Spending Most Of The Budget On Amplification?

[struth]

What good sense!

Unfortunately, when you have an interest in the playback equipment as well as the music, it can be really difficult trying to maintain a sensible balance between the two. I'll hold my hand up and admit that I have to struggle sometimes to keep what I consider to be a suitable perspective. I can get very carried away with enthusiasm for the kit, even to the extent that I find it is the equipment, and not me, that is "choosing" the music I listen to. So I might find myself thinking "I fancy listening to some Miles Davis", but find myself putting on some Kenny Wheeler because it's more "hi-fi" and will show off the treasured aspects of my system's playback performance better. So I kick back and luxuriate in just how the loudspeakers are doing this, or the amplifier is doing that. I'm listening to capacitors and resistors for heaven's sake, not music! It's not the way it was meant to be.

Who has seen the film "The Shawshank Redemption"? Well, everybody obviously! I often find myself thinking of that heart-bursting moment when Tim Robbins succeeds in getting some ropey old wind-up gramophone connected up to the prison PA system and sets Mozart playing across the dusty yard and through the halls of the prison. The standard of "hi-fi" reproduction was abysmal, the sound crackly and distorted, but nevertheless you feel as if you have never heard anything more moving or beautiful or hopeful. That's what listening to music should be like. The emotional bang you get from it should be completely independent of the technical perfection of the playback. Unfortunately I sometimes worry that I am letting the tail wag the dog when I start to obsess over my system.

Sound familiar, anyone ...?
IB

Used to be but not now. Just play tunes i like and try new to me stuff on spotify. Its only mp3 but can sound very good on headphones. I reserve my critical listening to the occasions i have the big rig on, and even then i try not to...not always successfully i will admit

[Barry]

What an excellent post Gary. You've got it spot on!

It's far to easy to get carried away with upgrades and tweeks, and loose sight of the fact that it is all only a means to an end. I recently spent about £600 to have a dedicate ring main installed for my audio system. I can't say it has had any effect on the overall sound, but it means the cable routing is minimised and is much tidier. So that on its own gives me peace of mind.

In that respect, it might be useful to ask how much you have spent on 'software' and how much on the 'hardware'.

[Barry]

80-90% of what you hear comes via the room reflection so your room has a massive effect.

I don't think it's as high as that.

[Marco]

The cheaper mine gets the more I seem to enjoy it.

Perhaps that's just because your expectations of it are less? It's human nature: the better/more expensive something is, the more you expect from it.

That's undoubtedly why, IMO, many of us have such 'wonderful memories' of sounds/musical experiences we heard from very modest systems when we were young, simply because we weren't applying the same degree of scrutiny to the sound as we would now, using our current systems.

Marco.

[Macca]

What good sense!

. So I might find myself thinking "I fancy listening to some Miles Davis", but find myself putting on some Kenny Wheeler because it's more "hi-fi" and will show off the treasured aspects of my system's playback performance better. So I kick back and luxuriate in just how the loudspeakers are doing this, or the amplifier is doing that. I'm listening to capacitors and resistors for heaven's sake, not music! It's not the way it was meant to be.

IB

yes, I used to do this and it used to irritate me but I sort of blamed the recordings. Then I had a friend come round to play a copy of the album his band had just recorded. After a listen his comment was: 'It sounds very different to how it sounds in the studio.'

That was when I decided I should be taking things a bit more seriously. There is nothing of that old system left in my current one and 'dodgy' recordings are no longer an issue.

[nthall]

Perhaps that's just because your expectations of it are less? It's human nature: the better/more expensive something is, the more you expect from it.

That's undoubtedly why, IMO, many of us have such 'wonderful memories' of sounds/musical experiences we heard from very modest systems when we were young, simply because we weren't applying the same degree of scrutiny to the sound as we would now with our current systems.

Marco.

The price absolutely effects my expectations of a pice of gear. I've been disappointed by the difference another 10k adds to the mix every time. I got to the point where I resent it. It's more exciting for me to find an inexpensive or free tweak that improves the sound to my ears. I've been repairing the stuff most of my life. I've had enough gear opened up to learn what causes the difference in tone between them. The components generally aren't worth the premium, custom transformers being the exception because you can't buy them.

I don't think there is a perfect setup that works for every type of music either. If my musical tastes weren't as neurotic as they are I would probably be more inclined to unload all of the gear I have and sink all of the cash into a world class system to play my two favorite albums on.

[nthall]

I don't think it's as high as that.

It could be if the listening room was built like a prison cell.

[DSJR]

What do people think? Some say spend most on the source, others say the loudspeakers should get the most of it.

But is the amplification really the key to getting a good sound? Slowly dawning on me that this might indeed be the case.

Current system if you ignore the TT which is not my primary source, and cables, I've got 65% of the spend in the amps. Never had a better sound.

What's your percent spent on amps and what's your opinion?

You have speakers that NEED what your power amp can give into awkward loads. My speakers don't need this, so I can get away with less 'exalted power supply' power amps and still get a good enough sound of great musical and atmospheric qualities here. Nick (Lurcher) has explained to me how costs escalate when transformers get rather large, cases get seriously heavy duty to accommodate them and dissipate the output stage heat and this is before the circuit itself is taken into consideration.

Modern speakers seem to be lower impedances than they were. A spec of 8 ohms is an average and can mean (if reviews are read) dips in the midrange to 4 ohms, where all the energy is. Other speakers can be over-damped, requiring seemingly hundreds of watts to wake them up in my experience. GOOD watts can be expensive, sadly, but there are enough cheaper powerful amps for most people I believe.

[Macca]

You have speakers that NEED what your power amp can give into awkward loads. My speakers don't need this, so I can get away with less 'exalted power supply' power amps and still get a good enough sound of great musical and atmospheric qualities here..

Actually my speakers claim to be an easy load and use simple crossovers. Not taken them apart to verify this but the amp never lights up or even gets warm.

[Barry]

To answer my last question, I have done a quick tally on expenditure:

source (vinyl playback, CD player(s), reel-to-reel tape machine, cassette player and tuner(s)): ~ £10K
electronics (amplification: preamps, headamps, SUTs, phonostages and power amps): ~ £9.5K
speakers: £200

(I should add there is enough equipment for at least two systems)

Yet the value of the software is ~ £12K, split roughly equally between vinyl and CDs (although my own expenditure was probably only about a third of that sum).

Clearly I've got it all about face!