How do you go about making up a system?

[dave2010]

Perhaps my question should really have been, "how do you fix a system which seems to have a weak link or two?"

Over the years I've collected various bits of kit, mostly from new, but some second hand. When the DAB R3 fiasco reared up quite a few years ago I started listening more carefully, and noted that some things sounded really bad. However, the BBC did fix that - at least to some extent, and then I started to suspect other bits of my kit. Firstly I suspected my amplifier, which at the time was a Rotel, and as I inherited a Pioneer A300 I tried that. At first this seemed like an improvement (apart from a volume control problem), but after a while I seemed to get tired of that. Then I tried a T amp - a Bantam Gold, and that certainly seemed different, with really quite surprising bass. Next was an Amptastic, which I've not really tested to destruction. It doesn't seem greatly different - probably the Bantam is better. Lastly I tried a Marantz PM7200, which I'd noticed had been mentioned as good. [This is the smokey one, mentioned elsewhere.]

This last one was quite interesting. I think there is a slight improvement in running this in Class A mode, but there's to my surprise very little in it. I can press the A/AB button in and out without it drawing too much attention to itself. I felt the sound to be more coloured than I had become used too, but also mostly sweeter. Not all the rough edges went, but many did. I thought it might have more bass than the T amps.

When I went back to the Bantam I was actually surprised at how punchy it sounded, with considerable bass, but I felt the mid sounds (e.g string instruments) sounded rougher.

I wonder if everyone finds that swapping kit around starts kicking up more questions than that answers. Now I want something which sounds smoother than the T amps, but with at least the smoothness of the Marantz. I'm now also wondering if I really need to check out the inputs to the amps. I've been using a Caiman DAC for the last few years, but I'm wondering if in fact my CD player or SACD player could give better results fed direct into one of the amps. That would disrupt my plans, as I've become fairly committed to computer based audio in the last year.

I still work, which means I can afford to buy some kit, but the downside is that I don't have time to swap things in and out and decide what works with what.

I do occasionally hear systems which I like at friends' houses, but mostly it seems to me that there's usually a weak link or two. Now I'd like to revamp my own system which I'm suspecting also has weak links.

Do others also have this kind of problem?

[Puffin]

I have quite a lot of kit and mess around mixing and matching to see the outcome (this is normally when I am bored and there is nothing wrong with the sound!) I tend to end up simply confirming to myself that what I was listening to in the first place was perfectly satisfactory.

I think that we all have a particular sound that we like and if a system doesn't match up it is either wrong or inferior in some way.

How do you want your system to sound?
Are you constrained by size of kit or layout?
Are you able to play it at realistic levels?

What do you feel is lacking in what you are using at the moment?

By the way what speakers do you use?

Rob.

[f1eng]

IME the most important thing has been positioning the speakers and listening seat correctly in room. It took me a long time to get that bit right, and knowing how important the listening seat position is to minimise the inevitable bass uneveness around the room was a recent discovery.
The rest of it is getting stuff compatible with each other and your taste in music. It takes listening tests to do this. I find that when subtle differences are there you often notice them when you change back to the previous configuration, rather than when you first make a change.
I would also note that I have found that even though differences can be very subtle, they are unmissable once noticed.
It is all a matter of taste. I am currently listening to a Eric Whitacre track, The River Cam, and it sounds absolutely fantastic, I had to stop writing this post to listem (I don't really do background listening). It had a 3 star quality rating in a magazine I read. F*ck knows wat they were listening on...

[wee tam]

you simply search for the sound you have inside your head , you know when you flash back to music and here it inside , can be a long journey though , i'm 56 and have only 98% recreated it day to day , most days pergect , some days , well you know , but after 30 bloody long years well most of the time its right ish

[MikeMusic]

Perhaps my question should really have been, "how do you fix a system which seems to have a weak link or two?"
Do others also have this kind of problem?

Think you have to start at the beginning
IMO this is the mains and the earth
Turned my system from poor to pretty good, certainly a massive improvment
Needed the sparky in to fix a some faults anyway so it was almost free.

Perhaps Russ Andrews has the right idea too, albeit with a small axe to grind
If I remember right
Mains, then
Supports
Interconnects
Kit