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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
garthb309
48 posts
 
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!
mikethehunterguy
49 posts
 
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.


jkmcc
17 posts
 
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
jkmcc
17 posts
 
3) Oh, I forgot this one, do not put a television set between your speakers.
jimofmaine's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jimofmaine
40 posts
 
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. 
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