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Backing Away from Stereophile Class A

After taking a break from chasing the audiophile dream for a few years, I jumped back into the game about a year ago and began to try whatever I could afford. This is what I've learned:

1.) My enjoyment of classical music on CD diminished as my system improved in accuracy, revealing the limitations of the digitally recorded source material. This seemed to be especially true when it came to speakers.

2.) Even fabulous speakers sound mediocre in a difficult room. In fact, room-matching may account for as much as half of the perceived quality of sound, at least in my experience. Bigger and more expensive speakers were not necessarily better.

3.) A good tube preamp sounds better than a good solid state preamp. At their best, tubes offer the illusion of neutrality while adding life to otherwise sterile-sounding digital recordings.

4.) The cheapest CD player made by Wadia sounds at least 90% as good as $6600 worth of separates.

5.) In any given system, a less expensive DAC may actually sound better than a Stereophile Class A-rated DAC of similar vintage.

6.) An expensive amplifier turns out to be a good investment after all.

If I were advising someone looking to spend about $5K on a good used CD-based system, I would recommend the following basic components to start with:

a Wadia 23 CD player
Audio Research LS-15 remote-controlled tube preamp
Mark Levinson No. 27 amplifier
Magnepan 2.7 QR planar speakers

Add decent balanced cabling between the Wadia and the preamp, and between the preamp and amp, and you have a very musical system that satisfies without being fatiguing.

With kind regards,
Ag insider logo xs@2xmark_hubbard
pmi_guy
72 posts
 
Moving to really high end audio is like moving from a Corvette to a Ferrari, a bit more performance but much harder tuning.

I second the thoughts of Judit. I try to find components that offer both sweetness and detail. I better go listen to Quads now.

The Stereophile Class rankings are not blanket recommendations but they are a good start, as are the recommendations here on Audiogon. One problem with Stereophile is that the recommendations only cover what's been recently reviewed, which tends to be recent releases by well-known manufacturers.

By far the best advice I've picked up from Audiogon is to decide what level to build your system to and keep to that level. The first limitation is the budget. Don't buy fabulous speakers if the budget dictates that the rest of the system can't be to that level. The second limitation starts with the room. Don't try to put a fabulous system in a difficult room. The third limitation is your time. A fabulous system takes a lot of time to tweak, just like the Ferrari. The fourth limitation is the cost/benefit ratio. A fabulously detailed system may mean that many recordings are no longer as enjoyable.

In the end it's the enjoyment that matters.
subaruguru
1,375 posts
 
1. That was true for me too until I got an Electro EMC-1 MkII.
2. Especially true, and one of the reasons why Stereophile Class rank is spurious. Reviewers evaluate speakers IN THEIR ROOMS...not a controlled reference space.
3. Like Judit, I use a Pass pre/amps to entirely successful, non-grainy effect.
4. Wadia's filter algorithm DOES roll off the top octave noticeably. If that pleases you (especially with Redbook), then that's understandable. The EMC-1 is spectrally flat AND musical, by comparison.
5. Don't know. Guess it's a function of how well the DAC's filters synergize with your system.
6. A GOOD amplifier ends up being a good investment. A budget favorite like the Audio Refinement Complete for $1k is an outstanding integrated, while some $$$ separates sound, well, let's say less good.
My budget audiophile 2ch system I just built for a friend comprises:
NAD C541i ($400 discount new)
Audio refinement Complete Integrated ($700 used)
(Audio Refinement Complete Tuner ($450 used))
Spendor S3/51p ($800 used)
Plateau V23 stands ($200 discount new)
Canare Starquad speaker cables...to be upgraded to Blue Heaven after he "gets it". ($50 new)
Blue Heaven IC ($100 used)
(Canare IC for tuner ($20 new))
3 PCs made by me from belden 83802 ($200)
Total: under $3k, including FM.
eldragon
707 posts
 
Excellent post Pmi! You need to show up more often here. And Mark, same goes for you. Regards!
limomangus's avatar
limomangus
1,426 posts
 
Your thoughts are pretty good,pretty,pretty,pretty good.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Word to the unwise, limomangus, the "More to Discover" reading list? Watch out. You can wind up replying to someone from 20 years ago, making you look like some kind of Rip van Winkel doesn't know time has passed.
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