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Hi-Fi Lo-Fi

There has been a fair amount of discussion about how hi-fi seems to be a dying hobby. Most people just don’t get it.

And when we suggest that they need to have their house rewired and buy $1000 speaker cables to get good sound it is no wonder that that average person thinks we’re nuts.

We are nuts. Of course.

But that’s another story.

Anyway, I feel like a better way to expand the hobby is by showing folks that they can put together a decent system for less that a half decent speaker cable.

I recently did this. By accident sort of.

My old Toshiba receiver from high school (1980) finally bit the dust. It was the basis for the system down at my cabin.

I’d already replaced my Bose bookshelf speakers with Polk Audio Monitor 70 towers, $180 Craig’s List.

So I needed an amp and radio. We listen to the radio a lot down there. I had a Denon tuner in my home system that I never use. Approx. $110 eBay.

I just bought an NAD 316BEE on eBay, $200. Its 40 wpc and gets great reviews.

I had a Toshiba DVD play. $15 at thrift shop.

That’s $505. Add 12 ga low ox speaker cables and some banana plugs and an outdoor FM antenna and I’m close to $550. Interconnects are mid level RCA that I already had.

Results? Surprisingly good. The old Toshiba receiver was not bad but this NAD really opened up the sound stage...well outside the speakers in fact. And the room (larger main room in a small log cabin) is far from ideal. Bass seems great to me but I’m no bass fetish. I have a large B&W subwoofer but don’t feel the need. Volume and energy are excellent far exceeding levels I would ever actually listen at.

Of course it does not have the richness, clarity and sound stage of my home system. But it cost about 30x less.

Many folks won’t be willing to spend even $500 for a system. I only did so reluctantly and piece by piece.
But for those who really want to get started in hi-fi I think we all ought to be able to point them in this sort of direction to get them started.

Once they’re hooked we can steer them toward the $10,000 speaker cables. ;-)


n80
audition__audio
1,517 posts
 
The only forums I enjoy more than Audiogon are the ones which give me pointers on how to make my $ 10,000 snowmobile go faster, make more noise and burn greater amounts of fossil fuel. 



dsper
663 posts
 
"Don't you think stuff sounds better when you've gotten a good deal?"   

I think I agree with this comment.

My system has a "list" price of over $23,000 but I bought everything "gently used" for $6,200.

The only new piece I use is my Dialogue Premium preamp.

Now the discrepancy between these figures and my bank account is all the new stuff I previously purchased and then discarded.

I guess my point is that Audiogon is a great way to learn about good equipment. Then one needs to exercise patience until a good buy comes along.

Thanks for listening,

Dsper




jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
I guess my point is that Audiogon is a great way to learn about good equipment. Then one needs to exercise patience until a good buy comes along.

This ^^^^ I learn so much reading on this site.With no shops nearby I'm very appreciative of the members here sharing their experiences and expertise.
mrdecibel
3,065 posts
 
dsper, you spent $6200. You over paid. I could have gotten it all for $3851. 23, lol. To the OP....you and I have been on a roller coaster here, with many " differences of opinion ". Generally, with your " doctor stuff ", pointing fingers at me, and others, that much of what have claimed to hear, is all in our heads. I will no longer debate these issues with you, as we will go our own ways on this. ymmv...I do feel, your thread here, interesting. You " acquired " a $25 K plus system, from a relative ( when you started posting here ), and back then, during this time, you indicated, as much as you have enjoyed it, you would never have spent that amount of money, yourself, on a music playback system. As you have just stated, access to capitol, is not an issue for you. So, I would like to ask you a question, if you will respond, and this is up to you, as other readers, besides myself, will be reading. The question is : Owning these two systems, the one at your home, and the one at your cabin, knowing what you now know, specifically, the world of higher end audio, would you spend $25 K, on a system, for your home, at this point in time? I hope I asked this correctly....As a retired audio consultant, I can tell you, I have helped multiples of 100's of people, over the many years of doing this, get into systems, for recorded music reproduction, in their homes, and studios, and, at many different price levels. The two biggest lessens I learned, over these years, is, 1 : Awesome systems can be put together, at every price level. 2 : Excluding high end earphone / headphone systems, the " room " , can make an entry level system sound awesome, or, a mega buck system, sound awful. Of course, the goal is, to make all systems sound awesome. I will end it here, as this thread is not about me. Enjoy ! MrD.
n80 OP
2,125 posts
 
MrD., first I think I’d have to modify the estimate on the system I inherited. I think it probably cost around $15k, maybe a little more. That would have been in early 2000’s dollars.

So to answer your question, based on the adjusted cost of around $15k, the answer is no, I would not spend that much right now if I needed to replace it even if I had that much cash in hand.

You may read that answer as a snub toward high end audio but it isn’t. It simply comes down to a few simple things: 1) I could think of a few other ways I would enjoy the money more. 2) I probably just don’t have the ear or taste for the level of performance that others hear in their high end systems. In other words, those dollars would probably be wasted on my ears. 3) After hearing my low end system I’m certain that I could be well satisfied with a home/primary system that cost way less than $15k.

The fourth reason would be that I think I would enjoy doing the shopping and research to put together a good system for, say, under $5k.

That would probably be my cut off point; $5K.

And in my book that is still a lot of money.

But yes, I think I could assemble a system that would more than meet my needs for that amount and have a blast doing it.

In fact, given that my system is over 15 years old, I could probably nearly duplicate it for $5k. There is a chance I could better it with more modern gear at that price too. Who knows?
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