The Law of Accelerating Returns

Every system has a bottleneck, ie the thing that limits performance. It’s just a question of how much it matters.  Can be very hard to determine with hifi gear.  It takes a lot of work regression testing ie changing one thing at a time and comparing.  Even then it is a subjective comparison and not an objective one so results will vary FBOFW .   It can be a real exercise in futility in some cases to get it all truly optimized for best technical performance .   That’s what engineers are for!

New integrated amps and all in one units from reputable makers are a great way to avoid serious bottlenecks at a price point by letting the experts integrate things for you properly. Integrated amp technology has come a long way. There is probably one out there to satisfy most anyone. Except those who prefer to do it themselves of course.

The time I spent learning about room acoustics has been the single greatest enhancement of ALL the changes through the years of listening.. It was also the least expensive..

Same here...

All the rest is gear conditioned mass ignorance and selling technique...Not because all gear are equal, they are not, but matter way less than acoustic...

But even acoustic seller sell ignorance or easy to made passive costly material...

An acoustic tuning and control is too complex to be sold at low cost...

We must do it ourselves..

But it is not very popular to say to people that 20,000 bucks system or 100,000 busks one that did not matter the way they think...

Audio system are like woman, most dont want to take the time to learn them, plug and play, plug off... This is audio for most...

And their brand name is proof enough for them that it is good...They think that they know how to hear but hearing must be learned like any acoustician or musician know already...

The truth is not popular and science either is not... propaganda and publicity are more easy to swallow...

You know all that already ...

My deepest respect to you...

It is not false for sure, but this hide the essential...

The greatest bottleneck is our own room acoustic and more than that our own untrained hearing with acoustical experiments... The main bottleneck is our brain...

An acoustic concept is not an abstraction, it is a reality that must be concretely listened to...

A system or several pieces of gear exist in a room for the ears, and the bottleneck of the system must be manifested IN  the room where it is well or not well embedded to the ears and for the ears ... To understand the true specific nature of this gear bottleneck we must understand acoustic first... If not, we are embarked in a carousel of upgrades most of the time meaningless.because we are unable to listen to this gear at this optimal working peak anyway... It take a room adapted to the gear and under control for that....

Every system has a bottleneck, ie the thing that limits performance. It’s just a question of how much it matters.

It’s true that if the system is in good shape ie no serious bottleneck then one is free to deal with the room. You can hire experts for that as well or most people can just have at it themselves with some good references for guidance. It’s another advantage of an integrated solution. One can then focus on speakers and acoustics better and acoustics always vary by room.

It’s true that if the system is in good shape ie no serious bottleneck then one is free to deal with the room.

Not exactly mapman, no...An integrated solution will have his own bottleneck...No system is perfect but all system at any price can be lifted out of their bottleneck to a new bottleneck yes... But for example my actual system room is out of my past bottleneck, in a new unperceived bottleneck...I live very well with it why?

Because when we reach a certain sound quality level, we know what will be the cost of a real beneficial upgrade, only at this time we can know it... mine will be from my 500 bucks system going to a minimal 10,000 to 15000 bucks system... why i dont want to do it? not only because i dont have the money but i dont need it really... Pianio sound fill already my room, my system/speakers beat already my 8 headphones... there is always better but i am very pleased... My soundscape is the best i ever listen to anyway...

How can you became conscious of a bottlemeck inherent to the system in all case, especially with a  already good system like the one i own ?

I was never conscious that i listenedc in his botlleneck in the past  BEFORE i take control of the room ... why?

Because any system has his own limitations and bottleneck, then how can you know them and detect all of them in a nude room without acoustic control of any kind ?

i bought my system , i was happy, but not COMPLETELY  satisfied without knowing why...I cannot put my finger on anything...I though that all was right and at the same time all seems very  limited: timbre,imaging, soundstage etc 

Some bottleneck was there but not manifested openly, i was sensing that something may be lacking without the faintest idea what it is and how to adress it...

This become gradually clear when i PASS OVER THIS bottleneck with an improving acoustic, which means i become conscious of  where i come from and where i was going...