Hi-fi systems ?

[MaxM]

I think that the idea is that you are trying to listen to what has been recorded. Recording engineers should have got the balance right in terms of what was intended by the artists. Mind you the equipment you have and and the room that you play it in will have a large effect on what you actually hear. It is an arcane science when you get into it. Audiophiles have to "tweak" the system to correct imbalances. Don't get me started.

Wrong (to me!). That goes for studio monitors. Good speakers have to be transparent of course, but also add their own touch to the recording to make it even more enjoyable.

[Icarium]

got another noob question... why is it that virtually all high end systems lack tone controls? do they have such a drastic effect on the sound quality that they're left out? I'm presuming so because pretty much all cheap basic systems have at least simplified adjustments.

Tone control isn't really a simple science. Most audiophiles do indeed prefer "transparent" signal chains and go for "purity." Which is a vague and ill defined term. That being said if you want to add that to your system you can get something like a behringer deq2496 which some fellow audiophiles swear by. Some of the geekier ones have written some code to try and use it to eq one headphone into sounding like another headphone. Supposedly it's pretty successful, but I'm a default settings kinda guy and a non tweaker so I haven't checked it out.

Supposedly it's not bad as a DAC either and is a pretty good value all around. Anyway long story short. It's the same reason why as you go up price tiers you see more separates than integrated things. People like to decouple utility into single devices so they can mix/match and control what goes into their rig.

I think my biggest problems with any sort of eq is that it's too inexact. EQs basically eq frequency ranges from what I understand and music is not that simple. A lot of instruments can occupy the same range. You could get around this if you have stems (Where the different instruments/vocals are separated onto different tracks), but most people don't have those and to separate instruments from a stereo mixed track is pretty much impossible to do algorithmically... at least no one has done it yet that I know of.

That may or may be informative. I'm just regurgitating what I've been told and as my new fixation is clothes the knowledge is fast fading and losing coherency ;p A DJ or producer can probably shed way more light on this. Or audio engineer!

[lowrey]

thanks for the thoughts/insight, I'm still learning so it comes in handy

jumping from one thing to another, does anyone know anything about Stirling Broadcast speakers? I was attracted to the old school look but according to reviews they should sound pretty great for bookshelf speakers. but will they work well with any type of music or are they better for some specific use?

[doldrums]

those speakers are on my wishlist but never pulled the trigger as it seems like a bad choice to fill a room. really great though - from my non audiophile perspective - checked them out at a friends.

thanks for the thoughts/insight, I'm still learning so it comes in handy

jumping from one thing to another, does anyone know anything about Stirling Broadcast speakers? I was attracted to the old school look but according to reviews they should sound pretty great for bookshelf speakers. but will they work well with any type of music or are they better for some specific use?

[lowrey]

bad choice, as in not powerful enough?

I'm trying to find something thats not gigantic (can be a bit larger than these though) but could still work in a large living room, and they also need to look good. I prefer this type of vintage look to any round corners etc.

look-wise, the Klipsch Heresy is one of my favourite looking speakers, but they are huge.



would love to find something like this but smaller. the Stirlings have a similar look sans the stand (could be easily built), but not sure if they are good for my use...

[Dane]

Not sure what your budget is, but if it's a lot, check out Harbeth:

http://www.harbeth.co.uk/uk/index.php?section=products&page=introducingourspeakers

The tiny ones start around $2000, going up to about $13,000 for the very large ones. They both look and sound great, and come in several woods.

The Compact 7ES-3 is a good place to start looking - around $3500...these of course can be found used for less.

[lowrey]

thanks, I was actually looking at Harbeth's at some point but totally forgot about them. they seem very good, over my budget, but might be worth looking into a second hand pair...

[Dane]

thanks, I was actually looking at Harbeth's at some point but totally forgot about them. they seem very good, over my budget, but might be worth looking into a second hand pair...

There are tons of them used...if you're into the British look/sound, Proac is another company to check out.

[theetruscan]

thanks, I was actually looking at Harbeth's at some point but totally forgot about them. they seem very good, over my budget, but might be worth looking into a second hand pair...

Mentioned earlier, and probably aesthetically wrong, but totem acoustic stuff just sounds so good...

[viv1984viv]

hey looking to get a half decent sound system for my flat, basically to use when im doing uni work.
Im pretty clueless where to start.

My requirements are that i wither connect it up to my laptop via wireless or cable ( in my mind i understand good cabling makes a fair difference in quality of sound ? or that sound quality can be considerably lost through a cable )

Personally i don't like docking stations; i use an ipod shuffle when i have to, i dont feel the need for thousands of songs when im using it for 20-40 mins at a time, so rather than myself using an ipod to play music id rather simply use my laptop.

If im playing straight from a laptop do i simply need a good amp and speakers or do i need a hi fi system? I guess i would like a seperate cd option or a wireless one so i could continue to play while movie the laptop about. ? or is there some sort of system with a memory so i can store music within the player (kinda like an amp come ipod/hard drive)

God i don't know even good brands to stick to; is bose really worth the money or is it simply good case design/branding or can someone like sony/denon compete.

Any opinions, knowledge please share ...

Snafu - you're probably set up already but this is what I have done.

Presume you have a Mac with an optical out? If so, get a digital AV amp and use an optical cable mac to digital amp, this way you get less conversions and the digital amp acts as amp and dac ( digi-analogue ).

This is what I have done, I have a panny SA-XR50, great sound.

I paired it with some fairly decent Q Acoustics 2020's.

[MaxM]

Also, cables are wayyyyy overrated

[mingrui]

Just got the orb mod 1 pack, looks good sounds good. really small speakers but with big possibilities. Sound is great with both digital and vinyl. I think the best part is the option of adding more "orbs", will definitely get more them balls in the future.

[several_girls]

Any hi-fi experts care to enlighten me on differences between the high-end speakers being discussed here and traditional amplifiers such as Marshall?

[Dane]

Aside from being powered (vs. most home speakers which require a separate amp), guitar amps typically only have one driver, focusing on the instrument's specific range. A home speaker typically has a woofer for low frequencies, a tweeter for high, and sometimes a midrange as well.

Home speakers also focus more effort on things like isolation, resonance/vibration-reduction within the cabinet, etc., because the idea of listening at home is to catch all the minute details, whereas an amp would focus more on volume, etc.

Someone smarter than I can probably elaborate further.

[loveless]

Aside from being powered (vs. most home speakers which require a separate amp), guitar amps typically only have one driver, focusing on the instrument's specific range. A home speaker typically has a woofer for low frequencies, a tweeter for high, and sometimes a midrange as well.

Home speakers also focus more effort on things like isolation, resonance/vibration-reduction within the cabinet, etc., because the idea of listening at home is to catch all the minute details, whereas an amp would focus more on volume, etc.

Someone smarter than I can probably elaborate further.

damn, nice! always wondered that myself, thanks for the question and answer guys.