that Dolby Digital and DTS inherantly sound pretty good. But it really took me by suprise. Definatly kicked the crap out of any 2,000 bose system i have encountered. But not nearly as refined as my old HT rig.

Does anybody else think that Low-Fi equipment is making vast improvements with advances in technology?

anyone else have any experiences like this? Its been so long since i heard a In Box Bargain Bystem, i really wasnt prepared for it to sound as good as it did.
slappy
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I don't really have any specific, recent 'lo-fi' experience, and my past experiences have been mixed. But IMO this is an area the high end neglects at its own peril. I would stongly advocate that the high end mags keep things honest by occasionally but regularly checking out 'mass-market' components of all stripes. For audiophiles, doing this on your own can be a little difficult - you may run into many such 'systems' at your friends' and relatives' places, but almost none of them will have been set up with best sonics in mind. Same is true of this gear in the big chain stores. But in theory, I believe that getting a good idea just what the real-world baseline truly is or can be constitutes a worthwhile self-check on all our audiophilic flights of fancy and standards of perceived value.
satch
329 posts
 
I once helped a friend picking a system, and he bought a Denon separates mini-set (sorry, forgot the model) and some cheapo B&W speakers, with some half-decent cables thrown in for free. I set it up for him, slipped one of my cd's in and expected myself to be hiding a little smile..... and I almost cried, since it seemed to sound even better then my own, mucho, mucho more expensive system. When I got home, and finally dared to power up my rig, it was better.... in a subtle way, not spectacular, but more satisfying on the long term. But...... it is more expensive, and nor as convenient or as good-looking as my friends' system. So what's the moral? Ehmmmmm..... don't drive drunk? No, that's another story. Moral is that 'low-fi'isn't always bad.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
I have been astonished at the sound from "non-Fi" speakers, the ones that come almost free with a computer.

The "Lo-FI" systems described above are OK, but what I notice is that "Mid-FI" is also getting better. Indeed, it sometimes challenges "High-end".

What can "High-end" do in response? Not much room for sonic improvement. It has to be cost reduction. Which brings us to digital amps....
mghcanuck
116 posts
 
Well said Zaikesman. I'm kind of O/T, but some of the British mags - What Hi Fi? and Hi-Fi Choice come to mind - do a decent job of covering lo- and mid-fi offerings in both 2 channel and HT. They've conducted comparisons of several reasonably priced one-brand HT systems.

KEF now has two 5-speaker HT packages that have received very positive reviews, although they are much pricier than the likes of Kenwood, Pioneer and Yamaha. Also, NAD and other mid-fi brands have some very good value HT and 2 channel products.

Ultimately though, as others have noted, it depends on your means and priorities.
cdc
1,777 posts
 
Satch, I had the same experience. "Hi-Fi Choice", I think, used the $300.00 Denon UD-M31 CD receiver on Wilson Sophias. "People walked away shaking their heads thinking they were listening to $10,000 of McIntosh tube gear".
As Aerosmith would say "shocking".
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