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The most common mistake in audio?

Dozey said:
Biggest mistake in hifi is spending too much on big speakers without considering the amp driving them.
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Why big spkrs only? They are generally the easier ones to drive. Omit 'big' from your text above and I'd agree, though doubt it's the biggest error.;)

My only illuminating experiences with spkr leads were on three occasions:

11 metres Chord Odyssey v NAC A5 on my big ProAcs. Different, NAC A5 marginally fuller/preferable.

11 metres Chord Odyssey on my big Quad ESL; absolutely broken; thought I'd made a big spkr purchase error, but substituting NAC A5 brought back sanity and synergy.

Bake-off in friend's largish room with higher end kit and Quad 2812 (latest) ESLs with dealer and 7 others. 6 spkr leads tested on same music (vinyl) incl NAC A5 but others much pricier. Result? Much of a muchness for 5 of them but one was undisputedly way ahead. True Signal; not the dearest either. Head 'n' shoulders ahead and everybody agreed.

Like most things hifi, synergy can be researched and experienced but cannot be taken for granted as a 'one size fits all' solution.
 
I would need really short speaker cables since i run actives. That being said i do believe in interconnects while i didn’t want to. Luckily the Carbokab cable i used was still relatively cheap since its diy.
 
Agreed on room treatment, but also the idea that a really good source into crap speakers is a good thing. It really isn’t. Balance.
 
I found different speaker cables can make a difference, but not as much as the source connection cables. For some reason though, with my system, the speaker position plays a big part in the sound quality. Get it exactly right, and it improves the sound quality better than any cable upgrade.
 
The most common mistake in audio is: people not finding the very best speaker they can, that works really well in their listening room, even if it means spending 80% of their budget buying them, then building their system around those speakers. The cable bit comes into the equation when building the system around the speakers...
 
Without doubt the choice of cables should be a very important consideration. what does the manufacturer use , what is the internal cable? Bell wire works for the flat earthers !
In the same way that components are different and sound different so do cables.

If perhaps you are not prepared to spend more than say £10/20m per metre your value is monetary driven which is of course very important but perhaps denies you better sound available.
 
Another mistake to my mind is losing track of what your actually listening to. Upgrading/box swapping is all well and good, but its all to easy to chase detail/soundstage/attack or whatever floats your boat, and lose the sound you really like.
It should be about the overall sound and not the last ounce of detail.
It's all to easy (if you have the funds) to take things too far as I've recently found out after chasing the dragon with vinyl replay and ending up with a rarely used expensive ornament of a turntable & arm.
In the new year I will be seriously evaluating where I want to be as I currently get more pleasure from system 2 & 2a (a sub system) I've also played more vinyl via a Mantra/Moth/P77 Mg or loaner AS Manfred ii/Cadenza Blue in the last month than I did with the Bardo/12" Enterprise 4 in the last 8 months.
 
Darren said:
It's a hifi forum Woody. The people who come here, yourself included, are interested in creating the best sound at home so they can enjoy their music to the fullest extent. The OP has found that careful cable choice enhances his listening pleasure.
It's not a crime I guess. Or are you here to police his joy?
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Not at all, I just see constant cable swaps & moving gear around as the opposite of what I seek to achieve. OP asked for opinions & he's getting them.
 
palacefan said:
Without doubt the choice of cables should be a very important consideration
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It's actually pretty low on the list compared to things such as speaker positioning, decoupling, room treatment, choice of speakers in room, choice of kit, matching kit to speakers... (100 different reasons), ... buying some records... (it's down here somewhere, probably lower)

So yeah, definitely 'very important'
 
tomek said:
Most common mistake ?
Room treatment, or a lack of it ...
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The only form of room treatment I've aspired to is knocking down walls, but not to the extent of being al fresco! I've never had a problem with any room/system I've had, but they've all had crooks and nannies; they help nullify reflections, I guess.

david ellwood said:
The most common mistake in audio is believing anything you read on audio forums.
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Ho ho and not so. Surely it's going onto audio forums in the first place:). Actually, sound (!) advice emanates from pfm threads but you need to evaluate that advice in the context of your own situation.
 
Lurch said:
Another mistake to my mind is losing track of what your actually listening to. Upgrading/box swapping is all well and good, but its all to easy to chase detail/soundstage/attack or whatever floats your boat, and lose the sound you really like.
It should be about the overall sound and not the last ounce of detail.
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So true and why I am a Mogami interconnect fan. 'HiFi' is about detail and soundstage not music which makes me flat earth I guess.
 
tomek said:
Most common mistake ?
Room treatement, or a lack of it ...
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Absolutely. I used to live in France, moved into a beautiful house with a big lounge. Tall ceilings, no carpet,no curtains. Tiles everywhere, sounded like an art gallery. After a lot of shuffling about with bookshelves, rugs, etc, it was *OK*. But never great. Room treatment would have fixed it properly, poking around with cables certainly would not.
 
stevec67 said:
Hifi isn't about music? Oh dear. I thought that was the first thing.
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Agreed, I just do not like the term HiFi which was appropriate for the 1950s before electric guitars. I even more dislike the term High End. I used to like the sound of juke boxes in motorcycle cafes in the 1960s. I'm a flat earther still.
 
stevec67 said:
Absolutely. I used to live in France, moved into a beautiful house with a big lounge. Tall ceilings, no carpet,no curtains. Tiles everywhere, sounded like an art gallery. After a lot of shuffling about with bookshelves, rugs, etc, it was *OK*. But never great. Room treatment would have fixed it properly, poking around with cables certainly would not.
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I think having a beautiful room is more important than room treatments.
 
adamdea said:
I think having a beautiful room is more important than room treatments.
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It is, if you value a dwelling space over music reproduction, and most sensible people do. Just don't expect your beautiful room to sound nice. Mine didn't. I just got used to it, and it sounded good enough. But very few rooms sound at their best as you happen to have them laid out. Anyone who spends large sums on hifi jewellery that makes minor differences at best while assuming that the room is performing optimally is deluding themselves.
 
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