A little hifi story

[Mike Reed]

I remember being invited to listen to a £100K Naim+B&W system and being VERY underwhelmed. I stick with my cheap ATC's & Tannoy's at 20% the cost of the 16.5K jobbies.

I remember having an upmarket dem. at Grahams (n'th London) a couple of decades ago. Top Naim plus big Nautilus. My friend and I came to a fairly quick conclusion and conveyed our thoughts to the salesman. Naim and B & W don't have a good rep. as bedfellows, or at least, didn't.

[Pigmy Pony]

I heard a load of Naim stuff a few years ago at the Renaissance Hotel in Manchester. No Idea what models but it was a stack of about 10 similar looking black boxes into a pair of them big Ovator speakers. And the room was the size of most people's downstairs. Tbh I found the B&W/Rotel stuff down the hall more enjoyable.

Maybe expectations play a part in how it sounds to us. Bit like going to see a new film at the cinema - it gats rave reviews, but when you see it you are disappointed. If you delay seeing it until after the rest of the public have had their disappointment, you find yourself pleasantly surprised.

[Jac Hawk]

HiFi is very subjective, i was talking to one of our Audio engineers today, he basically said it's a black art with a lot more than just the equipment influencing the end product.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

HiFi is very subjective, i was talking to one of our Audio engineers today, he basically said it's a black art with a lot more than just the equipment influencing the end product.

Could we say circuitry and how it is configured within the equipment ?. Whilst acknowledging room dimensions and furnishings are also responsible to how we hear,
it is, and I think will always remain more so, the deployment of how within the actual equipment, how actual electronics parts are used.

[Pigmy Pony]

Could we say circuitry and how it is configured within the equipment ?. Whilst acknowledging room dimensions and furnishings are also responsible to how we hear,
it is, and I think will always remain more so, the deployment of how within the actual equipment, how actual electronics parts are used.

I suppose so, but what makes it such a mystery (and so enjoyable) is that there are so many variables at play (and the listener is one of those variables) that there can never be a "right" answer. One size definitely does not fit all.

If you had one hundred people listen to the same music on the same set up, even if they all listened separately and sat in the same position, no two people are going to hear the same thing, or at least perceive what they hear as enjoyable.

If it were any different, hi fi as an industry would collapse overnight. And we wouldn't have this wonderful hobby.