This is an odd hobby because price points are all over the place. When I go to the supermarket, I don’t see a half gallon of ice cream for $12.00 and then another one for $86.00. But look at tone arms for example. I have a lot of money in my stereo but the money isn’t evenly distributed. Some things that have made the most satisfying improvements were tweaks ranging from $800.00 to $175.00. A while back I helped a friend put together a Rega system with Monitor Audio speakers and it sounds great and he didn’t have to break the bank. The audio business just isn’t black and white. So I wouldn’t get caught up in what ‘could be’ unless you hope to carry out a vision. I believe that you’ll eventually want to upgrade or tweak something but don’t rob yourself of the present.
Am I Getting Soft Here?
I’ve just been loving my stereo lately, this despite the fact everything is far from bank-breakingly expensive and is, well, at least a few years old. Right now I’m streaming CD quality music from Idagio and the sound is just glorious. Timbres are lovely. Sure, I’m listening to a modest. perhaps a ten person Baroque chamber ensemble, but there’s a convincing sense of image, dynamics and space. I’m not in the first row of the venue but I’m far from the nosebleed section or hidden in a corner. Hoping I’m not cursing things with this post!
NOLA Boxer Speakers. Primaluna Integrated amp. Cambridge Audio streamer. Interconnects, etc., at a similar quality level. But yeah, I was able to build my listening room pretty much to audiophile precepts, and everything is painstakingly positioned.
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what..??
dude, really? not that good?
in best umbshitday voice " cmon, man"
that's a great system, unless that's what you wanted to hear to reinforce your audio decisions??
that's a great system, we go with what we can afford, and no matter the cost, "its all ours" people who like bright speakers, would not like my stereo, do we give a sack, what others think..?? nope not me. |
@arcticdeth my highest priced piece is my amp, which is technically an integrated but with separate power supplies. Then my electrostatic speakers, then DAC, then phono amp. And while it seems illogical to put a stereo together this way, I have exactly what I had envisioned but it took some work. If I were consulted on to put another high dollar stereo together, I'd probably need about two or three months to figure things out. Save money in one place but invest it in another. |
Enjoying another truly wonderful listen right now via Idagio. A 1966 recording of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (the Marriage of Figaro). Conducted by Otmar Suitner. Sung in German. Everybody is having a smashingly good time as they prowl a remarkably 3D soundstage, plotting, scheming and wooing. Hey, is someone knocking at my front door? No, it's just a character in the opera trying to get in on the fun. |
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