From: kk@mcnc.org (Krzysztof A. Kozminski)
Subject: Re: Need help for buying a $5000 system(rebuts)
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: MCNC Center for Microelectronics, RTP, NC
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 15:38:06 GMT
	for info-high-audio@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

In article <1992Aug13.154453.7779@fnbc.com> wyatt@othello.fnbc.com (Wyatt Sutherland) writes:
>In article <1992Aug11.142606.7451@walter.bellcore.com>  
>> First listen to different loudspeakers. They will be the most important
>> purchase you will make.
>> 
>I strongly disagree!  Start from the source.  Poor recording,  poor listening.

You've read too many myths spewed by the Tiefenbrun person ...

>Poor front-end, CD, turntable, tape, poor listening.  Same  goes for the
>pre-amp, amp and cables.  The speakers should be your last  purchase 
>in the chain.  Have you ever heard the saying "The chain is  only as
>strong as the weakest link."

And the unavoidable conclusion of this very saying is that the speakers
are the most critical component.  Well, maybe not, I might concede the
priority to the listening room, depending on the actual speakers.

Show me ONE system with no obvious component incompatibilities where
speakers are NOT the most distorting component...  or try to convince
ANYBODY that a Krell/MarkLevinson front end + electronics fed into Bose
901 will sound better than Avalon/MartinLogan/B&W/Mirage/Vandersteen/
Apogee/Magnepan to name a few, powered by any ~$1000, recent vintage,
non-malfunctioning system with reasonable power amp in it.

>> As far as a disc player, they really sound pretty much the  same. Decide
>> if you want a changer or single disc, then choose one based on the  features.
>>
>Definitely, definitely wrong.  Disc players, as do  turntables, cartridges, 
>mats, isolations and other front-end equipment/devices have  an influence 
>on the reproduction of recorded material.  Be very critical  in your front-end 
>purchase.

Agreed.  However, for casual listening, I'd get any cheap CD changer and
another, decent one, for times when you crave for intense listening
pleasure...

>Use  YOUR ears and trust them.

Agreed.  Which is why one should choose speakers first.  Have them
fed from a top-notch source/amplification so that you can later aim at
attaining the quality you'd know to be possible with the speakers
you like.

>But it is always a good  idea to bring a friend along.  They can help
>talk the wife into letting you  keep the system besides spending the
>money on a new washer/dryer.

The above is a disgusting, sexist, macho-chauvinist-pig statement.  And
ignorant about physiology of hearing to boot.  The same wife relegated
by you to laundry jobs is likely to posess hearing abilities way beyond
what you were born with, and almost certainly vastly superior to what
you or any of your male friends have now.  Of course, if you ARE able
to hear up to 20kHz, I retract and apologize profusely.

For a male hi-fi shopper, it is always advisable to bring wife or a
sympathetic female friend along on a shopping trip.  She'll be able
to hear all the details that the Y-chromosome masks out ...

Kris "and-as-far-as-speaker-cables-are-concerned-Sears-Deluxe-Jumper-cable
-in-3-ft-lengths-RULES" Kozminski
-- 
"Legalize freedom.  Vote libertarian"

Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end