Equipment Synergy

[Marco]

How important do people consider this aspect of system building?

It's my view that one of the reasons why many people are dissatisfied with the performance of their hi-fi systems is because not enough care is taken with component and cable selection in terms of sonic presentation and thus how each item knits together (or not) to form a musical whole. If this isn't done properly then the system is ultimately unrewarding as a tool for appreciating music at its best.

And the so-called ‘bargain’ buys on EBay, and trying to successfully piece together a mish-mash of disparate components, are to blame for much of this dissatisfaction! But more on that later...

Marco.

[WarJarrett]

As an audiophile for over 35 years, I feel that equipment synergy is the most important factor that determines the overall pleasure of building a system as well as the overall satisfaction in the system's sound. So, the process of learning one's preferences and obtaining the sound one wants is a big part of the hobby. Then, appreciating the strong points in performance that one individual has achieved through his effort, and understanding the sonic compromises he had to make to achieve those strong points is tjhe next big part of the hobby. In other words, its not just about enjoying the music. But, of course, this is the ultimate goal.

[Filterlab]

But, of course, this is the ultimate goal.

Good point, and one that is oft forgotten. I think it's very easy to get carried away with continuous upgrades, but as I've learnt in the past, sometimes less provides more results.

For years I was bi-amplifying my MLs, at the point I decided to change the speakers for a pair with only single terminal I removed one of the power amps to pop it on ebay.

With only one amp driving the speakers the sound was much clearer - better synergy I guess, but I'd bought two as I thought "one's good, two MUST be better!".

But nope.

[Steve Toy]

Synergy to me is having a series of components pulling in the same direction to achieve similar sonic goals. It is not about mixing bright with warm, hard with soft to somehow meet in the middle, but then my priorities may not be the same as everyone elses.

On the subject of amps, has anyone noticed how a really good preamp will usually make a system sound more involving, dynamic and generally enjoyable than a system with volume control from, say a CD player, directly into a power amp? Theory says this should not be so, especially if you believe in maintaining the purety and directness of the signal path, but practise says different.

[Vinyl Grinder]

Been into Vintage gear for over 25 year. + I can honestly claim that Pre amps/Phono stages are the weak link. im not going into this as it would take pages, but im sure many could build on what i've quoted!

It's extremely hard getting a vinyl system to mingle with CD but the obvious output is getting rid of CD altogether as i did..My life is so much easier on the ear & brain....

[Lokes]

Hi Vinyl Grinder, If you haven't already heard a Non oversampling DAC you might be surprised, mine is very analogue sounding uses a pair of TDA1541A dacs.
It's fed from a Clocked Pioneer transport with 3 power supplies, it has none of the typical CD sterility and harshness, and I'm able to flip flop between it and my Oracle Delphi / Rega/ Kiseki, with no obvious drop in quality.

[jimdgoulding]

To the above I would just add that the room in which a system is to be heard should be factored in when selecting speakers. I know that one's room is subject to change but there is a principle that won't fail you. Speakers need to be at one end of an equilateral or equidistant triangle with your listening position at the triangle's apex on the other end. Now comes the hard part, well away from your room boundaries. And if your listening in the near field as I think you might be if you follow the above, I think it's important that you audition speakers with their drivers tightly grouped. I have a preference for two ways for coherence and imaging free of their enclosures. That ain't all. If possible, take anything massive or bulky out of the room and cover the floor. The side walls should mirror each other if at all possible. Open legged tables. And no queen anne or high back chairs unless you are seated against the back wall, preferably not, in which case there may be a theoretical advantage. All the best.

[johnrtd]

On the subject of amps, has anyone noticed how a really good preamp will usually make a system sound more involving, dynamic and generally enjoyable than a system with volume control from, say a CD player, directly into a power amp? Theory says this should not be so, especially if you believe in maintaining the purety and directness of the signal path, but practise says different.

Here we have an example of technology applied the wrong way.
Volume controls on CD-players often act the "digital way", meaning that bits are thrown away resulting in worse sound quality.
Using a "passive preamp", mostly a potentiometer of some kind, also may have a negative influence on sound quality. The reason there is that most power amps are designed to be connected to a low impedance at the input. So noise and distortion will rise doing it this way.
Most power amps sport a rather low input impedance, be it 10 kOhm or lower. Most CD-players cannot cope with that impedance. The op amps at the output have to deliver "current" when designed to deliver voltage. The higher the input impedance the better the sound. In my experience a minimum impedance, as "seen" by the CD-player, is 100 kOhm. Probably this is the reason why a lot of tubed preamps will present a more "musical" way handling CD-sound.

John

[Filterlab]

...In my experience a minimum impedance, as "seen" by the CD-player, is 100 kOhm. Probably this is the reason why a lot of tubed preamps will present a more "musical" way handling CD-sound.

John

On my set up the output from the DAC is 50 Ohms and the amp's input is 50 KOhms, at 1000-1 everything seems to behave itself very well, no unusual artifacts and no high frequency roll off.

Of course, this could all be to do with component synergy.

[johnrtd]

It's NOT the HF-roll-off you'll hear but just some distortion and agressiveness. The problem is that most op amps "hate" delivering current. Some manufacturers recognized this problem and added a discrete kind of small power amp in their CD-players.
D/A-converters hardly show this problem.

John