Actually I’m slumming it with active 40s. I think my room is a bit small for 50s, visually as well as sonically, though my dealer disagrees.
Seriously, though, I do think active operation brings a special flavour to the sonic presentation, especially with classical. I’m sufficiently addicted to it that I would always go for active in my main system.
Roger
That’s OK
I know this is a question without an answer. It was a rhetorical question. But if you read through the replies, you can get some good insights into the world of Hi Fi. I certainly learnt a few things.
I have been renewing my HiFi over the last couple of years, and I have encountered lots of HiFi publications and forums. I have read too many reviews, but I have at least learnt how to read between the lines. The review sites push us towards hyper expensive gear. Reading forums, I often get the same impression. I am left feeling that my €10000 set up is Pauper Fi. I was interested to hear if people felt the same way, or are content with systems at level most people can budget.
My own buying strategy has been to buy from companies with a strong track record like Naim, Musical Fidelity (pre sale to Project) or from companies that deal with professional audio like PM, Hedd, SPL, and Shure, who have less tendency to price scalp, than pure Hi Fi brands. My one big purchasing fail was my Cocktail Audio streamer. They have gone bankrupt.
Nigel,
I think it’s important to keep it all in perspective and you are right the industry, the press and everyone else in the scene has a tendency to focus most heavily on the super high end stuff. I guess the same thing is true of car magazines too that are always reviewing the latest McLaren on a perfect mountain pass in the Italian Alps because people love living vicariously in their dreams. Nobody really wants to read a review of the latest Fiesta doing an epic road trip around the Grimsby ring road…lol
However, one of the things I like to remind myself is that I used to derive enormous pleasure from a humble Systemdek IIX, Naim Nait and Mordaunt Short MS30’s and the system I have now is leagues better than that. I think to be honest I became a lot more contented (at quite a modest level) because I took a lot of time to choose components with great care and to be honest they were hard earned. I really like the way my system sounds nowadays, so I don’t come back from shows having listened to megabucks systems and feel disappointed anymore - ever. In fact only three demos have ever really blown my mind in recent years. The first was hearing Dolby Atmos done right at the PMC mastering suite in London, the second was my friend’s system and the third was listening to Ajay Shirke’s system (he owns SME) where we compared the SME Model 60 directly against safety masters on massive Studer reel to reel’s… That was pretty darned awesome and really demonstrated just how darned good the SME Model 60 really is… I think it’s the very best turntable in the world - certainly that I have heard properly. It would be interesting to see how the new and even more expensive Wilson Benesch compares I guess…
But I still come home and while I acknowledge that those megabucks systems are clearly significantly better, my system is now at a level where I really love it and realise it offers 80% of the performance for 15% of the cost…
Even my friend with the half million pound system has said he really enjoys listening to my far more modest system - and he does regularly. At the end of the day work within the budget you have available and choose really, really carefully and slowly - don’t chop and change but make considered moves. I fell in love with Naim and I fell in love with ATC and since combining them I’ve just been content, even after elite review gear leaves the house.
As it happens I do have some changes/upgrades on the horizon, but again it’s a question of working within my own financial constraints and doing what I can when I can.
Just my thoughts.
JonathanG
I see, now I understand what you are looking for in a HIFI system, I think you are looking for a system that can produce good sound, good bass, treble, detailed background, etc, a sound machine, not necessarily a system that sounds musical, enjoyable but may be not perfectly accurate in some technical terms.
A ten thousand euro system is not pauper level by a long way. It is probably getting on for 9 or 10 times the amount most people would ever pay for a hi-fi system. On this site, it might sometimes seem that way, but this place is hardly representative of the real world. You have a great system that gives you enjoyment of your music, which is the main reason for having a system at whatever level, I believe.
I ran a Systemdek, NAIT3 and Mordaunt Short MS310s for years, totally happy, until I joined this forum 
I worked for 2 years in a pub through 6th form to buy the deck and speakers and a Technics amp. Took another 5 or 6 years to build up to replacing the Technics with the NAIT. There’s definitely something in the effort taken to acquire kit.
I’m not sure how my puzzlement about what people mean when they say a system has PRaT, or my views on foot tapping as a measure of sound quality indicates to you what I am looking for, or indeed that I am looking for anything!
What I want from my music replay system, hifi, or sound machine if you want to call it that, is something which ideally presents me with the music in full, accurately - nothing taken away and nothing distorted from how it was lad down in the recording - so that I can hear and fully enjoy the music as recorded, drawing me in so I lose myself in it only emerging at the end of the album. A sound machine that leaves me with no interest in improving, upgrading, tweaking. etc. But I’m not looking for it, as I pretty much have it.
Yes, I know, you are correct 100% and that was the point I wanted to make in part.
I read reviews of stuff by people who seem to have incredibly decerning ears, of units that cost 10x more than my and many others systems, and I wonder what I am missing. Then I play some music and everything sounds super on my gear.
With headphones in particular, I have reached a point where any “improvements” would be almost imperceptible, now that I have solved the hard stero effect of some discs with a cross-feed function on my studio derived HP amp.
I am pretty sure a system that costs €500,000 mentioned in a post above sounds superlative, but I presume the listening room is a dedicated space treated acoustically.
Another question. At what point do you start listening to your system, rather than what the musicians are trying to say? At certain time I find myself falling into this trap.
I too aim at hearing music on my system that is as close as possible to what I hear live.
But from my reading, I get the impression that a lot of audio gear is “coloured” in some way to make it more enjoyable to the listener. The Harman curve in headphone design is just one aspect that I have dealt with. Studio cans mostly have a flat frequency response. Consumer headphones usually have two humps at the base and treble ends.
gthack, how funny we had such similar systems… Such a shame Mordaunt SHort are gone, they built some lovely (and affordable) speakers…
Interestingly they used to be based at Durford Mill just outside Petersfield and I live only about 3 miles from there so I actually cycled down there to investigate the spot a year or two ago. It’s rather an idyllic location…
I totally agree that the effort required to acquire kit is often proportional to the pleasure derived from it. I’m pretty sure if I was the Son of a Russian Oligarch that achieving my SME Series IV after some forty years of aspiration would have meant less than it actually did…
Maybe the financially constrained are the lucky ones after all!
JonathanG
Interesting article on headphonesty looking at what price one hits diminishing returns for each type of product. A quick summary:
“DACs Peak at $100-200”
“Amplifier Audibility Caps at $1,000-2,000”
“Headphone Quality Plateaus at $500-1,000”
“Speaker Improvements Diminish After $2,000-5,000”
This says it all.
Yuk.
Yes.
I just bought a pair of speakers that are over 20 years old and they are the best speakers I’ve ever heard.
My preamp is also over 20 years old and makes music in a way that nothing on sale new today could offer.
This is a generalisation, and it’s not always true.
Why?
I have one on order to drive my Lehmann Audio HP amp, that is sitting unused at the moment. I wanted something small as it is going to live on a small shelf in the bedroom, and I also wanted something cheap. The alternative is one of those anonymous here today gone tomorrow Chinese brands.
I read quite a few reviews and forum comments. It should not be too shabby.
Couldn’t agree more as I attended an event yesterday, the highlight of which was Linn Klimax DSM with a pair of Klimax Solo 800 powering Sonis Faber Aida speakers, connected with Audioquest cables.
The room is decent, very spacious with around 4m ceiling, however the setup was truly awful. Well North of £200K to produce a harsh (ear splitting on Stevie Nicks vocal) noise with no real drive or bass extension. Maybe they had very little setup time, or just didn’t take the time to listen themselves as I’ve no doubt the individual components are capable. Perhaps they got caught up with the price tag.
Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Tin Pan Alley was the best of the tracks demo’d, likely the nature of the track and quality of production.
Not a loss as I picked up a new to me artist, Trentemøller**.**
I own both of those and they are indeed a fantastic combination. Earlier this year they carried off an in-person evening of the online music group I belong to with great aplomb! For aesthetic reasons though my Nova is generally paired with Neat Iota Alphas and these have been our living room system for getting on for a decade now.
Yes, an interesting read.
Electronics are always improving, and it makes sense that the entry point to high sound quality is falling in price, as technology improves. Speakers are maybe an exception, as they are in the acoustic engineering camp.
I take issue with the headphones section. My Shure 1540, which I use with my portable DAP, and my old Beyerdynamic Amiron home, fall into the €500 price bracket My Sennheiser HD800S cost €1500 and there is a big difference in sound quality. My Heddphone 2GT at €2000 are a vast improvement over the €500 cans. I would put the HP ceiling in the €2000 bracket, as these more expensive cans are far more detailed and crisper.
