Making the most of your music (General Comments)

Member Name: moodyblue

Product:	General Comments
Date:	18/07/00 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: better sound upgradeable potentially cheaper

Disadvantages: requires time and effort

To a lot of people a Hifi system is something that you buy in Curry`s for five hundred quid,probably an all in one unit complete with flashing lights and all the other gizmos,that the manufacturers put on to add to the perceived value of their products.
Now these systems are fine for listening to the odd CD or radio, but if you are really into listening to music you`ll want to hear it at it`s best.
This is where a good HiFi separates system comes in to it`s own. Less is definitely more.
You don`t need flashing lights,graphic equalizers and dubious "surround modes" and the like. The essence of good music reproduction is to keep the signal as pure as possible with the minimum of electronics in the signal path.
All in one systems are usually built to a price point,so if the manafacturer has to compete on gizmos the chances are the overall quality of the components used will suffer.
HiFi separates are built to price points also, but the better companies will try and give the best sound quality for a given price as opposed to the most facilities.
There literally thousands of HiFi components out there and choosing the ones best suited to you will take a little time and trouble.
Don`t just buy whatever a magazine review says is best, go and have a listen yourself and compare against similar products.
One of the big advantages with separates is you can upgrade it in stages and add components to it as and when you can afford to.
Traditional thinking used to be,back in the days when the turntable was king, that you should spend most on the source component.
These days with the advent of digital playback CD, MD etc,It is possible to get really good sound without paying the earth, although you do get what you pay for, and spending more will get you better quality sound, I think the "rule of thirds" ie spend similar amounts on a single source,amplification and loudspeakers makes more sense.
In this way a fa
r superior sound to that of an all in one midi or mini system can be achieved at the same or even lower cost.
When purchasing separates bear in mind what sort of music you like as some components,especially at the higher end(read expensive!) are better suited to particular types of music.
With loudspeakers if you like lots of heavy bass consider large standmounted or floorstanding models rather than smaller bookshelf types, but also consider the size of your room.
The connecting cables are also important and really make a difference,and although you can spend silly money on these, the general rule of thumb is to spend about ten percent of the total system cost.
If like me you really love your music, it`s well worth the effort to put together a decent system that will increase your enjoyment of it.

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