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Can't connect to database, trying again.... How often does an equipment change lead to "dramatic, night and day" sound changes for you? - jsm - Vinyl Asylum

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How often does an equipment change lead to "dramatic, night and day" sound changes for you?

I continually read here claims about dramatic changes coming about as a result of an equipment change, sometimes a rather minor piece of equipment. When one is going from a simple, mass-produced system to carefully-selected good components, the difference can and should be dramatic, but I'm not talking about that. I read claims that simply by changing cables there was a night and day difference, the results were amazing. Similar remarks are made about amps, preamps, and many other things.

However, in my experience, once you basically have a good system, only two things can make a really big difference: better speakers and better source equipment. A speaker upgrade can produce a dramatic improvement in sound, as can a cartridge upgrade. If you have a pretty good TT and arm, say one of the better Rega models, you can of course get better sound from a better TT, but in my listening experience it will not be night and day. It will be incremental, maybe even subtle. I have compared many amps, and some are indeed better than others, but even going from the Sony receiver I have to my Plinius or to an ARC driving my Vandersteen 5s is not night and day. You have to pay attention to fully appreciate the benefits.

Maybe the scale is highly magnified for others, so that when people say dramatic, on my scale it would be "somewhat better." Over the last 40 some years my system has gotten a lot better, but most of the improvement is in the speakers, the TT/cartridge, and the CD player. Even though I've invested a fair amount in electronics, I would say they have helped, but only in the assisting role, not as leaders. When I compare my system now to many much more expensive, typically I don't say to myself "wow, that is a whole different world, I'm blown away" At most I may say I like it bit better. And my system would considered "mid-fi" by some people I know. Even the Vandersteen 5s, nice as they are, were not a night and day improvement over my Spendor SP 100s, though they are certainly better to my ears. The only "wow" experience I've had recently was when I was in LA and went to a concert at the Disney Center. One minute into it I thought "Now's that's what I really want in sound." It was another world.

What has been you experience? Am I way off base here?

Joe

PS: What really baffles me is when people say some tweak or equipment change is night and day, etc., and then they can't identify it in a blind test. Again, maybe it's the scale of adjectives, but how can something dramatic in a sighted test not evev be identified in a blind test? For me, most changes that are dramatic are apparent before you even get into the room.


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Topic - How often does an equipment change lead to "dramatic, night and day" sound changes for you? - jsm 18:25:02 09/12/06 (68)


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