SOUND IDEAS FOR HI-FI HAPPINESS

(Or: All I Want For Christmas Is...)

By Rod McBride

I'm in what appears to be a living room, and I'm committing all seven of the deadly sins. A salesman plays the part of unobtrusive but informative devil. As soon as the music starts, I'm as good as dead.

Lusting after the equipment that produces such fine music, I take pride in the knowledge that the unwashed masses are in department stores and electronic supercenters spending a lot of money on stuff that sounds like this equipment would if it were encased in mud. Angry that I cannot afford the best, I comfort myself in aural gluttony, slothfully relaxing into a sofa to enjoy. As I realize that, short of a winning lottery ticket or the discovery that I was included in Ewing Kaufman's will, I'll never be able to afford the best for my own home nine-by-thirteen den, greed and envy kicks in. I fantasize of committing the perfect bank robbery or stealing some drug baron's fortunes and spending the money on a dedicated listening room outfitted with VTL, Classé and Mark Levinson electronics, and Martin Logan, Thiel or Wilson Audio speakers.

Bowers & Wilkins' more affordable offerings.

Okay, if I'm really committing seven deadly sins doing this, I'm ready to renounce my American citizenship and apply for political asylum in Gomorrah. But I should probably start at the beginning of this delightfully sinful journey.

Three years ago, I still had the stereo Santa brought me back in high school: turntable, twin cassette decks, a pair of bookshelf speakers and a receiver. Fifteen years use had literally worn out virtually all the components. Something had to be done.

Because I live in the United States, naturally I went to a mass market consumer electronics store. They had turntables, very affordable, too. They had receivers. They had speakers. The store was very noisy, and the components were lined up like groceries on the shelves. Call me crazy, but if I can't hear the stuff, what good is it? There were, of course, the all-in-one units, but they didn't seem to measure up. The emphasis seemed to be home theater rigs.

I decided to see what I could get from a store that specialized in stereo equipment. These places were more common when I was a kid. At Audioport (and yes, they do carry home theater equipment, very good stuff, but not to the exclusion of music), I found what I was after.

I Love Music

Rotel separates

Do you love music? Lots of people say they do, but they don't all. Roughly 77,000 people will pay high ticket prices and exorbitant concession and parking fees, and brave the elements to watch the Chiefs play for three hours. It's hugely expensive, but they love the Chiefs. Imagine if 77,000 people went out on a Friday night in Kansas City seeking quality live music.

And of the people who aren't at the stadium, how many of them are watching the game on $3000 big-screen TVs?

If you love music, live music is generally the best. Of course since so many people are used to having music as the background for driving, working and socializing, it's not uncommon to find live music obscured by loud conversations, ringing cell phones and other sonic distractions. So while the recorded note is never as good as the live one, you can at least control the noise level in your home when you sit down to listen to music. Also, some of your favorite musicians may be dead (many of mine are), so live music alone isn't enough.

But music has become sonic wallpaper for many people, causing them to go cheap on what they think a stereo is worth. And low quality sound reproduction discourages people from just sitting down to listen to music. Along with the short story, rules of grammar and standards of dress, American society as a whole has fallen out of love with music -- even jazz, our own native music.

Hi-Fi
A quality hi-fi system delivers the band into your home. The best of them do it so well you can close your eyes and actually imagine the placement of the piano, the drum kit, the bass. I am not speaking of the home theater "surround sound." The good stuff can fool you with the same two channels most music has been recorded in for the past half century.

Of course the best does indeed cost. A total system can run $160,000 or more.

Bring up the subject of high end audio equipment to most people and they will insist they they'd never be able to hear the difference. This is exacerbated by the fact that the big chains do sell some very expensive stuff that does not recreate a realistic image of live music.

No, you don't have to be CEO of Microsoft to afford a hi-fi. Entry level systems can be had for under $2000, and there are many gradations in between. The frustrating part for those of us with modest means is that going up through those strata, you can hear a difference.

Breaking It Down
When you enter the world of audiophile equipment, generally you don't find much all-in-one equipment. You also don't find a lot of names you'd be familiar with from Consumer Reports or visits to the mega stores. While you can indeed find a CD/AM/FM/cassette bookshelf stereo at any number of retailers, complete with attached speakers and a remote control, what you get is a huge compilation of compromises. One power supply is trying to feed a bunch of different functions, and even the best engineer cannot make that happen without compromising all of those functions. Also, since price is king in these markets, every part included comes from the lowest bidder.

The first step away from that, naturally, is to separate out a receiver, CD player, turntable, speakers, etc. But even that involves compromises.

"Separates" break down each function to its own component, with its own power supply, engineered to do its job well. To understand how this works, you need to understand all the functions that are going on without regard to the system.

The source is the software, the CD, record, radio station, tape, which you are listening to. The CD player has to run the 1's and 0's of the digital world into an analog signal. This is done by an aptly named Digital-to-Analog Converter or DAC. From the DAC or from the tape deck, tuner, or turntable (these already being analog and requiring no conversion), the signal comes weakly to a preamplifier. This boosts the signal to a level the power amplifier can make use of. The power amplifier controls the speakers. All of these functions occur whether you separate the system out or condense it into a portable unit.

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So when shopping for separates you will be buying an individual unit for each of these functions, and like hiring a team of specialists, the job gets done better than by the Jack-of-all-trades unit.

Balance
Loudspeakers are easy to be impressed by. Martin Logan Prodigy speakers are taller than I am, and their hybrid electrostatic technology makes them fascinating, their design is visually attractive, and most of all they sound great. The sound is open, vibrant, defined and realistic, provided the speakers are being driven by good source electronics.

This is an important point because many people fall in love with a pair of speakers and blow their whole budget on them (the aforementioned run around $11,000 a pair). With a receiver or an inferior set of separates that does not control the speakers, the result is disappointing, if expensive, performance. An exceptional system can be put together for $11,000, but the components need to be given just weight based on their contribution to the ultimate sound.

If you think of it as a chain that starts with your copy of Kind of Blue and ends with the sound coming from the speakers, not only is the system basically as good as its worst component, but the further up the chain the bad component is, the less fidelity you will get from your system. A good front end driving mediocre speakers will sound better than a low quality front end driving great speakers.

If you're still spinning vinyl (I am), there are some remarkable turntables on the market, often with the drive for the belt separated from the platter platform to minimize vibration. Depending on how much you enjoy your vinyl, $1,400 to $73,000 is what you can expect to pay. Sometimes an older, less sophisticated turntable can be improved with a cartridge and or tone arm replacement. These can run from $50 to $3000+ (need I say that a $3000 cartridge is not "balanced" with a $99 turntable?)

Interconnects (those RCA cables that run from component to component) are not all created equal either. They can run from around $50/meter to $4,000/meter.

CD players may run as little as $500 or as much as $30,000. Preamps run a similar gambit, as do power amplifiers. Speakers can run from $300 for small bookshelf B&W speakers to $225,000 custom installed Wilson Audio WAMM VII.

Electrostatic loudspeakers by Lawrence based Martin-Logan

Subwoofers may also play into your system, as they can expand the sound stage by reinforcing the extreme low frequencies that your loudspeakers may not be capable of. Again, the price of a subwoofer can run from $300 to $80,000.

Also keep in mind that when you move to separates, beyond the preamp, power amp and speakers, a single source may be all you need (say, a CD player). You may find yourself adding a turntable or a tuner later, especially if that means getting a better quality sound from one source instead of an inferior one from several sources.

Sticker Shock
For the past three years I've been visiting places like Audioport and Kief's the way a lot of people my age visit Aristocrat Motors or Baron BMW. But the good news is, if you love music rather than sports cars, quality is in easier reach. In the car analogy, the extreme high end audio equipment would be roughly equivalent to a Ferrari F-1, essentially a Formula I race car with enough modifications to make it more or less street legal. Entry level Rotel separates might be more comparable to a Mazda Miata. You can get a ticket in either car, it depends on the performance you demand in getting the ticket and your discretionary income.

And as with sports cars, motorcycles, jet skis and other expensive hobby items, for those who don't want to save up, there is always financing. Some shops offer credit accounts; many customers simply use their own plastic. For me, I had to go with a system modest enough that I could save up cash for it. If I was worried about how I was going to make the payment on the stereo, it would be a great deal less enjoyable to own. And if you can't enjoy it, why bother?

Also, as you move up through the equipment, you'll find that while there may be a dramatic difference between a $500 preamp and a $1200 preamp, the difference between $3000 and $5000, while discernible, may not be a distinction you can afford to get hung up on. Trust your ears, and balance the system with an emphasis, if any, on the front end CD player and preamp.

What's Out There?
In addition to the local retailers, there are magazines dedicated to the audiophile market. The Absolute Sound! and Stereophile are a couple, and of course everyone has a web site. The magazines tend to emphasize the higher end, but they do give you an idea of what is out there. You can't hear a magazine page, though, and you may find yourself with expensive disappointments if you buy things sight unseen based on a review.

Shopping Around
There are a lot of choices in equipment and in places to buy them. Not all retailers are created equal, and retailers are not the only way to purchase your equipment.

Online shopping is one way to try and save on your hi-fi system. Ebay seems an obvious place to look. I did for months. Generally what I found were bargains offered by people with little or no feedback (and sometimes who had recently changed their ID). Reputable sellers were usually getting, by the time the auction ended, about 70% the price of the new equipment when you factored shipping into it (and if you're looking at a 90 lb power amp, you'd better figure shipping costs). Audioshopper.com is another source, though not an auction site. Since most of the people posting classifieds there (and most of the buyers) are aware of what they are looking at, the prices again tend to be higher than you would expect for used consumer electronics relative to new. In either case, you are generally buying from a stranger on the faith that they aren't misrepresenting what they are selling, you have no opportunity to demo the equipment to be sure you like it, and you most likely get no warranty.

Buying new does mean a few more dollars, but a brick and mortar retailer, especially one that's been around for a while, has advantages that may be worth the money and more. Many components come with lengthy manufacturer's warranties (my CD player came with a two year warranty, the preamp and power amp with five).

You should check more than one retailer before making a purchase of this magnitude. There are several reasons for this: high end manufacturers limit their franchises as a rule. There is very little overlap of inventory between stores, and these things ultimately boil down to a combination of your budget and your taste.

I also recommend that you buy from a retailer that will let you demo a model at home before committing to a purchase. They will want security, a credit card number typically, but if you're socking a month's pay into a pair of speakers, you want to be sure they sound as good in your den or living room as they do in the store. You also want to listen to your music. While hi-fi equipment does not know what kind of music you're reproducing, familiar recordings are the best way to evaluate whether a given piece of equipment is worth the dough.

Assorted separates (note, remodeling is an alternative to expensive racks)

Getting What You Pay For
The first commandment of hi-fi equipment is if it does not sound better, it isn't better. To a great extent these are objective criteria: is the response even across the sonic spectrum? Is the soundstage transparent and open? Can you hear the details, the air coming out of the high-hat as it closes or the "s" sound at the end of a word. Does the singer's voice sound like a human voice? Is the definition good enough to hear these things at low volumes?

I have listened to systems in which the CD player costs more than the entire system I own, but which do not impress me. I'm not naming names here; you have to put your own ears to it, because you're not spending my money.

The other thing you need to get a feel for is how the store takes care of its customers. If you spend enough time listening to different systems and shopping different stores, you will see people bring in repair/warranty claim items. If the retailer is a good one, the customer may still be explaining the problem as a replacement loaner is being brought from the back. Service after the sale is part of getting what you pay for. Find out what return policies, warranty policies, etc., are before you buy.

What Do You Love?
Part of the audiophile bug is getting fascinated with the gear. It's easy to do in a world of beryllium tweeters, Kevlar drivers, perfect surface silver interconnects, tube versus solid state controversies, and so on. And it's nice when something sounds amazing and looks great. But the real reason to put the money into a stereo instead of a jet ski, motorcycle or sports car is that above those things: you love music!

Rod McBride is a typographer, graphic designer, guitarist and writer. He has been a member of the JAM staff since 1993.

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