Do we need to spend a lot on music systems?

[dinesh1201]

Hi all,

BTW nice post. Let me please express my thoughts. It's all about how fanatic you are towards your hobby.
I'm not a singer or musician but love the beats of music. When I was a 13 I made a soundbox out of a beer box. I made two holes on that box covered the box with black velvet paper, I stole two small speakers from my dad's Philips Radio and for that he scolded me alot and was even beaten by his army belt

At that time I had a flat tape recorder of Philips. I took out the speaker's cord from Tape and tied one that I had in my self made speaker box.
The sound was as usual as I was getting from my tape but just a had a feel of having a box hyeah:

Eventually my dad understood my fancy towards big bass speakers and bought an amplifier based speaker from market worth Rs.2000/-

Later (I was in 9th std) my sister bought me a cassette deck with two bookshelf speakers worth Rs.5000/- not of a known brand but yes those were fulfilling my dreamz atleast.

Hobby never stops, as you grow it grows with you. After you start earning your own money you are free to buy anything but you should also care of savings that will help you out in your future.

Whenever I look to blu-ray international forum and found guys having such awesome HTs in their home 1000's of Blu-ray collection I just make myself just to concentrate to the one I have and I'm happy with the system I have.
Every next product seems better than the previous one. Sometimes I thnk How many will I buy in future?

Today I have my Onkyo HT-S3300, 32"LG450, Philips 2in1, Panasonic blur-ray :yahoo:. ( I was suggested in this forum only by many good people otherwise I was going for SONY, LG type ) So that was the journey. I'm still hoping to get a big one in future but still savings would be my first priority.

So BUY what you want but take care of other side too ( in monitory terms ).

It's NOT the MONEY but the PASSION that make you buy a GOOD SOUND SYSTEM for you.



Best
Dinesh

 

[jls001]

It's good to know that many members are happy with what they already have. May their tribe grow. But this surely is not the case with many others. And the biggest culprits for this are (a) having heard better systems (b) dissatisfaction with the sound of what one has.

(a) can be avoided by not having a roving ear, or refraining from reading about new gear. If one can do it, that is But imposing this kind of self restraint and self embargo excludes one from hearing what one magazine grandly calls "the absolute sound". Or at least better sound than what one has.

For (b), no one can help!

Bottomline: you can't win

No, I am not advocating that one should spend tons of money on audio gear. Only spend what one can very wisely.

 

[hemantwaghe]

Doc,
It is my personal opinion and experience that in audio hobby the more knowledge you seek more questions and confusion you encounter. Some people use brute force of money to seek answers some people seek info and guidance from net and friends. But trust me both have good and equal chance of not reaching 'there' as there is no universal single truth, only multiple truths of this subjective hobby. It would be three years I joined the forum and I am leaning towards saying that if one takes care of basic fundamentals in audio amplification and reproduction, minor differences a particular thing makes even if true shouldn't matter. Please remember we were listening to Akai/Bush/Sony/Philips and we were perfectly happy until we came to know about this wonderful hobby. As for money part for ex. there is no point in browsing (which I have been doing a lot since last three years ) Michell Gyrodec turntable costing Rs. 1,30,000/- (without tonearm) which in my lifetime I am never going to be able to buy it. Infact Doc, I thank you for this thread as it has helped me in taking a pause and come down to earthly reality.

Interestingly following basic questions are stubbornly fought by both the camps and still have no straight answer.

Which is better tubes or SS ?
Which Class A or A/B ?
How much wattage is needed ?
Is sub necessary ?
Do cables make difference ?
Can one distinguish two Digital source ?

People say whatever sounds good you should listen to, but they rip apart and give nervous breakdown to newbies when newbies say they like Bose system.

People say make informed choice. But there is no definite information on above important questions. There is no general consensus lets say even by small margin of a mutually agreeable answer to above questions.

People say buy within your budget. But it doesn't makes sense. As they say Rs. 3000/- Tripath amp (at low volume) beats the hell out of commercial Rs. 35,000/- amp.

People say they can hear different jitter clocks. But are not ready to prove it.

People say caps resonance makes difference, Amplifier cabinet resonance makes difference and SS amps should be on three conical feets, People say schottky diode are the one to look for, Nichicon Muse and dale resistors are best. We have audiophile Furutech fuses costing Rs.6400/- Soon people will audition different fuses & cabinets. Strange.

Questions ! Questions !! Questions !!! Debates ! Debates !! Debates !!! Choices ! Choices !! Choices !!! Slowly and surely I am giving up on understanding audiophile stuff.

Let me tell you what I am contemplating. A good Source and in and around 100W discrete Solid state stereo amplifier is all I need. Now only speaker designs (Which in my opinion is most important) and of course Music interests me. :licklips:

All my personal opinion no offense to anyone.

Regards

Sad you have forgotten modern innovations like Audiophile Undergarments, Audiophile Food and Videophile Spectacles ( btw someone was selling their lenses as hi definition lenses )

Currently I am reading a thesis on audiophile operations on ear to take it one level up!

Also some people are experiencing location based audiophile coupled with certain substances like there is a claim that Death Metal can be enjoyed best at graveyards with specific PA gear and when you are on substances , the validity of claim is yet unproven

 

[Hiten]

Dear all,
I dont know if this is on topic but here goes. Music and audio amplification is what got me interested. Have surfed the net long enough to feel guilty about. A subjective view based on measurement is what interests me. For example with kind permission and respect to Sir John Curl (I hope he won't mind) copy posting his post from another forum.

It is true that we audio designers do NOT completely understand what is most important in amplifier design, and I personally have striven to understand it for more than 40 years.
My personal philosophy is to try to cover EVERYTHING that I know is potentially an 'error' in an amplifier's design. So, I will start with the most linear circuit topology that I can think of. Then, I will run it as close to Class A as the heatsinks available will allow. Then, I will make sure that the circuit is fast, at least 100V/us, often faster, and stable with virtually any capacitive load.
Then, (in short form) I will make sure that the amp has lots of peak drive current capability, 30A min, 60A typical.
Finally, I test for the worst case crossover point in the transfer function and monitor the 7th harmonic distortion generated. This is at the transition between Class A and Class AB.

Even if I dont understand some part, such posts with experience, conviction and humbleness is what delights me. But unfortunately they are rare or I am not browsing long enough . So one has to stop at some time otherwise one would keep on looking for that elusive perfect system.

Joshua & Prem Thanks,
@ Joshua : I have dropped my guard and I am free. No more subjective truth for me. In near future (Once settled) I won't even bother about sound quality. Music and designs (Speakers, Architecture, Furniture, etc. there are lots of subjects to be enjoyed) will be the only interest. See when one enters this hobby one learns and learns and layers upon layers of information comes off. It is bottomless pit, there is no end, One has to stop at one's mental and financial ability. Mentally 'this is it' for me . But I would not discourage anyone who have zeal and passion for this hobby.
@ Prem : Agree 100% with you. I think I have the ability to switch off all troublesome thoughts when listening to music. Other wise I would not have been able to listen to my old vintage system. Need to chalkout a budget for a new system.

Regards

 

[TaureanBull]

Very nice thread and very positive discussion going on here. Let me also add my opinion..

1. The question "Do we need to spend a lot on music systems?" is like asking a question "Do we need to spend a lot for happiness?" The answer is both yes and no because its a very comparative statement.

2. Its all about satisfaction. Its human nature that people tend to improve things. But its also imperative that they seek satisfaction in what they have rather than being anxious about what they dont have.

3. There are lot of people who dont enjoy their "haves" because they always feel frustrated for "have nots"!

Enjoy your music on what you have starting from a pocket radio and strive to improve if u want to and u can afford without impinging on more important necessities of life.

 

[Hiten]

Taurean. Spot on on all three points.
Regards

 

[jaudere]

It's good to know that many members are happy with what they already have. May their tribe grow. But this surely is not the case with many others. And the biggest culprits for this are (a) having heard better systems (b) dissatisfaction with the sound of what one has.

(a) can be avoided by not having a roving ear, or refraining from reading about new gear. If one can do it, that is But imposing this kind of self restraint and self embargo excludes one from hearing what one magazine grandly calls "the absolute sound". Or at least better sound than what one has.

For (b), no one can help!

Bottomline: you can't win

No, I am not advocating that one should spend tons of money on audio gear. Only spend what one can very wisely.

What you say is very correct. One should keep on listening to better systems. However I consider my case to be bit different.

I am trying to explore a cheaper system after exploring a lot of systems costing a lot more(but less than 1lac). I think I have matured enough to understand my tastes. I cant say i have heard all the systems available under 1 lac but I can say that I have heard "few" gears at least for 1 hour. I will give the list as I go ahead with my story.

 

[pdhanwada]

My experiance over time

Agree with OP that DOnt need costly equipment to enjoy music, but at the same time we would definately need a reasonable system to really start enjoying whole heartedly.

My First system Energy take 5, Yamaha HTR 5150 bought in 1998(cost $1000). Was thrilled about the purchase, but after a while was not able to enjoy music though the movie experiance was pretty good.

Did not make any serious changes to my system even though not satisfied with audio quality for the same reason of spending more money.

In Late 2006 I was moving back to india, Had chat with my wife asked if I could spend more money to get a better system. She didnt know the budget said yes. Even at that point I too did not know. WHile shopping I encountered a sales person, who had bought a pair of $15000 WILSONs and it took about a year and a half for him to pay back the EMIs. That was big eye opener for me. I was very surprised by that statement and also felt that we should do what we love to do. All my life I have been a music enthusiast, but was pulled back by the feel of "wasting money" for audio equipment. Unlike the sales guy I dont need to pay emis as by that time staying overseas had made good amount of money to buy good music system.

During that purchase I bought my current speakers and amp later upgraded my subwoofer, dac and squeezebox. My new systems sound quality has increased at least 100 times for 10 times the spending on the old system.

Some of my recent purchases have not got much improvements to my sound quality but I am pretty happy with my system. May be I must have wasted some money but dont regret my spending on the whole.

I thoroughly enjoy my music listening sessions. I listen to music atleast 2 to 3 times a week. If I dont do for some reason like being busy with something else then I get into a feel that missing some thing serious. It has gotten addictive.


Lately getting into the mode of settling down with the system, improving my music collection. With inclusion of Squeezebox, Music collection is increasing every week.

THanks
pandu

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks guys for participation. Let me go ahead with the story. Remember it is a flash back?

Looking forward to the unfolding story!

 

[jaudere]

Lets continue.

4 months back, I was looking to improve the sound further. I started reading about the stands. After a lot of thinking I went ahead with Magma's stands.That brought significant improvement. Better imaging and deeper soundstage!
I was/am quite happy with the stands.

In between I heard DNM high end amp paired with DNM high end speakers. I liked the sound quite a bit. Cost was 15k each.
I also heard Yamaha AX496 with NS8900. I liked the sound but not as much as Infinity or JBLs.

Forgot to tell that when I actually bought PM 6002 in Margao(Goa), I heard it with some Infinity towers costing 28k. I loved the sound. Was very balanced.

Near September end, I was in Mumbai for 8 days and made good use of it.basically I was looking for decent source: CD6003. This was another decision influenced by our forum. I heard a lot of gears where not only source but the amp and speakers were also paid attention. spent at least 1 hour at each audition. I had decided that if i find speakers to be great, I will buy a pair.

I tried:

Marantz cd6003>>> marantz pm 6003>>>Paradigm studio 10. By far the most
satisfying experience of those days. Cost: 85k approx in total.
Here I compared CD6003 with a Sony BDP. There was a difference: Marantz was more refined and back ground was clearer. I was not sure whether teh diference justified the 4X cost.

Nad c515,545>>> Nad 326BEE>>> PSB alpha, image B6 and signature series floor standers. Alphas and Image disappointed me. The signature series speakers were too good.I loved them: Cost of the speakers itself was 1.8Lacs. CDP 20k, Amp 28k.

HK3490>>> JBLstudio series bookshelves: Hopeless. Studio series Towers : somewhat better but still poor. Infinity towers (can't remember model but much better, again costing >50k for speakers itself.)
I have heard JBL ES 80 with 3490 in past and I loved them. Cost of speakers: 45k, amp 30k.

HK 3490>>> MS Mezzo 2: Disaapointing.
CA 540>>> MS mezzo2: Disappointing
HK 3490 and CA 540>>> Wharf 9.1: Again disappointing.

Old philips CD player>>>Norge 1000>>> Norge millenium MK2 : I liked this quite a lot. However same amp-speakers did not sound so good with Norge towers. Ok-Ok only.

Denon 510AE>>> Bose 301: This was another interesting combo.I liked them. Cost of speakers 17k. Amp 18k
Bose lifestyle systems, Acoustimass systems: did not like them . Thought to b harsh.

Denon AVR(16 series)>>> Polk audio TSi 300: did not like them. Something was majorly missing.

CA DV 89>>CA 540>> Wharfdale 10.2: This was another good combo. I liked it. Cost 22k for speakers.

I had already heard KEF Q300 with maranzt and Norge and Quad floor standres (most probably 22L2) with denon and Norge.

At the end of my stay In Mumbai, I finally bought Maranz DVD player(it perfromed better than a panasonic DVD player with pm5004 and some Jamo towers (at Viola Andheri). I could not make myself buy CD6003 but wanted something better than run of the mill DVD player. So this was the middle way.

All the auditions lasted for at least 1 hour each and I carried my own audio CDs for these auditions.

After coming home and having fresh memories of recent auditions, I heard my Ventronic bookshelves again. I though( and still think) that they are equally good , if not better, than Wharfdale 10.2

Later I started reading about DAC. A lot of discussion was going on. Purepiper DAC was on sale on our forum. It had CS 4398 chip(like CD6003). I was getting it at good price (rs5.5k including shipping. New one is for more than 200$). So I went for it.

It proved to be an improvement over Marantz DV4001's sound but surprisingly my 8 year old DVD player was giving equally good sound through its analogue out.

....to be continued

 

[Krish82]

If this was the case, every one would have been Happy with Tata Nano which does its job pretty well in point A to B transport. I have heard car stereo CD players, the only one that had impressed me was in my uncle's Accord stock system. Wonderful sound stage even @ full volume.

It depends on our focus, In india Hi FI is still emerging and costlier than other countries. In USA you can listen and return a product if you dont like (genuine cases) i think this really helps. In india once paid you are in a lock. So we have to be double careful before we select a product especially in this HI fi seperates segment.

Another simple thing i like to add, my wife use to hardly distinguish between 2 sedan cars, she feels Hyundai accent and BMW looks the same, atleast from the sides. But after being with me for few years she has learnt to distinguish cars and identify them pretty well. This is where experience matters, our ears will learn through more as er listen to more and more equipments. I am pretty sure each and every combination of equipment wll result in different sound.

 

[jaudere]

If this was the case, every one would have been Happy with Tata Nano which does its job pretty well in point A to B transport. I have heard car stereo CD players, the only one that had impressed me was in my uncle's Accord stock system. Wonderful sound stage even @ full volume.

I would say: wrong comparison.
Did you hear the car cd player being played in home environment with good speakers: Say Paradigm /wharfs/PSB/Quad?
In fact i would like to know how many of those who think car cd player cannot sound good at home have actually heard it being played at home with standard home speakers?

 

[moktan]

as far as i am concerned , the system I have is good for most of the music that i listen to which is jazz...the sound of the sax, the acoustic bass, the ride and snare pattern of the drums, the occasional female vocals etc....
my system falters over heavy metal and hip hop (which thankfully I am not a great fan of)...hence i feel it is necessary to sort out the music one is serious about listening and then build up a system that does justice to that particular type of sound....
also i feel if one makes an emotional investment into music and does not get too finicky with the more clinical aspect of listening one gets more pleasure and edification in spite of the lesser sums invested...
lastly i would like to quote from a book review i was reading (because in some tenuous way i think that observation has some relevance to the discussion)...
The review was discussing the Walter Isaacson biography of Jobs.
It seems somewhere in the book the author praises the 'poetry' and 'artistry' of Apple's products saying using them "could be as sublime as walking in one of the Zen gardens of Kyoto that Jobs loved".
The review concludes by making the following telling comment on that observation.
The comparison between an Apple design and a Zen garden laid out hundreds of years ago might be plausible today, at least for the diehards who post videos of themselves unboxing Apples latest gadget. But give it a few years. In 2020, making a video call on an iPad will feel about as sublime as booting up an Apple II does now, while a walk through the gardens of Kyoto will feel much as it did in 1920, 1820 and 1720.

 

[murali_n]

Hi all,

My Experience :

I am used to Cosmic CO-60 Amp(15w rms/channel) with 3-Way Cosmic Speakers(Covox-3500) right from my age 22, along with Philips cassette Deck AW-534 and Philips TT with ceramic cartridge. Prior to this I was using panasonic tape recorder hooked up with DIY Amp and Philips FR Speakers(One in Cabinet and another in earthen pot(sort of Sub-woofer). After joining in my job and due to transfer, I purchased a Panasonic All-in-one component system with Audio CD & seperate speakers, was happy with its sound but for the Bass.

Did research in the net for a affordable system and purchased Pulz RS 180 amp(35w rms/ch) with Torvin TP-5 BS Speakers, paired it with Pioneer DVD AS 686. This system was sounding a bit harsh with less bass for me, so thought will make a 3-way speakers employing the Peerless drivers from the Torvin. So made a 3-way large Bookshelves, which again sounded harsh, but now bass had improved a bit due to the 8-inch Bolton driver. Now i felt the amp was under powered so enter Norge-2060. After a couple of months thought of making a tower speaker with Peerless Denmark drivers from Corrson, bangalore. After getting the drivers approached Craftel, who(Mr.Mark ) helped me with a Good sounding Tower speaker. Also upgraded my source to a Marantz CDP-48, with a tweaked Output OPAMP with 4562. Now the problem was with my room, the speaker was sounding good but was an overkill for my 12x10 feet room, was a bit boomy. So decided to upgrade my whole system. My friends brother was about to come to chennai from singapore so ordered one Marantz PM-6003 amp. The amp arrived, and when hooked to my Towers, Oh boy I heard a huge difference compared to my Norge2060. The treble crisp, mids clear, and the bass tight, and I could hear all the nuances in my recording. Still the sound was a bit boomy for some CDs. So next the hunt for the speakers began. Once I had heard the PSB Image B-6 BS at decibel, and after subsequent audition of MS_Aviano-2 at cressida, preferred the latter due to its synergy with marantz and the price of 19.5k compared to 27k of the PSB. So ordered one MS Av-2 BS. Meanwhile decided to replace my full audio chain and when the offer came for my Marantz CD-48 sold it and got CD 5003 from singapore thro my friend's brother. Meanwhile ordered the Chord crimson plus IC @ 2200/- from our forum mart. Now I feel my system is complete with my Monster speaker cables. In the Vinyl front, I had purchased Technics SLD212 DD TT and very recently a Kenwood KD 3100 DD TT, as for cartridges, I have Shure M97xE, Grado Black & Blue series, AT-95 E cartridges. I have of late added a M-Audio 2496 Soundcard for my PC for Vinyl conversions and FLAC playback. I am fortunate and very thankful to have friends at Singapore and US, who made my dream to be realised a bit easy and at lesser cost. This forum has played a very lead role on the awareness front. I also thank Magma, our forum member for his inputs in design of my DIY BS Speaker stands and the spikes he had supplied for the same.

Now after all these developments I don't feel I am at the peak of Mt.Everest(Ultimate audio system), but I have learnt to climb it with more confidence, I am more than happy with my set-up, bcos it sounds very well in my room and my genre of music(btw I listen to ABBA, BoneyM,Beegees, Donna summers, Kraftwerk, Police,Queen, Giorgio Moroder, DuranDuran,Alan Parson , M.Jackson etc, Carnatic Classical Vocal and Instrmental, and Tamil Film Music(Ilaiyaraaja makes my Heart skip a beat). I never let my system come between me and my music, when I am listening.

Of late I am just thinking how a Tube pre will sound with a SS Power amp, after reading the review of Tube amps in the internet. may like to hear one and may or may not go for an upgrade.

This is the short story of my journey thus far and sorry to bore you with the details. To sum up I can confidently say that there is breakeven point between the cost and Sound quality and it is for the individual to decide based on his own requirements, and tastes.

Cheers,

N.Murali

 

[heliumflight]

Hi all,

My Experience :

I am used to Cosmic CO-60 Amp(15w rms/channel) with 3-Way Cosmic Speakers(Covox-3500) right from my age 22, along with Philips cassette Deck AW-534 and Philips TT with ceramic cartridge. Prior to this I was using panasonic tape recorder hooked up with DIY Amp and Philips FR Speakers(One in Cabinet and another in earthen pot(sort of Sub-woofer). After joining in my job and due to transfer, I purchased a Panasonic All-in-one component system with Audio CD & seperate speakers, was happy with its sound but for the Bass.

Did research in the net for a affordable system and purchased Pulz RS 180 amp(35w rms/ch) with Torvin TP-5 BS Speakers, paired it with Pioneer DVD AS 686. This system was sounding a bit harsh with less bass for me, so thought will make a 3-way speakers employing the Peerless drivers from the Torvin. So made a 3-way large Bookshelves, which again sounded harsh, but now bass had improved a bit due to the 8-inch Bolton driver. Now i felt the amp was under powered so enter Norge-2060. After a couple of months thought of making a tower speaker with Peerless Denmark drivers from Corrson, bangalore. After getting the drivers approached Craftel, who(Mr.Mark ) helped me with a Good sounding Tower speaker. Also upgraded my source to a Marantz CDP-48, with a tweaked Output OPAMP with 4562. Now the problem was with my room, the speaker was sounding good but was an overkill for my 12x10 feet room, was a bit boomy. So decided to upgrade my whole system. My friends brother was about to come to chennai from singapore so ordered one Marantz PM-6003 amp. The amp arrived, and when hooked to my Towers, Oh boy I heard a huge difference compared to my Norge2060. The treble crisp, mids clear, and the bass tight, and I could hear all the nuances in my recording. Still the sound was a bit boomy for some CDs. So next the hunt for the speakers began. Once I had heard the PSB Image B-6 BS at decibel, and after subsequent audition of MS_Aviano-2 at cressida, preferred the latter due to its synergy with marantz and the price of 19.5k compared to 27k of the PSB. So ordered one MS Av-2 BS. Meanwhile decided to replace my full audio chain and when the offer came for my Marantz CD-48 sold it and got CD 5003 from singapore thro my friend's brother. Meanwhile ordered the Chord crimson plus IC @ 2200/- from our forum mart. Now I feel my system is complete with my Monster speaker cables. In the Vinyl front, I had purchased Technics SLD212 DD TT and very recently a Kenwood KD 3100 DD TT, as for cartridges, I have Shure M97xE, Grado Black & Blue series, AT-95 E cartridges. I have of late added a M-Audio 2496 Soundcard for my PC for Vinyl conversions and FLAC playback. I am fortunate and very thankful to have friends at Singapore and US, who made my dream to be realised a bit easy and at lesser cost. This forum has played a very lead role on the awareness front. I also thank Magma, our forum member for his inputs in design of my DIY BS Speaker stands and the spikes he had supplied for the same.

Now after all these developments I don't feel I am at the peak of Mt.Everest(Ultimate audio system), but I have learnt to climb it with more confidence, I am more than happy with my set-up, bcos it sounds very well in my room and my genre of music(btw I listen to ABBA, BoneyM,Beegees, Donna summers, Kraftwerk, Police,Queen, Giorgio Moroder, DuranDuran,Alan Parson , M.Jackson etc, Carnatic Classical Vocal and Instrmental, and Tamil Film Music(Ilaiyaraaja makes my Heart skip a beat). I never let my system come between me and my music, when I am listening.

Of late I am just thinking how a Tube pre will sound with a SS Power amp, after reading the review of Tube amps in the internet. may like to hear one and may or may not go for an upgrade.

This is the short story of my journey thus far and sorry to bore you with the details. To sum up I can confidently say that there is breakeven point between the cost and Sound quality and it is for the individual to decide based on his own requirements, and tastes.

Cheers,

N.Murali

The above post sums up well the realization you have acheived.

--
helium
Marantz Cdp 6003 -> SB Classic -> / Audiolab 8000A + Vintage Akai Speaker SW175 / Highly modified B&W DM4 -> Lyrita IC + Cables => MUSIC

 

[ssf]

Do I need to spend a lot on my music system is a question I keep asking myself all the time without yet finding a satisfactory answer.

If I rationally look at my needs based on the music that I listen to and the TV / Movies that I watch, I should be more than happy with an entry level 2 channel amplifier and a bookshelf speaker like the Q300's for both music and movies. I would be pretty happy if I could listen to the music without the speakers distracting me with its harshness or boominess or other faults that I can recognise. I took around 10 years to recognise the faults of my existing system (Not being a audiophile helped to a great extent) but I have a feeling that this period of blissful ignorance of a system's shortcomings might shorten in the coming years.

What will I end up buying I don't know as my wants might replace my needs.

 

[srinisundar]

Do I need to spend a lot on my music system​

Sorry if anybody is offended, just take casual in the year beginning. I should not compare the below with hifi gear items, but why not which is an daily having party with us.

There is a word "comfort" and "afford" can be combined to make anything doable. Almost both sounds similar in meaning.

Underwear/ Inner wear is available for gents and ladies with different sizes and different "comfortable & affordable Rs.25 to Rs.10000" levels and designs. For the same sizes and for the same comfort and for the "same purpose Used" price varies for the brand names. Why ?

Shoes which were used for protecting our legs and also to make our-self give an decent look. Rs.200 shoes also doing the same function and Rs.5000 shoes also doing the same function. Why we are going behind the Rs.5000 shoes, are they "comfortable" or "Affordable' ?

So typically for sound systems also there are normal 2 in 1 systems are available to play the same CD and 20lacs system also is there to play it.. Why we are going behind that??? Because are they "comfortable" or "affordable". Till you can "Afford" you will buy an expensive system, you will never get "Satisfied" with present sound. When the "Affordability" goes you will be happy with the present system and you will enjoy the music. Till that "Megadeath" for your Wallet.

Sorry guys like posting this in year beginning, Don't get "Kolaveri" on me

 

[jaudere]

I was enjoying my set up. Daily 2 hours of music listening.(not in the background. Just music nothing else).
Suddenly I got a pm from a newly joined member asking about open baffles. That rekindled my desire for open baffles. A carpenter was supposed to come to make a cupboard. So I thought of making open baffles again. I old had baffles. I put my old philips drivers. I didnt like to sound. It was thin sounding. So i decided to use a different driver. I had my eyes on one Ahuja full ranger for many days. It had the parameters to my liking. Decided to take a plunge. Got the driver. Tried it in various ways. Finally my open baffles were up and about.

My marantz was sounding great with the new speakers.
In my college days, I was part of the orchestra. I have played guitar, learnt to play drums for few months. So I knew how the instruments sound without amplifiers. I was happy that on the open baffles, Tabla was sounding like tabla, snare like a snare cymbal like a cymbal( cymbal is mainly by tweeter but i have tweeter playing above 10khz so full ranger does some duty as well). I was very happy with percussion especially. My previous speakers were doing good job with guitars/violins etc. I thought that they are good at percussion too but my opinion changed after hearing open baffles. Vocals are good on open baffles as expected. However i have not heard famous singers in live program without amplifier(barring pandit Bhimsen Joshi) and cant say whether open baffles are true to the original or no.
So this was a definite step over my previous speakers.

One day i came across thread where Topping was used with CA S30 Speakers. I wanted to try something low powered. The Topping may be good(so many people say it) but there is no remote/ pre out/multiple inputs etc. My dvd player does not have volume control. So I needed something equally good but with remote. This is when I thought of car cd player. My car was not having cd player. So I decided to try it at home. If it was a failure, I had a plan to put them into my car. I had already tried a pioneer car cd player in past(from my other car). I liked the sound but after playing it for an hour or so i used to start giving out some odd sounds not related to music content. So it had gone back to its original place. I had the 12v 10amp transformer with me. So this time I decided to go for sony. I felt that at entry level, all companies will give similar quality when the price difference was marginal and likely to be due to brand value rather than sound quality.
So i bought entry level sony xplod.