Advice For One New to Hi Fi

[CarmeloS]

When buying used gear, how does one know if it will be compatible together, and even at that sound good together? especially online

 

[paradiziac]

I would recommend good high quality neutral source and amps (as most should be) and choose speakers to your taste. As long as the amp has enough power for the speakers you'll be fine.

The main potential problem is if you go for a valve amp, you need valve-friendly speakers with high sensitivity.

If you do get something you don't like/doesn't match, the beauty of used gear bought at a good price means that you can just move it on without much (if any) loss.

 

[richardw42]

When buying used gear, how does one know if it will be compatible together, and even at that sound good together? especially online

You can buy what's arguably great components. But that doesn't mean that they can or will work together. The AVIs I recommended earlier have DAC, AMP & speakers in one unit all designed to work together without the hit & miss nature of matching components.

 

[paradiziac]

One way to guarantee a bad match is to just buy a bunch of 5 star rated components...

Usually budget gear that sounds "impressive" will excel in particular areas and be flawed in others, and thus arises the problem of "matching" where folks attempt to balance out the compromises made by each piece of equipment.

Not really sure what to suggest, probably a TT like the Rega RP3, the RP1 I don't think will give you what you're after. You can also get good Chinese valve amps from the likes of Ming Da or Eastern Electric for not a crazy amount of money.

The solid state amp recommended by Matthewpiano is what I have, highly recommended if you can get one within your budget and it has a decent phono stage built-in as well. For a lower budget, think big old Japanese amps as suggested.

Then hunt around for bargain second hand speakers locally, if you have the source/amp people will be able to advise on the match, or just try a couple.

 

[the record spot]

Digital music generally sounds terrible unless you take care. But with a good DAC, even Spotify can sound pretty stunning.

It does? Are you sure about that? Really sure? I mean, like the same kind of sure you had with how-bad-the-iPod-sounded sure?

See I've listened to music for decades and for most of that time, it was without a non-digital source. So I thought I knew how good music sounded. What did I know. My LPs are but gone barring a few to go on Ebay. My turntable will be going on Gumtree soon. This leaves me with digital.

Your digital content these days is excellent. Whether or not an album's recorded badly is another matter and somebody else's "fumbled the ball". Digital content, well recorded and well mastered, is excellent and all o fmy favourite classic recordings are to be found on CD.

I use Spotify Premium too and it's excellent too. So, I would take these opinions with a pinch of salt (not just Kevin's above, but many like it "out there").

 

[AlmaataKZ]

As you are a musician I am sure you will be able to appreciate (and therefore demand in hifi performance) realsitic music reproduction capability.

With today's level of gear the differences in sound between playback devices are miniscule and not worth worrying about so choose these on functionality, convenience of interface/control and styling to your taste and try to avoid unnecessary clutter of boxes. For sound quality, concentrate on speakers, chose carefully and spend more here.

For speakers, strongly consider active desings (as these are, other things being equal, have advantages by desing and can save on box count). The already suggested AVI ADM9 are excellent and have additional benefit of incorporating a DAC, remote preamp and multiple inputs - an ideal candidate for your requirement and buget, actually. Alternatively, consider Adam Audio Artist 3, Artis 5 or Artist 6.

For sources, consider Squeezebox Touch, Sonos or other compact and functional streamers.

Enjoy!

 

[shooter]

How much would you have to pay in shipping, taxes, vat and anything else that applies to sending audio into the states?

 

[CarmeloS]

I'm not really sure how much it would cost to send, but I found a semi-local store here I'm going to check out. With all the advice I got, I think it would be better to just go buy the Rega rp1, brio-r, and tower speakers. I'll find something in store. I will probably spend an obsene amount of time online or looking for used gear from the sound of it. With so many subjective opinions and not much fact or comparisons I think I would like to play it safe and go with my gut.