This is for those who are seriously considering to take up this hobby because of their passion for good music and sound reproduction systems and willing to invest some money for a 2-channel source-amp-speaker system. My credentials, well, I have been at this for more than a decade now, learned through right decisions as well as several mistakes, spent enough money, and am prepared to share such experiences so that others become wiser. If you are compromising on the music and are looking for a all-in-a-box DVD player cum A/V receiver, 5.1 etc, please stop reading and switch to another forum.
You believe that music is an art to be enjoyed by yourself and are not going to spend money to create some background sound while doing something else;
You don't believe in nostalgia, patriotism and protectionism in the current global economy and willing to look for the best with what you can afford;
You already do, or wish to, sit at least one or two hours in front of your system at least a few days a week and listen to and enjoy the music you love;
You are not building a system as a show-piece in your living room to demonstrate to visitors "I too have it".
You believe that the purest enjoyment of music is to sit in a live concert and no music reproduction systems through various electronics and other hardware are ever going to match that fully;
You believe that the hardware you are going to acquire have to take you as close to the "live" experience as possible and that is why you are going to part with your hard-earned money or ancestral heritage;
You believe in science and the physics of sound no matter what the so-called experts say; hardware design is more of science and there are manufacturers who build equipment more from their passion for the science and less for business (the best example is the decline of those once-upon-a-time high-end brands of U.K. which are now owned by mass market Chinese and Japanese).
If your answers are yes to the above, please proceed, or skip to another forum.
Do you own a vehicle - car or scooter or motorcycle?
Do you have at least one credit card?
Do you have a personal cell phone and if yes, do you change it every 1-2 years to catch up with technology?
Do you avail vacation every year and even if it is on your emplyer's account, do you end up spending more than Rs 10k in personal expenses?
Do you spend more than Rs 10k every year to upgrade your personal things like dresses, shoes, perfumes and all those accessories?
Do you throw parties to your friends?
Are you left with positive balances in your bank account(s) at the end of the year (after the taxes, loan repayments etc)?
If the answers to the above are yes, there is no doubt you have enough money to embark on this wonderful hobby and here is my advice:
The minimum investment I will recommend is a month's income of yours each year for the next 3 years. Add them up and plan as follows:
around 30% for the source, another 30% for amplification, about 30% for speakers, and finally the balance 10% for some essential accessories like interconnects, speaker cables, power cords and racks and footers.
If you are going to spend less than Rs 1 lakh for your source which most probably will be a CD player, go for a single box one (no separate transport and DAC). For amplification < Rs 1 lakh, go for an integrated and forget the pre/pro combination. Similarly, for similar money, get a pair of good floorstanders or stand-mounts which can go deep into bass and ignore a subwoofer for the moment. While choosing cables, remember that good companies selling good and expensive cables (Kimber, Audioquest, Alpha Core etc) also have cheaper cables available which will be better than mass market ones like Monster.
When you invest, do so wisely. Remember that we don't have any resale market in India and what you buy once is likely to get stuck with you for a lifetime. The U.S. is the most competitive consumer market in audio and it is always good to look for value-for-money stuffs in websites like audiogon. Never be skeptical about used items, especially cables, and believe me, I got all my top-end interconnects and other cables as used. You never know what you can pick up once you decide what you want and have patience.
If you have the money to afford to buy everything at one go, fine. Otherwise, in the first year, go for the speakers, next the amplification and finally the source.
Finally, these opinions are personal and have nothing to do with businesses.
I never impose, only advise.
Thanks a lot and happy listening and welcome to the wonderful world of music, music and music.
cheers.
murali
You believe that music is an art to be enjoyed by yourself and are not going to spend money to create some background sound while doing something else;
You don't believe in nostalgia, patriotism and protectionism in the current global economy and willing to look for the best with what you can afford;
You already do, or wish to, sit at least one or two hours in front of your system at least a few days a week and listen to and enjoy the music you love;
You are not building a system as a show-piece in your living room to demonstrate to visitors "I too have it".
You believe that the purest enjoyment of music is to sit in a live concert and no music reproduction systems through various electronics and other hardware are ever going to match that fully;
You believe that the hardware you are going to acquire have to take you as close to the "live" experience as possible and that is why you are going to part with your hard-earned money or ancestral heritage;
You believe in science and the physics of sound no matter what the so-called experts say; hardware design is more of science and there are manufacturers who build equipment more from their passion for the science and less for business (the best example is the decline of those once-upon-a-time high-end brands of U.K. which are now owned by mass market Chinese and Japanese).
If your answers are yes to the above, please proceed, or skip to another forum.
Do you own a vehicle - car or scooter or motorcycle?
Do you have at least one credit card?
Do you have a personal cell phone and if yes, do you change it every 1-2 years to catch up with technology?
Do you avail vacation every year and even if it is on your emplyer's account, do you end up spending more than Rs 10k in personal expenses?
Do you spend more than Rs 10k every year to upgrade your personal things like dresses, shoes, perfumes and all those accessories?
Do you throw parties to your friends?
Are you left with positive balances in your bank account(s) at the end of the year (after the taxes, loan repayments etc)?
If the answers to the above are yes, there is no doubt you have enough money to embark on this wonderful hobby and here is my advice:
The minimum investment I will recommend is a month's income of yours each year for the next 3 years. Add them up and plan as follows:
around 30% for the source, another 30% for amplification, about 30% for speakers, and finally the balance 10% for some essential accessories like interconnects, speaker cables, power cords and racks and footers.
If you are going to spend less than Rs 1 lakh for your source which most probably will be a CD player, go for a single box one (no separate transport and DAC). For amplification < Rs 1 lakh, go for an integrated and forget the pre/pro combination. Similarly, for similar money, get a pair of good floorstanders or stand-mounts which can go deep into bass and ignore a subwoofer for the moment. While choosing cables, remember that good companies selling good and expensive cables (Kimber, Audioquest, Alpha Core etc) also have cheaper cables available which will be better than mass market ones like Monster.
When you invest, do so wisely. Remember that we don't have any resale market in India and what you buy once is likely to get stuck with you for a lifetime. The U.S. is the most competitive consumer market in audio and it is always good to look for value-for-money stuffs in websites like audiogon. Never be skeptical about used items, especially cables, and believe me, I got all my top-end interconnects and other cables as used. You never know what you can pick up once you decide what you want and have patience.
If you have the money to afford to buy everything at one go, fine. Otherwise, in the first year, go for the speakers, next the amplification and finally the source.
Finally, these opinions are personal and have nothing to do with businesses.
I never impose, only advise.
Thanks a lot and happy listening and welcome to the wonderful world of music, music and music.
cheers.
murali
Anyone nourishing serious audiophile ambitions should definitely follow these ideas. 
