Audio Lessons Learned - post your best advice for the newer members!


Hi,
I thought it would be great to have our longtime audiophiles post their "lessons learned" along the way.

This is not a thread to start arguments, so please do not do that.
Just a repository where newer members can go to get a few good tidbits of knowledge.

I'll start - I have been an audiophile for 50 years now.

1. Learn about how humans hear sound, and what frequencies SHOULD NOT be flat in their response.. This should be the basis for your system. "Neutral" sounding systems DO NOT sound good to the human ear. You will be unsatified for years (like I was) until you realize this.

2. I do not "chase" DACS anymore.. (I went up to 30K Dacs before realizing the newest Dac chips are now within a few % of the high end Dacs.) Do your research and get yourself a good Dac using the best new dac chips. (about 1000.00 will get you a good one) and save yourself a fortune. - This was one of the best lessons I learned (and just recently) . It allowed me to put more of the budget into room treatment, clean power, and cables which are much more important.

3. Do you want a pleasant or unpleasant sounding system?
I had many very high end systems with NO real satisfaction, until I realized
why a certain company aimed for a particular sound..

4. McIntosh:
As a high end audiophile, I regarded McIntosh as just a little above Bose for about 40 years.-- (not good)
I thought I was an elite audiophile who knew way too much about our hobby to buy equipment that was well made, but never state of the art and colored in its own way.

This was TOTALLY WRONG, as I realize now.
McIntosh goes for a beautiful sound for HUMAN ears, not for specification charts. This is not a flat response, and uses autoformers to get this gorgeous sound. If you know enough about all the other things in our hobby, such as room treatments, very clean power, and very good cables, you can bring a gorgeous sounding McIntosh system to unheard of levels. I have done this now, and I have never enjoyed my music more!

Joe55ag


joe55ag
Love the McIntosh love. I too have a system I’ve been assembling for many mc 500 c2300 and d150 dac are the heart of it with Tannoy Churchill’s. With all of that said, what really took mine to the Way next level was power cords and conditioners, and I’m not a shunyata salesmen so let me say what ever your flavor, give these things a try. You get quietness, depth, soundstage and things you’ve never heard out of your system. Believe me!
Speaker placement is the single biggest factor in getting the best out of your system. Search YouTube for examples and or lessons. Here is a good start  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Pf0ycbyBM&ab_channel=RockyMountainInternationalAudioFest

Remember, most speaker designs assume being 2-6 feet from the back wall, so read the manufactures recommendations. There are many speaker today which are being design to be close to the rear wall just make sure you buy what your room allows for.

Minimum of one sub two is better 

This is personal but I have found a separate DAC had a noticeable difference. The output of a DAC in the $500-$1500 range will get you 95% of what is available from modern DAC's. In that price range you can also get it with a pre outs which help to simplify you system setup 

For Movies and surround sound an AVR works but for two channel stereo a dedicated stereo amp is the way to go, just make sure it does not have a DAC capability within it if you go with a stand alone DAC. Double processing is not the best.

Today a good streamer is worth while and there are many which are very good. Here are two examples of the concept

This one provides DSP capabilities and can send its signal to a Separate DAC
https://www.minidsp.com/products/streaming-hd-series/shd-studio
.
This one is the same as above only includes a DAC
  https://www.minidsp.com/products/streaming-hd-series/shd

Have Fun and Enjoy the Music




This is a lifetime hobby; so, take your time and continue to educate yourself. Always try to buy the best quality item that you can afford at that time. This should help you avoid regretting a purchase. If you're on a budget (like most of us), put together your system in stages. Obviously, start with the main source components (amp/preamp, media player(s) & speakers). When the itch to upgrade strikes (which it will), you can now decide on adding or upgrading things like DAC's, subwoofers, phono preamps, cables, power conditioning and isolation/vibration accessories. This should keep you busy for decades. After all of that, you can decide if there are any weak links that need to be upgraded.
A lot of great advice here. One I would add is don’t be afraid to buy used. You can really increase your buying power by doing this.



Dont get music that makes your system sound good, buy equipment that makes your music sound good. (Learned from experience)
Never tell your wife the true cost of your system
Use the equipment to listen to the music. Don't use the music to listen to the equipment.
It's more expensive than a child. And needs It's own toyroom. Your friends will want playdates.
Always audition everything in your listening space, with the option to return it for a full refund if necessary.
Make sure you let your wife buy all the clothes and jewelry she wants. Tell her she looks her best with designer purses and gem quality jewelry. My wife is now into sapphires. Perfect because nice ones start at $1K and easily go up to a pair of nice monoblocks.
You will never be done upgrading...just roll with it.
1.  Bose-bashing not required to prove your audiophile credentials.

2.  We're all lusting after that last 5% improvement in sound quality.

3.  The last 5% is mighty expensive.

4.  Trust your own ears.
I totally disagree with the entire premise of the OP. System neutrality is critical. To chase a system that makes poor recordings sound good is a serious mistake I think. A system should faithfully reproduce what it is fed. 
Everything is important to good sound but the synergy of the entire system is the most important thing it is not just one brand or how much you spend on the gear price does not determine quality of sound. Good sound is determined by good design and execution of system setup and component interaction as well as careful setup in your room of choice.
My advice would be to find a good dealer and listen to his/her advice. A good dealer will be motivated to help you achieve good sound within your budget and will help you with your upgrade path when you want to and can afford to. 

Also, don't buy anything you haven't listened to personally. No review or advice from someone else will let you know if you are making a good buying decision based on your preferences.
1.) Buy from a dealer in your own country, so if you have issues, it will be easier to get them resolved.
2.) Make sure you have the money to pay for it - just don't make it another charge you put on an overextended credit card.
3.) Don't be conditioned into thinking you have to spend large amounts of money when putting together your system to be completely satisfied.
4.) Always deal with sellers who will take a unit back for free, or at least make you pony up the shipping costs one way (that's fair).
5.) Don't ever ask a person who wants to sell you a product whether it's a great product or if you should buy it - similar to the universal advice of never asking the person who might buy your goods how much they're worth. 
6.) Once you get a component, live with it for a while; don't listen to it for a couple of hours and decide it's not what you want.  I didn't have an opinion on whether break-in was real or not for components; I just played them and paid attention to whether their sound or my feelings changed about them after a time.  Some things did seem to change (and some took 50 or so hours), others not.  I've found that certain amps sounded better after being played for a couple/few hours, my phono cartridge sounded better after quite a few hours (and still needs to play a bit every time I start playing records), and there was a time that I noticed my speaker changed after a lot of time played.
My number one takeaway is... only you know what you like, so filter out the hype.  Most importantly, whenever possible, listen to whatever component you're considering at home connected to your system.  I auditioned 5 integrated amps at home before deciding.  It was worth it.  
1- Don’t sweat debates over definitions of  “audiophile “ or “music lover”.  Just listen to the music.
2- Know what sounds good to you, because everyone hears differently.   And expect it to change over the years because your hearing will change.
3- Stick to your budget.  There are ALWAYS more expensive items to buy.  But you have other things to spend money on also.
4- Wife/Spouse/ Partner Acceptability Factor (WAF/SAF/PAF) is more important than you think. Any limiting criteria may actually encourage you to research stuff you wouldn’t normally consider.  My wife working from home has opened up the wide world of headphones.
5- Find a few reviewers that match your tastes.  I like Steve Guttenberg (similar music tastes) and John Darko (reviews streamers and headphones really well), but your preferences may vary.  
For me, cables have provided the greatest challenges, but over a 6 year period here are the things I have learned that have made significant improvements in my DIY cables and as a consequence - improved sound quality to levels I could not have believed when I started all this DIY stuff

WIRE QUALITY - improves dynamics clarity and imaging
  • UP-OCC copper is the best copper for signal transfer
  • UP-OCC copper is probably better than the copper, but 5 times the price it becomes cost prohibitive
  • any other grade of metal or alloy WILL NOT not as conductive and impact sound quality
  • plated.coated wires should be avoided - they cause distortion

INSULATION - acts like the dielectric in a capacitor and as such will cause distortion. Each insulation type has a different Dialectric Constant (Dk). The higher the value the more noise is created in the cable
  • Teflon is rapidly becomes the standard from PVC. It has a Dk = 2.2
  • Foamed Teflon (like AirLok) is much better. It has a Dk = 1.4 to 1.5
  • Cotton/Sil has a Dk = 1.3
  • Air has a Dk - 1.1
  • Vacuum is the baseline Dk = 1.0
You might think that air cannot be easily achieved, however, if you insert a bare wire into a slightly larger diameter Tefflon tube, then the point of contact of the wire is only ever on one side and very small in area, and the the rest of the dielectric is in fact air - mission accomplished :-)

CABLE GEOMETRY - is the most significant method of reducing noise generated within cables.
  • Lamp cord is an exceptionally bad cable geometry
  • braiding improves on the Lamp cord significantly
  • more complex geometries, such as the Helix, results in cablea that will amaze you
WIRE GAUGE
  • many people have some misguided beliefs about wire gauge - e.g. 10 gauge "lamp cord" sounds better than 16 gauge lamp cord.
  • it does, but mainly because the thicker gauge wire has thicker insulation, which spaces the two conductors further apart resulting in less noise
  • Basically - the geometry of the 10 gauge wire is different
  • However using a thicker neutral wire will improve sound quality
  • I use a neutral wire that is approximately twice the gauge of the signal wire
  • My Power cables use a 12 gauge live with a 2 x 12 gauge neutral and a 12 gauge ground wire
  • I have conducted several tests and found no difference between a 16 gauge signal wire and a 12 gauge signal wire on my speaker cables

CONNECTORS - I use silver plated copper connectors on every cable
  • it provides the best dynamics for a reasonable price
  • RCA’s - KLE Innovations Absolute Harmony
  • XLR - Neutric Silver plated bronze is a very good connector
  • unfortunately there are not many reasonable prices silver plated copper XLR’s, but bronze is mush better than brass
  • there are some extremely good XLR’s out there if oyu want TOTL and $$$
  • MAINS/IEC - I use Sonarquest Silver plated Copper - other types of plating (gold, platinum, rhodium) are less conductive and require an intermediate substrate which is also less conductive
  • BANANAS - KLE Innovations bananas
  • SPADES - Furez silver plated copper

How can you ensure all of these are in place on your cables? Build your own - see this link
"The HELIX IMAGE" - With a little help from my friends | My Audio Alchemy (image99.net)

  • BUT if you want to make a simple speaker cable having two leads of the same length
  • space the two wires wires 2" apart
  • Use a 10 or 12 gauge silver plated stranded wire with Teflon insulation for the neutral
  • Use a bare 14 gauge UP-OCC copper wire for the signal conductor - inside Teflon tube - seal the end of the tube with either hot glue OR adhesive lines heat shrink
The two wires do not need to be the same size/material/insulation...
- UNLESS your amp is one of the newer and very expensive reference style Symmetrical Balanced Designs
- These amps are a bit like a Balanced power supply
- one speaker output binding post carries the signal
- the other Binding post is the same signal but 180 degrees out of phase

For this type of amp both wires must be identical to achieve the best sound

For commercially available products = I consider Nordst and Inakustik to be among the very best available - no snake oil - just great science

AND - trust YOUR ears - not someone else’s :-)

Regards - Steve

Always be of sober mind when working in back of your rack. Wait till tomorrow to fix it if you can when you are high minded
I have been an audiophile since the mid 80's.
Trust your ears.  I took a piece home for audition once and I just didn't like the sound (cd transport and DAC).  When I returned the components and told the salesman I didn't like them he told me I didn't understand what high end sound was supposed to sound like.  I told him maybe so but I don't like that sound.  I never went back.
Use reviews to make a short list.  Over time you will find reviewers who share your sonic preferences.  Try not to obsess about Class A, B, C, etc.
If the system doesn't sound good to you it doesn't sound good no matter what anyone else tells you.
1 - if you don't know what music sounds like in person, before you start on your system, attend some live music performances - as many as necessary to embed the idea of what it sounds like.

2 - accept that it is almost impossible to exactly replicate the in-person experience of a concert in your home

3 - assess every step you take with your system as you develop it and decide whether that last change moved you closer or further from the real thing so you can edge your way up to a best case situation given your spacial and monetary limitations.

4 - arrange for blind testing - have a friend switch things as necessary. If you can't hear any difference due to a change in the system, you just wasted your money (a dealer that allows in home auditioning reduces financial exposure)

5 - don't be in a rush - this usually takes decades, not days.
1. Take all reviews with a grain of salt. Too many times I've read praising reviews of some items and when I tried them I didn't see what all the fuss is about.
2. Invest in solid cables. Not necessarily super high dollar ones, but not the single dollar ones either.
3. Trust YOUR ears. After all, it's YOUR system in YOUR house. A few of my friends have amazing systems, but I like mine the best. I'm not saying mine IS the best, but I like it best because it sounds the way I wanted it to sound.
4. Try to buy used. There are a lot of great items out there that can be purchased at 20%-50% off than what they cost when new. Get more bang for your buck.
5. When upgrading, especially expensive parts of the system, always ask yourself - is it improving the sound by 2% or 20%? Is $X,XXX worth a 2% improvement? It all depends on your budget. Many times I've tried components that just didn't cut it.

That's just my 2 cents. Great idea for a post!
In the late 1960s, when I was 14, I built a Dyna70, a Dyna PAS and then added a pair of Lafayette speakers, a Garard table and a Stanton cartridge. My system evolved over the next 30 years, see theaudioatticvinylsundays.com while being committed to a tube analog sound, and has stayed more or less the same for 20 years (there was a destination), except for adding a semi-anechoic room 3 years ago.

The idea being: decide on an approach, then stick with it.
Don't equate higher price with better sound. I spent quite a bit of time and money trying to best my rather modest original set-up that I sold. Eventually got it right, but it was infuriating, and time consuming. 
An excellent thread with much valuable advice on offer. 

Audio can be a bewildering and complicated interest to get into and it's very tempting to seek external advice. Could save time and money in getting you where you want to go.

However, audio is also a business and there are many vested financial interests proffering advice which may be entirely misleading, if not unnecessarily financially ruinous for little or no sonic gain.

Another good place to start might be Peter Aczel's infamous article. Below is a truncated version but you can still read it in its entirety here. Even after many years I can't find anything in to disagree with.

I'd strongly recommend any newcomer to put aside any reservations and read it through several times before embarking upon an audio journey that will probably last a lifetime.

https://www.biline.ca/audio_critic/audio_critic_web1.htm#acl

----


What I have learned after six decades in audio (call it my journalistic legacy): 
Audio is a mature technology. 

The implementation keeps improving to this day, but conceptually there is very little, perhaps nothing, really new.

I have been through all phases of implementation—shellac records via crystal pickups, LPs via magnetic and moving-coil pickups, CDs, SACDs, Blu-rays, downloads, full-range and two/three/four-way mono/stereo/ multichannel speakers, dynamics, electrostatics, ribbons (shall I go on?)—and heard incremental improvements most of the time, but at no point did the heavens open up and the seraphim blow their trumpets.

That I could experience only in the concert hall and not very often at that. Wide-eyed reviewers who are over and over again thunderstruck by the sound of the latest magic cable or circuit tweak are delusional. The principal determinants of sound quality in a recording produced in the last 60 years or so are the recording venue and the microphones, not the downstream technology.

The size and acoustics of the hall, the number and placement of the microphones, the quality and level setting of the microphones will have a much greater influence on the perceived quality of the recording than how the signal was captured—whether on analog tape, digital tape, hard drive, or even direct-to-disk cutter; whether through vacuum-tube or solid-state electronics; whether with 44.1-kHz/16-bit or much higher resolution.

The proof of this can be found in some of the classic recordings from the 1950s and 1960s that sound better, more real, more musical, than today’s average super-HD jobs.

Lewis Layton, Richard Mohr, Wilma Cozart, Bob Fine, John Culshaw, where are you now that we need you? 
The principal determinants of sound quality in your listening room, given the limitations of a particular recording, are the loudspeakers—not the electronics, not the cables, not anything else.

This is so fundamental that I still can’t understand why it hasn’t filtered down to the lowest levels of the audio community. 
Cables—that’s one subject I can’t discuss calmly. Even after all these years, I still fly into a rage when I read “$900 per foot” or “$5200 the pair.” That’s an obscenity, a despicable extortion exploiting the inability of moneyed audiophiles to deal with the laws of physics.

The transmission of electrical signals through a wire is governed by resistance, inductance, and capacitance (R, L, and C). That’s all, folks!

What about the miles of AC wiring from the power station to your house and inside your walls?

Only the six-foot length of the thousand-dollar power cord counts?

The lack of common sense in the high-end audio market drives me to despair. 
Loudspeakers are a different story. No two of them sound exactly alike, nor will they ever. All, or at least nearly all, of the conflicting claims have some validity.

Imagine a theoretically perfect loudspeaker that has an anechoic response like a point source, producing exactly the same spherical wave front at equal levels at all frequencies.

If a pair of such speakers were brought into a normally reverberant room with four walls, a floor, and a ceiling, they wouldn’t sound good! They would only be a good start, requiring further engineering. It’s complicated.

Loudspeakers are the only sector of audio where significant improvements are still possible and can be expected.

I suspect that (1) further refinements of radiation pattern will result in the largest sonic benefits and (2) powered loudspeakers with electronic crossovers will end up being preferred to passive-crossover designs.

In any case, one thing I am fairly sure of: No breakthrough in sound quality will be heard from “monkey coffins” (1970s trade lingo), i.e. rectangular boxes with forward-firing drivers.

I’ll go even further: Even if the box is not rectangular but some incredibly fancy shape, even if it’s huge, even if it costs more than a luxury car, if it’s sealed or vented and the drivers are all in front, it’s a monkey coffin and will sound like a monkey coffin—boxy and, to varying degrees, not quite open and transparent. 

Amplifiers have been quite excellent for more than a few decades, offering few opportunities for engineering breakthroughs. There are significant differences in topology, measured specifications, physical design, and cosmetics, not to mention price, but the sound of all properly designed units is basically the same. 

The point is that, unless the amplifier has serious design errors or is totally mismatched to a particular speaker, the sound you will hear is the sound of the speaker, not the amplifier.

As for the future, I think it belongs to highly refined class D amplifiers, such as Bang & Olufsen’s ICEpower modules and Bruno Putzeys’s modular Hypex designs, compact and efficient enough to be incorporated in powered loudspeakers. 

The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years.

How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?

It wasn’t always so.

Between the birth of “high fidelity,” circa 1947, and the early 1970s, what the engineers said was accepted by that generation of hi-fi enthusiasts as the truth. Then, as the ’70s decade grew older, the self-appointed experts without any scientific credentials started to crawl out of the woodwork. For a while they did not overpower the educated technologists but by the early ’80s they did, with the subjective “golden-ear” audio magazines as their chief line of communication.

I remember pleading with some of the most brilliant academic and industrial brains in audio to fight against all the nonsense, to speak up loudly and brutally before the untutored drivel gets out of control, but they just laughed, dismissing the “flat-earthers” and “cultists” with a wave of the hand.

Now look at them!

Talk to the know-it-all young salesman in the high-end audio salon, read the catalogs of Audio Advisor, Music Direct, or any other high-end merchant, read any of the golden-ear audio magazines, check out the subjective audio websites—and weep.

The witch doctors have taken over.

Even so, all is not lost. You can still read Floyd Toole and Siegfried Linkwitz on loudspeakers, Douglas Self and Bob Cordell on amplifiers, David Rich (hometheaterhifi.com) on miscellaneous audio subjects, and a few others in that very sparsely populated club. (I am not including The Audio Critic, now that it has become almost silent.) Once you have breathed that atmosphere, you will have a pretty good idea what advice to ignore. 
When I go to Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center in Philadephia and sit in my favorite seat to listen to the Philadelphia Orchestra, I realize that 137 years after the original Edison phonograph audio technology still hasn’t quite caught up with unamplified live music in a good acoustic venue.

To be sure, my state-of-the-art stereo system renders a startlingly faithful imitation of a grand piano, a string quartet, or a jazz trio, but a symphony orchestra or a large chorus?

Close but no cigar. 
My greatest disappointment after six decades as an audio journalist is about today’s teenagers and twentysomethings. Most of them have never had a musical experience! I mean of any kind, not just good music.

Whether they are listening to trash or Bach, they have no idea what the music sounds like in real life. The iPods, iPads, iPhones, and earbuds they use are of such low audio quality that what they hear bears no relationship to live music.

And if they think that going to an arena “concert” to hop around in one square foot of space with their arms raised is a live-music experience, they are sadly deluded. It’s the most egregiously canned music of all. 

Please, kids, listen to unamplified live music just once!

—Peter Aczel
Know that the most important component of any system is your ears - take care of them now. When they begin to go you can't get them back, at least not fully; hearing aids can help, but they are certainly no substitute for the real thing. Practice routine professional maintenance just like the rest of your body, no different than your eyes, teeth, etc.  

If you are married, and/or have a family, make sure they are on board with your hobby.  If not, you are better off with a dedicated room you can escape to in order to enjoy your system.  Trying to placate a disinterested wife or prying kids off your speakers takes all the joy out of listening.  

When choosing between two pieces of gear and your preference is one that costs 'a bit more', buy it.  Sooner or later there's a good chance you'll regret not doing so. You'll be stuck with the lesser piece then sell it to get what you truly prefer.  Money lost.  
Hope this isn’t a repeat already...but never judge a piece or even a cable for, say 48 hours after install, as many system environments can give either false positives or false negatives within that time. So always take “I just plugged it in and it’s an astounding difference” with a huge grain of salt...

In my environment, I have what seems like an electrical phenomenon where every time I unplug and move a PC or an IC the noisefloor drops, details and clarity go up and it’s just wonderful...fast forward 36 to 48 hours and all is back to my systems ‘normal’..  I just talked to a dealer about this and he sees a similar thing. But depending on your environment, it could be a positive OR a negative affect...

Just wait a bit time until reporting. 
Make equipment changes, cable changes, room treatment changes, etc one at a time and allow yourself time between them to fully experience what they may or may not have wrought. All changes are not necessarily good ones, which is why other poster's advice on return policies is key.

And rather than reject other's observations out of hand, try things like checking whether or not you can hear directionality in cables and fuses, whether changing speaker positions finds a better spot, or even if burning in new equipment makes a difference you can hear. These cost nothing but time, and who knows, might be the biggest bang for the buck you ever heard.
Room and speaker setup. If you need help with this get Paul McGowan's book 'The Audiophiles Guide' and /or Jim Smith's book or CD set 'Get Better Sound'.
there’s a difference between what’s ‘better’ vs. what’s ‘different’

and a difference between what’s ‘better’ vs. what you prefer 
...after 40+ years of 'chasing fi'....

Please yourself, and the mind between the ears you own.

Enjoy reading of others' systems and approaches; keep in mind 'they' may have a level of 'discretionary funds' you lack.

Ignore 70ish%, as it at the end of the day, Opinion based on what they have.  The balance will be more useful and applicable to your 'quest'.

The space you place self and stuff in has an enormous effect on your system.  Dealing with that may strike some as heresy, be it by treatment (or lack of) or the use of devices that either make 'sense' to your ears or is within your budget.  Think of it as an ongoing 'experiment'.

Remember: Nothing you do is 'wrong'.  It may not work 'correctly', but half of the 'fun' (as in most human relationships) is in 'The Chase'.

There is an addiction factor in 'The Chase'.  Be aware, know when to 'cold turkey' yourself.  Your cars' transmission IS more important than a new cartridge for the TT.

Do keep in mind and at the center of your personal 'Chase':

It's The Music, not the means.  If most of what you hear sounds fine...

STOP.

Tread carefully afterwards with regards to 'enhancements', lest ye lose what ye hath attained.

This was a REALLY GOOD idea for a thread.  Big nods to:  don't focus solely on specs, the ancillary benefits of highly efficient speakers, listening to various equipment, recording quality etc.  Lots of great advice for young audiophiles.  In between the advice I heard a lot of "in my 50 Years of listening".  My advice:  BUY USED.  The fact that many of us have been doing this for 40, 50 or 60 years means we are getting old and possibly deaf and there are very few youngsters listening with their phones who will likely replace us.  I would also warn: that used $4000 Amp might not fetch $1000 in three years when there are even fewer of us left.  Buying used also makes it easier to listen to different equipment in your environment and experiment.  Fewer and fewer high end audio stores exist and even if you get to one you will not find as many options as on Audiogon.  You also won't be listening in your room with your equipment for a meaningful amount of time.  Keep in mind shipping big Magnepans or heavy amps will drive up cost and will limit potential buyers in the future when you try to sell it.  Being an audiophile is a HOBBY not a retirement investment.  To me it's more fun to try three different, quality used components over a number of years than to sink the money into a single one and be unhappy.  There is lots of great, high quality gear out there that was built to last and is very serviceable.  While it might not be a great time to sell high end equipment, it's a great time to buy used.
Work within your budget. Choose a speaker to suit the room , then an amp to suit the speaker. Don’t spend too little on the source unit.  Get the power right from the distribution board .  Choose decent cabling. Try room treatment last and spend as little as possible on this. Most important is speaker positioning. This will take time and dedication.   Never underestimate burning in process for any component. 
Buy good gear first...

It is simple to do with some studying and even without listening possibilities...



After that Dont upgrade ANYTHING, but try to embed it mechanically, electrically and acoustically...

My system cost peanuts and sound better than very, very, costly one...

Dont trust reviewers, not because they are dishonest but because they must sells...

Dont trust engineer save for specific problem to solve... They will be very helpful for a specific problem...not for teaching you how to trust your ears...

Trust you EARS....And create a set of listening experiments with specific tasks concerning each of the 3 embeddings... I succeed with that completely in 2 years and no expanse of money.... Except peanuts...

Have fun....

Audio is not about gear or consumerism, it is about how to learn to listen music and sound....

Remember that nevermind the sources, or the amplifiers, speakers/room/ears are ONLY ONE, they create ONE phenomenon, not three.... Is it not simple?

Acoustic is the main dimensions or working embeddings of ANY system....
This forum has generated so much advice, I thought I'd try to get back to basics and how to get started.

1. Before considering buying anything, get familiar with the sound of live music and the instruments that create it.  If your goal is to recreate these experiences in your home, this knowledge is paramount.2. Select some recordings with passages that exemplify the sound that thrills you.  These will be your absolutes when going to sample equipment.  You want gear that gets these passages right.
3.  I suggest selecting speakers first.  Read, read, read, read.  You will learn which reviewers are adept at describing the attributes accurately.  The reviewer's longevity is a good sign.  Learn the lingo - transparency, coherence, imaging, soundstage width and depth, bass roll-off, frequency balance, etc, etc.  It took me TWO YEARS of reading and going to shops and listening to MY recordings to select my first speakers - the Dahlquist DQ-10a's.  They brought me so much pleasure over the years.
4.  Once you get that far, you'll have learned how to learn, and choosing the rest of your gear will be easier.  If you need more advice after that, check in with us again.
If you are fortunate enough to have a family and/or people that care for you, prioritize them above your stereo. 

Never buy speakers that sound bright in your room. It’s much easier to brighten a dull top end than tame a bright one.

Also remember most audiophile forums are full of Americans with big houses, dedicated listening rooms and a very nice budget. Those of us who listen in a small living room seem to be a minority. 
My humble advice would be to find gear that pleases you musically, emotionally, and financially and then stay with these manufacturers throughout your audiophile career, if possible. Upgrade to later iterations only after a convincing audition. With this in mind, you can now read audio magazines for pleasure, not critically chasing different brands.....which often confuses and makes listening to your system less involving. The last 15 years I’ve been with VAC, KEF, and EMM Labs, and much more satisfied than the prior 20 years of endless searching and the buy/sell merry-go-round. All the best!
McIntosh is truly great, for many people.  You can save a fortune on speakers, because accuracy is not the object.  I like accuracy, but still admit the greatest sound system ever built was powered by McIntosh.  The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound greatly minimized intermodulation distortion by using separate channels for everything, including each string of Phil Lesh's five string bass:  Separate amps and speakers.  just think about a poor woofer that is workng it's butt off to reproduce solid and accurate bass notes, but is being throttled back, not only by other bass notes' trying to move the speaker in different frequencies and volumes, but especially by the intermittent 60 cycle thump of a bass drum.  Still, when it came time to put my system together, McIntosh was never a consdereration, nor was the beautifully sounding, totally lush Sequerra tuner.  Not all of us like a=total accuracy.  I do, but I do cheat by using separate amps and preamps for my subs and mains, with a double pole double throw crossover cutout switch to add harmonics when I want lush, and especially when I want a bland, especially bassless, and otherwise bland or outright bad recordings to sound good enough to bring back memories of my misspent youth.  BTW, I really do not like the Dead's music, but that system was phenomenal, and it was designed by the not yet known to be truly great John Curl..
Thanks, Joe55ag for the thread,

Cannot recommend this more highly for a newbie or anyone wanting to learn more about initiating a good sounding system, with a focus on vinyl:

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Sound-Uncomplicated-Choosing-Equipment/dp/0688064248

Don't worry about it being dated as physics don't change.  Missing are a focus on speaker/room relationships and the importance of room tuning (if possible.) 

Digital audio and vast music access can be had very reasonably today. Budget NCore Class D amplification, a carefully chosen under $1k DAC in tandem with streaming high resolution music (given rudimentary computer skills) to say a Magnepan LRS loudspeaker and good budget cables, is a full glimpse into the high end world for well under $2,500, US.  In time, adding a fast subwoofer or two, and you have a high fidelity system that can challenge expensive systems. Stadium rock preferences would require a few different choices in loudspeakers, but are possible on a similar budget.

At these entry prices, you don't have to worry about major mistakes or discovering over time you have changing preferences.  I view our beloved hobby as a process...preferring to upgrade a bit at a time, refreshing my entire music catalog each time out.  Yes, we oldsters may have made mistakes without the benefit of the web, but corrections in navigation ALWAYS remain exciting even for grizzled music lovers.  

More Peace  ..and, as my buddy says, "..think positive, test negative."
Pinthrift
thank you for the overwhelming number of positive and thoughtful comments on this thread . A refreshing day to catch up on this weeks rants and raves . 
a few good laughs as well.

@audio2design :  Ignore the advice of audiophiles who took almost 50 years to make the right decisions.

Really? 

and a Big Thanks to @wspohn  #5  5 - don't be in a rush - this usually takes decades, not days.  >  as I am maybe  a few months short in chasing the  50 year mark. Still hanging on to a couple of my  first  albums - Who's Next and Sticky Fingers.

I also just bought the book by Robert Harley just now . Never too late to learn more and also to be reminded what I did learn. 
 
@firberger

Since you mentioned "Who's Next" and "Sticky Fingers," I encourage you to post on a forum I started" "1st Album you ever Owned."  It's been a fun thread.

After 3-4 years in this hobby, the #1 thing I learned:

-If you don't get the speaker placement right, you won't hear the differences in any upgrades.

And one more thing: replacing the speaker posts from the original Klipsch Cornwalls made more difference than any other change/upgrade to my systems (except for speaker placement).  Who would have thought $2 speaker posts?  Not me!
There is some spectacular advice here!
I'll add my bit, just an expansion of other's sage advice.
COMMIT to tweaking your speaker position! DON'T let other things get in the way.  If your couch placement is more important than great sound, STOP! 
Don't waste the $ on better gear if you won't commit. 
 Buy bitcoin instead.
COMMIT, or quit. 
You will be much happier and wealthier!
A $1k system will blow away a $100k system poorly set up. 
Now, if you will commit, the sky's the limit! Magic can happen in your home. Really.


1) If you don’t already own or have access to at LEAST 500 LPs, put off going down the turntable path and invest in your digital side. You will likely get to where you want to be sooner and less expensively. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had records and turntables all my life and I love playing records and I have a pretty good vinyl set up, but that’s the point, I’ve had records and turntables all my life and I’ve got 1500 LPs in the other room and I don’t consider that a lot. At this point, digital playback is pretty darn good and getting better and vinyl payback is a fiddly time consuming beast. (A fiddly and time consuming beast that can be a heck of a lot of fun and very rewarding. But, you really have to have the appetite for it.)
2) If you live in Southern California make a point to hear some music at Disney Hall, (God willing we will be back in there before the end of the year), and pay attention to what it sounds like because that is what you want your stereo to sound like.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. It’s fun to see all of this information in one place.
John
1) Start with an inexpensive new tube amp w volume control under $1000. 

2) Get high-efficiency speakers (92 and up) under $1000. 

3) Get 2 subwoofers under $1000 total. 
So for $3000 in 2021, one can be in audio nirvana. Never a better time to start. 
Buy used equipment that is somewhat popular. If it’s unwanted, resale should be quick with minimal financial loss. 
Listen, study, be patient, do not upgrade too often, know your budget short term and long term, know your limits, be open in ideas, experiment, invest on a good Lp playing system.
Trust your ears.

G