Your stereo system?

Permabear

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The Mad Hatter

I was told a couple of years ago by a friend in the business that spending over €300 approx. is wasting your money, but for that amount you'll likely get a good cost/sound production ratio.

That said, I listen to my music on either my cheap-o iPhone earphones or on my €100 computer speakers, and I enjoy it perfectly well either way.

banquo

/Audio buff chimes in.

Mad Hatter is right, the law of diminishing returns kicks in when you start paying more. That is, the more you pay, the exponentially less you get in terms of sound quality.

300e is a good figure. Sony are excellent, but don't pay any more. And don't pay for stuff like a USB hub in the stereo, spend the same on a system that has less of those kind of features because then you're getting more sound quality for your buck. Anything over 300e and you're looking at buying a decent pair of professional speakers, which can be as much as 3,000e each.

Sony, 200-300e, perfect.

Edit: Mad Hatter also is right, that anything you say in Latin does seem profound!

Permabear

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The Mad Hatter

banquo wrote: »

Edit: Mad Hatter also is right, that anything you say in Latin does seem profound!

Oh yeah, ruin my fun why don't you?:p

viperirl

As a long time hifi enthusiast and classical music listener I thought I'd chip in with my 2 cents here.

I'd respectfully disagree with the posts here that have said that spending over 300Euro is a waste of money when purhasing or looking for equipment for good quality sound reproduction.
Down through the years I've listened to and demoed systems costing anything between 200Euro and 20k Euro. IMHO there can be a big difference between a 300Euro system and a 1k system.
Classical music in particular is full of sutilties, nuances and details that cannot be heard on a cheap system. I'm not saying that you cannot enjoy music on such a system but a really good system is like opening a window on the music, revealing new details that u havent heard before which just adds to the enjoyment of the music.

OP, what is the max budget you have in mind? I think that there are better hifi brands out there than Sony such as Kef, Tannoy, JBL and B&W to name just a few.
Is your music source CD's or PC hard disk?

Hifi 'separates' as they say is the way to go, ie speakers, amp and cd player. It's a more expensive route to take but gives you the option to upgrade the individual components in future.


The law of diminishing returns does kick in for sure when you start spending more but that figure is certainly way above 300Euro IMHO.

Sandwich

Disagree with the earlier posts too. Yes, dminishing returns set in, but that doesnt mean there arnt returns to be had. If you can afford them. I'd put the sharpest line for tail off in gain at about the €1000 mark for cd player/amp/speakers. (and contrary to the accpeted wisdom, I've long felt the money should be speakers, speakers, speakers, speakers, speakers, enough power to run them, and CD player last).

If you havent heard good quality equipment then do so before you buy. It may be you dont know what you're missing. Even if you aint gona buy them, demo some, Quad, Sonusfaber, Arcam, Naim, B&W, Ruark, Castle, Mission, Arcam. You can then make a shot at placing what you might choose in some some of reference frame.

Permabear

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viperirl

donegalfella wrote: »

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You should post over on the Home Entertainment section here, mention the budget you have in mind and you should get some pointers there on specific brands/models to consider. I'm only familiar with higher end kit myself so I'm not sure what to recommend for around the 1000E mark.
Make sure you listen to the stuff with CD's that you are VERY familiar with and if you dont like how it sounds no matter how many good reviews the equipment gets, then it simply isnt for you, so try something else then. Its your money at the end of the day so make sure that you are completely happy with what you are buying.


As Sandwich mentioned above, speakers are the most important part of the system. They will have the most influence on the type of sound heard and how the speakers interact with the room is just as important. What sounds good in a shop may not necessarily sound good in your room and visa versa.

Luke Crowley

It sounds like you are going to go down the hi-fi route here, but I still thought I should recommend some good PC speakers. Provided they are connected to a good sound card, a high-quality PC speaker system can provide brilliant sound. I use a Bose Companion 3 system with my PC, and it's all the speaker that I'd ever need (and more - apologies to any of my neighbours who are reading this:)).

goodcitizen

It all depends on how much your willing to spend, just my opinion but if you are intending to listen to classical music over headphones for instance, I would get a dedicated source with good quality headphones and headphone amplifier. The sennheiser hd 650 headphones are highly rated for classical music but are pricey.
In my experience a proper hi-fi setup can make a huge difference to enjoying classical music where it can go from a harsh, sluggish sound on a sony system with flashing lights to an atmospheric and natural sound on a proper system that has good soundstaging and timing etc..I disagree with the cut off point being at 1000 euro, I would put it at around 3000 euro, but 1000 euro would get you a very good system