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Best advice you ever got/ never got in your long hifi career.

I've been keeping a log of Epiphanies and Ostensible Truths:
  • Change one thing and you change everything.
  • I’m the weakest link in the system: if I can enjoy music through a crappy £10 kitchen radio then surely I can enjoy music through any system, no matter how much or how little it costs.
  • Product reviews (including lab style reviews), specifications and even endorsements from owners can only ever serve as a guide as to what you can expect from a given component or pair of speakers, etc: your room and your system, not to mention your mood and more besides, will determine to a much greater extent what it actually delivers. In short, home dem rules!
  • Colin is right: a good system is one that makes listening to most if not all of your music collection an enjoyable or otherwise rewarding experience. A hifi system that can’t play average or bad sounding CDs or records is no music system at all, unless all of your all CDs and records happen to sound amazing to begin with.
  • A given component, or a given part of a component does nothing until it’s part of a system and that system operates within the confines of a room. It is this Total System (system + room) that determines to a greater extent how you hear what you hear.
  • It does take time to find out whether a different sound is a better sound - first impressions aren’t always correct in the long run.
  • Colin is right again: a really good stereo system is better than a pretty decent surround system when it comes to multichannel music; especially when the front speakers are outrageously better than the rear speakers.
  • Colin is right again: you can’t get everything from one system. You have to decide what you want a system to do and then go with that.
  • ToTo Man is right: [in addition to the purpose of hearing all the information] having the tweeters at or slightly above ear height is essential for the phenomenon of suspending belief.
  • You don’t need a big wallet to achieve some of the biggest gains in performance: optimal speaker placement (including toe-in) along with optimal listening position placement are key when it comes to unlocking significant potential!
 
Beobloke said:
Please don’t tell me he talked you into buying a Behringer A500?!
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Yes - he said their distortion was low enough and their power high enough that you probably can't reliably distinguish them from much more expensive amps. I spent many weeks trying to prove to myself that he was wrong, but my golden ears let me down.

Of course, measurements suggest that A500s work best with gain at 49% or 100%, not in between. I could just about hear a difference between an A500 and a Linn 2250D if I listened very carefully for a sliver of cosiness in the bass (Linn) but it was smaller than typical differences between one good pressing and the next, and musically inconsequential. It could be that my active 242s just aren't revealing enough to show the difference, but if that's the case, at least I'm not spending money on power amp musicalityfulness which my speakers won't let me hear. Most of the generously-shared opinions I've seen on this come from people who have never attempted to prove that they can hear the differences they think they hear. With very small differences, like the differences between amps with less than 0.2% distortion measurements, that is the standard we should set ourselves: statistically significant distinction, blindfolded.
 
Few things spring to mind:
  • Yes get a system that makes all your music sound good. Not just the best-recorded stuff. Don’t let it dictate what you play.
  • Chase sense of reality not sense of detail. Does it move you or just impress you? It's all perception.
  • Go to a hifi show or two and hear some £multi-thousand systems probably sound awful, to you. And some far cheaper ones sound stunning. And vice-versa of course. Realise how taste- and room-specific it all is, and just throwing money or uber components at it guarantees nothing.
  • Buy used where possible to try stuff for minimal cost.
  • Room matters. At least dampen it with soft furnishings.
  • Consider product support and aftercare, especially if something is costing you a bit. Cost/ease of sending it somewhere, and chance of repair. See companies with a good reputation for it. (Flagging up Rega, Audio Note and Chord as ones I’ve had great experiences of)
 
sonddek said:
Yes - he said their distortion was low enough and their power high enough that you probably can't reliably distinguish them from much more expensive amps. I spent many weeks trying to prove to myself that he was wrong, but my golden ears let me down.

Of course, measurements suggest that A500s work best with gain at 49% or 100%, not in between. I could just about hear a difference between an A500 and a Linn 2250D if I listened very carefully for a sliver of cosiness in the bass (Linn) but it was smaller than typical differences between one good pressing and the next, and musically inconsequential. It could be that my active 242s just aren't revealing enough to show the difference, but if that's the case, at least I'm not spending money on power amp musicalityfulness which my speakers won't let me hear. Most of the generously-shared opinions I've seen on this come from people who have never attempted to prove that they can hear the differences they think they hear. With very small differences, like the differences between amps with less than 0.2% distortion measurements, that is the standard we should set ourselves: statistically significant distinction, blindfolded.
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Sadly, if you know which measurement to make (which, for some strange reason, Serge seems oddly resistant to do), the Behringer turns in appallingly high distortion figures.
 
Tony had it right a while ago. When you can buy used from a reputable and long standing manufacturer that will provide support for the long term.
To which I would add:
  1. Listen to LOTS of systems and decide what sound and reproduction you want.
  2. Target your purchases to that end.
  3. Its cheaper in the long run to make a few expensive purchases than chop and change gear (attractive as this seems to be for some box-swappers)
  4. If you feel the need to have two or three items of everything/anything you probably bought the wrong equipment (see 2 and 3).
  5. Your money - your ears. If you like it, who cares what others think.
  6. Don't listen to self-confessed forum experts (especially regarding subwoofers 😉 ). For some its all about demonstrating how smart they think they are.
 
Had I known this was a career (and not a hobby) I would have told myself to get paid.

Also to not spend big time on discussion fora (failed that one).
 
Don't chase incremental improvements frequently but big improvements infrequently

Source first applied most when primary sources were vinyl, recognise that in the digital era speakers and their room interatcion are probably most important

Do go to hi-fi shows to hear many different kinds of systems with an open mind. There's no 'holy grail' out there. No single manufacturer is the best, there are many approaches out there BUT the systems that come closest to 'live sound' are usually the right path for most people - that's one reason why I have found myself favouring loudspeakers made by studio monitor brands like ATC, PMC and Dynaudio. Their focus is on uncoloured high bandwidth and neutral reproduction and ultimately I think this is more satisfying over the longer term than designs which use colouration to appear 'musical'.

Don't get caught up in format wars - digital, vinyl and reel to reel can all sound wonderful and they all start to converge at more elite levels of sound.

Don't fall for marketing bull

Do buy from manufacturers who offer long term service and repair for their products and whose products hold their value.

Never disparage the other guy or gal's system - I've met too many people in this sphere who think their way is the one true way!

Recognise that audio and video integration is a wonderful thing - it's not a crime to combine a high quality two channel set-up in a home theatre surround system. Music, concert blu-rays and films are all worthy of great reproduction and one needn't compromise the other.

Be suspicious of elite cabling and uber-fi designed to be ostentatious rather than high performing

Respect brands that price products at what they cost to build plus a sensible profit margin - I'm thinking of Rega, Leema Acoustics, ATC and Michell Engineering in particular here. Just because some brands have ridiculously high prices it doesn't mean they perform better.
 
1. Build a music collection around your system.

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2. Try various locations for the ship — the Beethoven Borg box, the Du Pré collection, the CD box that has a picture of @Marchbanks, my man on it, etc. — to determine its best position visually. This one is hard to do blind, but try your best.

3. Avoid King Crimson's Islands if possible.

Joe
 
Those expressing opinions on sound quality are speaking as much of their own hearing as the hifi. Those who know their hearing is faulty or not to be relied upon sometimes rely on measurements instead, but because their hearing is faulty they can’t then correlate measurements with sound in a way that is meaningful for anyone else!

Check to see if posters on forums are trade members, and if they are treat their opinions with caution.

Some folk try to justify their own purchases by trying to get others to do the same. Some folk try to compensate for their own insecurities by being rude about other’s purchases.

The older you get the more you realise how little you know about hifi (or anything else) and the less it matters because your hearing is buggered anyway.

Find something that suits you and gives you musical pleasure rather than what someone else thinks should be good for you.
 
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