How much would you pay to bring music to life?

[L00k_C]

This was a heading of an article that I saw yesterday and would like to expand in this forum!!

I believe it would be interesting to see the outcome.... :shifty:

Due to shortage of experience from me , I am quoting 'again' a 1994 CLASS A setup to start with:

1994 Class A System Cost

Cartridge: Symphonic Line RG-8 Gold $5000

Tonearm: SME V $2550

Turntable:Basis Debut Gold Standardhttp://www.stereophile.com/turntables/100basis/index.html (w/vacuum hold-down) $8900

CD Transport: Proceed CD Libraryhttp://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/849/index.html $13,000

Digital Cable: TARA Labs Digital Master $59

5 DAC: Mark Levinson No.30 $14,950http://www.stereophile.com/digitalp...n_no30_reference_digital_processor/index.html

Interconnects: MIT MI-330 CVT Terminator (3x1m) $5400

Preamplifier: Rowland Consummatehttp://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/948/index.html $8750

Power Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No 20.6http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/606/index.html $15,950

Loudspeakers: Wilson WATT3/Puppy2/WHOW $26,620

Speaker Cables: MIT MH-750 CVT Shotgun Terminator $4500

Total Retail Price: $106,215

 

[DocG]

Not sure I understand the question. Do you try to build the most expensive set possible? Or is there a special synergy between these components? Did you hear this combination yourself? Could you expand a little on your question? :type:

 

[atticus]

I paid £3000. The speakers were delivered and set up for me. The company co-owner has become a friend. Customer service is out of this world.

AVi ADM40's.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

iPod, iPad or iPhone plus headphones. You don't need anything complex.

 

[lindsayt]

I'd pay £6500 plus software costs.

 

[L00k_C]

Not sure I understand the question. Do you try to build the most expensive set possible? Or is there a special synergy between these components? Did you hear this combination yourself? Could you expand a little on your question? :type:

The thread here is what setup(combination, correlation, synergy) in your experience can 'bring to life' music... and not just plugin an amp, a set of speakers.... cost has no direct correlation to the answer although, the expencier they are the better sound/music production they have..... P.s.: No I have not heard the above combination. I coppied from somewhere just to start the thread....

 

[DocG]

A system that always stuck with me since I heard it (some 4 years ago), is an LFD 0 MkIII integrated amplifier feeding a pair of Harbeth P3ESRs. Source was a Sony CDP (don't know the type nor the price of this CDP). But the LFD - Harbeth combo sounded brilliant, at some €4000 for the package.

 

[Sospri]

I paid £3000. The speakers were delivered and set up for me. The company co-owner has become a friend. Customer service is out of this world.

AVi ADM40's.

I'll be your freind for a lot less than £3000, mind you I'm shallow and cheap..................

 

[Electro]

I guess everyone's idea of bringing music to life and the cost of doing that is different but think I have done it with my system although I am sure some people would disagree as it is just purely my personal opinion .

It is hard to put an exact figure on what it has cost me because I have bought some parts of my system second hand such as the racks and all the cables .

I am ignoring the vinyl replay and associated bits in the cost because even though they sound very good they don't reproduce music in a lifelike manner , so the figure is just for the Cd player , amps and speakers including all cables, racks, mains conditioners and room treatment etc that are the part of my system that brings music to life .

£18,000

My Cd player is 10 years old and the amps 12 years, the rest is newer so the approximate figure is based on what I paid for them at that time not the new price now .

My system does not just play music in my room it attaches the performance to the side of my house so the musicians are playing on a stage somewhere in the garden or at least that is what it sounds like .

I know some people don't like this sort of presentation but to me it is like sitting 5 rows back at a live performance which is where I prefer to be .

I go to a lot of small live performances and my system manages to reproduce the essence and the life in music that I enjoy so much and IMO does a pretty good impression of the real thing,,( to my ears anyway . )

 

[Anonymous]

It cost £1600 to bring my music to life. I was willing to spend much more but after listening to lots of different hifi systems and speakers I found that £1600 was all that I needed.

 

[lindsayt]

I've got the same tt, arm, phono amp as Electro. It's my 3rd favourite vinyl source in my house. I have a few albums on vinyl and CD. So far every album sounds better on vinyl than CD. Better as in more detailed. As if someone's scrubbed all the low level detail off the vinyl versions when converting them to CD.

For a system that gets closest to bringing music to life I wouldn't use a turntable and I certainly wouldn't use a CD player.

 

[Electro]

I've got the same tt, arm, phono amp as Electro. It's my 3rd favourite vinyl source in my house. I have a few albums on vinyl and CD. So far every album sounds better on vinyl than CD. Better as in more detailed. As if someone's scrubbed all the low level detail off the vinyl versions when converting them to CD.

For a system that gets closest to bringing music to life I wouldn't use a turntable and I certainly wouldn't use a CD player.

Yes I know my old fruitbox is not as good as many other turntables but my EMC1 UP destroys it most of the time unless the Cd version of the recording is particularly bad .

My Emc1UP Cd player seems to find so much extra detail in the music on Cd's compared to all other digital sources that I have heard , it is quite special IMO .

If you are in the Essex area not far from the Dartford tunnel and have some time to kill you can listen for yourself .

I just opened an imageshack account so I have posted some pictures, they are from my iphone so not the best quality and it is the first time I have done it so I hope it works ray:

 

[BigColz]

I've got the same tt, arm, phono amp as Electro. It's my 3rd favourite vinyl source in my house. I have a few albums on vinyl and CD. So far every album sounds better on vinyl than CD. Better as in more detailed. As if someone's scrubbed all the low level detail off the vinyl versions when converting them to CD.

For a system that gets closest to bringing music to life I wouldn't use a turntable and I certainly wouldn't use a CD player.

Yes I know my old fruitbox is not as good as many other turntables but my EMC1 UP destroys it most of the time unless the Cd version of the recording is particularly bad .

My Emc1UP Cd player seems to find so much extra detail in the music on Cd's compared to all other digital sources that I have heard , it is quite special IMO .

If you are in the Essex area not far from the Dartford tunnel and have some time to kill you can listen for yourself .

I just opened an imageshack account so I have posted some pictures, they are from my iphone so not the best quality and it is the first time I have done it so I hope it works ray:

I'd love to hear this.. This is around what I'd consider around as good as you'd need and what I'd eventually build upto..

Should have spent some on a new carpet

 

[CnoEvil]

Yes I know my old fruitbox is not as good as many other turntables but my EMC1 UP destroys it most of the time unless the Cd version of the recording is particularly bad .

My Emc1UP Cd player seems to find so much extra detail in the music on Cd's compared to all other digital sources that I have heard , it is quite special IMO .

If you are in the Essex area not far from the Dartford tunnel and have some time to kill you can listen for yourself .

I just opened an imageshack account so I have posted some pictures, they are from my iphone so not the best quality and it is the first time I have done it so I hope it works ray:

It's lovely to see the system I've heard so much about.....and I loved my Linn / Epos / Asak

Ps. That carpet looks late 80s...nothing wrong with that btw

 

[Electro]

Yes I know my old fruitbox is not as good as many other turntables but my EMC1 UP destroys it most of the time unless the Cd version of the recording is particularly bad .

My Emc1UP Cd player seems to find so much extra detail in the music on Cd's compared to all other digital sources that I have heard , it is quite special IMO .

If you are in the Essex area not far from the Dartford tunnel and have some time to kill you can listen for yourself .

I just opened an imageshack account so I have posted some pictures, they are from my iphone so not the best quality and it is the first time I have done it so I hope it works ray:

It's lovely to see the system I've heard so much about.....and I loved my Linn / Epos / Asak

Ps. That carpet looks late 80s...nothing wrong with that btw

Yes it probably is the décor has remained unchanged since we moved in about four years ago , we plan to completely re-furb the whole house eventually but due to the collapse of the housing market our previous property has been rented out rather than sold so the necessary funds have not been released to continue the work . We will probably wait a couple of years then put the old house back on the market then we can finish the work on this place .

 

[Electro]

I'd love to hear this.. This is around what I'd consider around as good as you'd need and what I'd eventually build upto..

Should have spent some on a new carpet

I often think to myself when listening that it I can't even imagine better, the sound is truly amazing and does more than I could have ever dreamed of when I first started out on the HiFi journey .

They don't make carpets like this any more :shifty:

 

[Helmut80]

Those PB1is look gorgeous Electro!

can I see a picture with the grills off?

 

[lindsayt]

Electro, I'd love to hear your Electrocompaniet stuff. There's a high chance your CD player is better than mine.

 

[Macspur]

Electro, I'd love to hear your Electrocompaniet stuff. There's a high chance your CD player is better than mine.

Believe me, the EMC1UP is up there with the best and I tried the likes of Wadia, Krell, Sugden, Naim and Audio Research before settling on it.

Mac

 

[Singslinger]

Very nice setup you have there Electro. :clap: :dance:

 

[matthewpiano]

Great set-up Electro!

My budget is relatively limited and, within the realms of affordable gear, I think I've done a pretty good job of assembling a system that brings music to life, although it has been a very long and convoluted process to say the least. One thing is for sure, I've tried many CD players, including the Roksan K2 which I still have, and the CD63SE just can't be beaten for sheer involvement (well, apart from one other CD player I've had but that was the KI-Signature version of the same player).

Ultimately, I'd love to be able to really indulge and, hopefully, one day I will be able to have something akin to the Unison/Opera set-up I heard 2 or 3 years ago. That was something else and really brought the music into the room. I think any future moves for me are going to have to take me out of the mainstream and into some of the smaller European makers.

If I had big money I'm afraid the piano would come before the hi-fi. Once I'd got my dream Schimmel K213T grand piano (£40k), then I'd start to look at the hi-fi.

 

[Electro]

Those PB1is look gorgeous Electro!

can I see a picture with the grills off?

I will do my best

 

[Helmut80]

Thanks a lot man, really appreciate it!

 

[Helmut80]

Back to the question the thread has raised...

I am really not sure it is all that money dependent, as much as I hate to bring up the 's' word. I've heard some systems for less than 5k (used) that I've rarely seen bettered up to 20k. (Oh no not another hifi cliche! A real giant killer). Having said that, my recent experience has taught me that the bar can steadily be raised, much higher than I previously had known

while differences in individual component are much much smaller when you go that high up the chain, when you manage to create a system where every component works beautifully together with the rest, the outcome can be, well, audio nirvana. :dance:

 

[steve_1979]

I've spent just £1000 on my speakers, stands and cables which brings the music to life very well. :dance:

The three way Genelec 8260A is the best system that I've ever heard at any price so even if I won the lottery I still wouldn't spend more than £6300 plus another £1000 for the Genelec microphone, DSP software and the matching Genelec hifi stands (not the ugly studio stands).