From: peterca@ento.csiro.au
Subject: Re: Re: Need help for buying a $5000 system
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 13:20:22 GMT



>	My advice to you is to go to your local hi-fi shop and listen to
>different systems.  Bring some CD's that are representative of your listening 
>preferences. 

Yes definately.  Shops have recordings which are spectacular in short
bursts but you wouldn't want to listen to them all evening!  

>	First listen to different loudspeakers. They will be the most important
>purchase you will make. All loudspeakers are designed differently, and thus 
>they can greatly affect the sound of the completed system. In choosing loud
>speakers, ther is NO RIGHT AND WRONG choice, they have to sound good to YOU.

Certainly, even the state of the art is not perfect and so the set of
limitations which least offends you is important and will depend on
personal taste and the music and recordings used.  

>	Once you have chosen your speakers, select a power section that can 
>"adequately" drive them. What I mean by adequately is this:
>	As a general rule, your amp is at max power output with minimal 
>distortion at around 1 o'clock on the volume dial. 

Forget this. It depends on the level comming in to the amp what volume you
get at any particular position on the dial.

>You mentioned that you do 
>not crave loud volume from a system. However, a low powered amp must work
>harder to produce your comfort level than does a high powered amp. Thus even at 
>low volume levels, a high powered amp will give better (cleaner) sound.

True, all other things being equal, but be aware that some big amps don't
sound as good when producing a low volume into efficient speakers.  There
are various good reasons for this.  I think people often pay too much
attention to amplifier power while ignoring speaker efficiency.  This is
because the latter is expressed logarithmicly while the former is linear. 
Thus 25W into a 90db/W/m speaker is the same as 50W into 87db/W/m is the
same as 100W into 84db/W/m.  These are all common specs for speakers. The
message is don't worry about the diffence between 80 and 90W.  Just check
that the amp can make the speaker go louder than you want without sounding
harsh and that it sounds good at lower volume.
>
>	As far as a disc player, they really sound pretty much the same. ...choose one >based on the features.

This is a strange comment for this forum.  While agreeing that there is
more difference between speakers, and that this might be a good starting
point, amplifiers and CD players certainly vary.  Having bought a CD player
last year (and made some modifications to it) I assure you some are truely
awful to listen to and others are quite good (analogue bias showing through
here).  The differences can be quite marked.  For example, I recently
changed the opamps in one channel of my CD player before tracing the
circuit to determine which I had changed.  A friend and I both listened to
each channel and made notes before revealing to each other what we thought.
 We then traced the circuit and found that we both had prefered the changed
channel and had similar descriptions of the difference.  The original opamp
and the new one differed in price by only a few dollars.  The shop will
probably have a good idea of what goes well together but may well change
one or more components in responce to your impressions.
>
>Finding a friend
>or aquaintance who has purchased a system recently is also a good idea.

Yes I agree.   I have also found it is useful to have a listen to whatever
the shop regards as "the best".  This gives you a reference and helps the
shop to help you.  Any system in your price range will probably sound great
initially (and it should).  However, to make a purchase which will give
long term satisfaction it will help to listen to something better to decide
what is important to you.  EG. You may notice a particular aspect of the
better system which stands out for you.  Describe to the salesperson.  It
might be brighter/smoother,  tighter bass/fuller bass, richer tone/more
detail,  precise imaging, particular realism on a favourite instrument etc.
 The system you have been shown first will necessarily have strenghts and
weaknesses.  Your task is to find a combination of equipment which does
best those things which matter most to you and which has weaknesses which
are least offensive to you.

Have fun, take your time, visit the shop when they are not busy. You may
consider mixing some traded gear/ex demo  with the new equipment.  The shop
will usualy give a short garantee on these (if it doesn't blow up in the
first week it will probably last for years).  The traded amp may allow you
to get the next model up in speakers for example or you may get the best CD
amp and speakers and get an excelent quality secondhand turntable.  There
are plenty of these for obvious reasons.  You can have hours of fun buying
secondhand LPs of obscure music which you would never buy as a full price
CD or still enjoy your old LPs.

----------------------------------------
Peter Campbell
C/O Div. Entomology, C.S.I.R.O.
Box 1700 Canberra A.C.T. 2601
Australia  (peterca@ento.csiro.au)
Ph.61-6-2464158 (w), 61-6-2516213 (h)
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