High End System Building. How important is the matching, cabling and room? Thoughts ?


The last 20 years as an audiophile and now a dealer has taught me a very important lesson. Everything matters. The equipment can be great but no matter how much you spend the matching is very important. The cabling is also important. Some think cabling is all about making it sound better. I prefer my cabling to not get in the way. It’s like it can’t be a clogged faucet for your sound.  Materials and shielding are very important. In addition to that the room is very important. You may not have a perfect room but you build your system to work in the room you have. I don’t have all the answers but you can’t just spend money and have a great system. Combination of equipment, cabling and room has gotten me there. I’ve tried a lot of gear and cables and this is how I feel. What are your thoughts everyone? 

calvinj

@curiousjim i can’t do any of that in my room.   I literally can’t change it because of the area and dimensions and the style of our condo.  So that everyone understands I am extremely happy with the current state of my audio system. I have infigo method 4 Dac. Infigo method 6 amplifier. Infigo Fluvius streamer. Gato Fm6 speakers and 2 rel 212se subwoofers. My infigo stuff has a zero noise floor up to -140 db.  It has great sound stage. I have cables that don’t have any noise as well. I get great transparency, detail, soundstage with a small hint of warmth and musicality. My system really gets in the air without sounding fatiguing at all.  Look my gear is expensive I can admit that but I bought it after loads of research and it has synergy off the charts. The design that went into every party of the system is next level to my ear. So I am literally getting great sound in my bad room.  I have high ceilings, a door that gets in the way. One speaker close to a wall. I have hardwood floors. Etc. But despite that the level of electronics I have overcame all of that. Look I can’t speak for everyone in my system it works. 

I get great transparency, detail, soundstage with a small hint of warmth and musicality.

@calvinj  , with absolutely no intention of taking this down a rabbit hole, how do you define a "small hint of musicality"?

@immatthewj i meant a small bit of tube style warmth. I didn’t mean a hint of musicality.  Its sounds musical. Instruments sound like instruments. Players are where they are supposed to be in soundstage. Just to clarify. 

If your room sux, you cannot get decent quality sound regardless of price.  First fix the room.  A cheap way is to fill it with artificial ficus trees.  They act as great diffusers.  And they may not fix problems with soft walls or hard floors.