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Re: My two absolute rules for buying stuff: get the sound you like at the lowest cost

These rules are necessary but not sufficient to end up with a happy purchase.
That's a thing with audio - we can be happy with our purchase and not realize how bad it was until sometime later.

1. Buy the sound and not the brand: find out waht sound you like and then find the brands that make that sound.

Sure but...

I think there's an almost infinite variety of kinds of sounds one might like. And even if one can generalize a kind of sound there are a variety of flavors to chose from.

Audio verbiage learned from reading magazines may have some usefulness but is misleading - especially to newbies. Hearing and applying and then quantifying a systems performance using such descriptors is only relevant if a listener is enamored with the general sound quality in the first place. Ie. unless one already loves listening to the system there's no need for such quantification.

But I hear it all the time - a listener describing the sound of a system using audiophile verbiage. To me it means nothing unless the listener is moved and/or captivated by the music/sound in the first place.

2. Start by researching/auditioning the least expensive products first and then work up the price ladder: quality and price are related, but it's too complicated. This way you can tell how the incremntal sonic benefits are related to the additional cost.

Agree. I believe if we can't build an under $3k-$4K audio system we can live with we shouldn't be buying expensive audio equipment.



Give me rhythm or give me death!


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  • Re: My two absolute rules for buying stuff: get the sound you like at the lowest cost - Don T 09:44:50 04/26/07 (0)


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