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Hi-Fi Lo-Fi

There has been a fair amount of discussion about how hi-fi seems to be a dying hobby. Most people just don’t get it.

And when we suggest that they need to have their house rewired and buy $1000 speaker cables to get good sound it is no wonder that that average person thinks we’re nuts.

We are nuts. Of course.

But that’s another story.

Anyway, I feel like a better way to expand the hobby is by showing folks that they can put together a decent system for less that a half decent speaker cable.

I recently did this. By accident sort of.

My old Toshiba receiver from high school (1980) finally bit the dust. It was the basis for the system down at my cabin.

I’d already replaced my Bose bookshelf speakers with Polk Audio Monitor 70 towers, $180 Craig’s List.

So I needed an amp and radio. We listen to the radio a lot down there. I had a Denon tuner in my home system that I never use. Approx. $110 eBay.

I just bought an NAD 316BEE on eBay, $200. Its 40 wpc and gets great reviews.

I had a Toshiba DVD play. $15 at thrift shop.

That’s $505. Add 12 ga low ox speaker cables and some banana plugs and an outdoor FM antenna and I’m close to $550. Interconnects are mid level RCA that I already had.

Results? Surprisingly good. The old Toshiba receiver was not bad but this NAD really opened up the sound stage...well outside the speakers in fact. And the room (larger main room in a small log cabin) is far from ideal. Bass seems great to me but I’m no bass fetish. I have a large B&W subwoofer but don’t feel the need. Volume and energy are excellent far exceeding levels I would ever actually listen at.

Of course it does not have the richness, clarity and sound stage of my home system. But it cost about 30x less.

Many folks won’t be willing to spend even $500 for a system. I only did so reluctantly and piece by piece.
But for those who really want to get started in hi-fi I think we all ought to be able to point them in this sort of direction to get them started.

Once they’re hooked we can steer them toward the $10,000 speaker cables. ;-)


n80
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,545 posts
 
Audiogon serves one segment of the audio market and Ebay serves the $500 system market.  I don't want to sort through ads for $100 receivers and people looking for $100 receivers don't want to see ads for $1,000 cables.  There's nothing wrong with having two different marketplaces.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,252 posts
 
People who really love listening to music and have heard a decent system are not going to settle for MP3 files. It is a matter of priorities.
Those same people who are looking for cheap used stuff on e bay are buying $10,000 snowmobiles so they can run around going no place burning fossil fuel or 75 inch TVs with tiny little speakers. The people here would rather buy Hi Fi gear. The trick is not just building a cheap system it is building a great system inexpensively. No offence n80 but the stuff you are talking about is not even remotely on our radar. If that is all you can afford than go for it. And, if you really love listening to music you'll get a good job, save money, skip the snowmobile and build yourself a great system. 
n80 OP
2,107 posts
 
@mijostyn,

So many strange stereotypes in one post!

For the record, I have a good job, access to capital is not a real problem, a snowmobile would be useless where I live and I have already built a great system.

The lo-fi system I’m talking about is down at my cabin. It is for casual listening. And as mentioned, sounds pretty good. Better than you, or I, might have expected.

But, you’ve helped make my point. Telling someone who is new to hi-fi and thinks they might want to try it out that they need to get a job and save money is problem a big reason hi-fi is having a hard time maintaining traction.

To other responders, I did not intend this as a criticism of Audiogon. Audiogon is what it is and it is primarily about high end.

I’m just saying that the audiophile community should consider starting people off from a point they can actually start from.....rather than suggesting, for instance, that they get a job and or give up other things that interest them.
ghasley
2,453 posts
 
@n80


Excellent post and some of these responses do in fact prove your point. Never is the law of diminishing returns more applicable than in hifi. There are some who may even, deep down, resent the fact that you CAN achieve really nice sound for very little outlay. If people are honest with themselves then up to a certain price band, its about the music. Above that price band, it becomes about the equipment and what is possible to reproduce. The chase to determine what kind of drumhead or microphone was used in the recording is mercurial I will readily admit.

It really ticks me off when someone posts something about “well, if its all you can afford, then...”. Priorities are different for everyone and just because one person is willing to spend their entire social security check on a new cable is hardly the test. 

Thanks for posting this and I hope someone new to the hobby happens upon it one day and gets into the hobby. The system you put together truly can be the on ramp or the finish line, to each his own.
n80 OP
2,107 posts
 
Thanks. And I don't want anyone to get me wrong here. I'm not knocking high end audio. I'm not even knocking people who just like the super expensive equipment just because that's what they're into.

Its all okay.

But if someone says, 'wow, your home system sounds really great, I'd like to listen to music that way too' it is helpful to be aware of an entry point for them without suggesting that they need speaker cables that are bigger than a garden hose and cost over $1000 (like mine). For most people that either puts them off because they think such things are not obtainable
 or because they think I (we) am a pretentious snob and don't want to be associated with a hobby full of people like that.

On a more practical level, being able to assemble a system like this is handy for situations exactly like mine. Let's say you've just plopped down $10,000 for those awesome looking speaker cables.....or that snowmobile...and you want a system for the garage, cabin, shop or office and you only have $500 or so..............
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