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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
uncledemp
706 posts
 
If you are fortunate enough to have a family and/or people that care for you, prioritize them above your stereo. 

fynnegan
88 posts
 
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. 
audiobrian
183 posts
 
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!
bstbomber's avatar
bstbomber
73 posts
 
Know Your Ears
All of this is Based on What Your Ears know and can Hear
danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
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..
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