The Ultimate Guide to High End Entertainment needs you!

[John_S]

We need your help!
We’re putting the finishing touches to The Ultimate Guide to High End Entertainment - and it’s time for you, the readers, to have your say for the Why Buy? section.
So, here’s our question: what does high-end kit mean to you? If you had ten grand to blow, would you spend it on a high-def projector instead of a luxury family holiday or a car? What is it about the heady heights of the gear stratosphere that’s so enticing? The sound? The look? Or are you looking for top-notch circuitry and components?
Tell us your thoughts and you might get into print. How exciting! EDIT: OK, ten-grand is pocket change. Let's say £50k; that's a much more robust sum!

 

[Gusboll]

Pleasure is all about the senses and hearing is the mainstay of my pleasure. If I had ten grand to blow, I would take my Mrs out to the fanciest reastaurant in the world and spend the change on an amp and speakers.

Snow Patrol - Eyes Open

 

[pwiles1968]

For me the sound definitely, If I just had a spare 10k I would more than likely spend it on Hi-Fi rather than a Holiday.I would need more than 10k to build a dedicated room so would need an AV amp, 10k would get me a lovely musical Processor Power AV combo CD upgrade or a high end universal disc spinner possibly some mains conditioning. May even have change for a starter Turntable and a bit of Vinyl.

 

[Gusboll]

John_S:

EDIT: OK, ten-grand is pocket change. Let's say £50k; that's a much more robust sum!

With 50K I'd take my Mrs to the fanciest restaurant in the world, order a few bottles of Chƒteau P‚trus then while she was drunk, get her to agree to spending the rest on an Amp and Speakers.

Gomez - Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline

 

[John_S]

Gusboll:John_S: EDIT: OK, ten-grand is pocket change. Let's say £50k; that's a much more robust sum!

With 50K I'd take my Mrs to the fanciest restaurant in the world, order a few bottles of Chƒteau P‚trus then while she was drunk, get her to agree to spending the rest on an Amp and Speakers.

Gomez - Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline

Ha!

 

[gbhsi1]

I would build a room on its own, fit it with soundproofing and all the acoustic niceties. Buy Focal Grande Utopia speakers, Copland amp, clearaudio master reference turntable & Theta CDP! that's it! hi-fi heaven!!

 

[jaxwired]

I'd spend the first 40 grand on woman and booze. The rest I'd probably just waste...

 

[chebby]

£50k ?

I could not live with myself if I spent that on a system unless I was rich enough to be easily able to afford it.

Actually no. Not even then. Would rather spend £50k on something we could all enjoy/remember for the rest of our lives or provide house/mortgage deposits for both of our children or pay off all their students loans etc.

If absolutely forced to 'waste' it, then a luxury trip on the Queen Mary II to New York and back for the family and a few days recovering at Gidleigh Park afterwards would be better

 

[Andrew Everard]

Hey, come on guys, let's not have all this 'if I become Miss World I will work to help children and the poor and end world hunger' stuff: lighten up a bit and tell us about dream systems.

 

[JoelSim]

I'd buy a DACMagic and 2 years' subscription to Spotify.

No, not really.

I would go to the hi-end shop and listen. And listen some more. ÿ

 

[Ajani]

Andrew Everard:Hey, come on guys, let's not have all this 'if I become Miss World I will work to help children and the poor and end world hunger' stuff: lighten up a bit and tell us about dream systems.

But I want to cure aids and create world peace with the money...

OR

Build 2 dream systems: 1 based around Revel Ultima Salon 2 Speakers with Parasound Halo JC1/JC2 Amplification and a Logitech Transporter as source AND the 2nd around Monitor Audio Platinum 200 with Musical Fidelity A1008 Integrated/DAC and a Squeezebox Classic... Hmm... since I'd probably have money left, I'd also throw in a small tube/horn setup and add some Seinhieser 800s to my headphone rig...

Basically, I'd want variety... so rather than having one system that tries to do everything perfectly, I'd rather have multiple that excel on various types of music...

 

[Anonymous]

I hope this will be a future WHF competition as it's the only way I'll ever afford this little lot !

Roksan Platinum ST1308 Stereo Power Amplifier


Roksan Platinum PR15B Preamplifier

Roksan DXP SE Phono
amp

Roksan Caspian
CD Player M series -1

Roksan Xerses 20 plus turntable with Artemiz arm and Shiraz cartridge

Kimber Select KS-1036 interconnects and Monocle-XL Speaker Cable

Spendor ST's

as you can tell I like Roksan but I reckon I would die a happy man having this set up but I would need to buy a new house to fit it all in !!

 

[SteveR750]

Depends...if I won £50k in my current circumstances then there is no way I'd spend it on hi fi or anything remotely gadgety. However, fast forward 5 years or had I won a chunk on the lotto the same night the that's a different proposition. I'd buy 26 guitars, so that I could play more songs in my set than JD does, clone several forum members: Clare to help me assess the sonic value of my equipment and feed me grapes, Joel and Iggley as sommeliers (hint not that you probably dont know this already but there is a reason why the naked wines intro offer is so cheap....), Chebby as the jester in the morning and philosopher in the afternoon, Andrew to do a turn around teatime to shake us all from our afternoon alcoholic fug and remind us why we got up this morning, and then why we shouldnt bother tomorrow, Tarquin to convince us not to bother with waking up tomorrow (

) There's more, but it's late and I've got to show some prospective neighbours around my turntable.....

 

[vinod_david]

If I have 10k, I will take a month off from work, get a visa to UK, book a hotel close to WHFSV tower, bring 20 of my favorite CDs, walk into WHFSV testing room day-in and day-out (if permission granted), listen to my CDs through their reference system for one whole month. I can't dream bigger than this!

 

[pwiles1968]

OK 50K on a system I would need build a room, Would Put a Cinema in with Dedicated Mains Supply some Room Treatment and black out windows or no windows at all, Decent Projector and screen, I would still have quite a bias toward music replay, guessing If I was careful with the budget I would need about half the budget on the room, so 25k would buy a nice system, Ummmm Can I make it 100k please, could spend that easily. I have had the occasional daydream about winning the lottery and building my own house, I would Organise the property around a custom built Cinema room and dedicated Hi-Fi Room, and automate the house so you can get music in every room.

 

[Anonymous]

A soundproof room would do it for me.....wouldnt have to worry about the neighbours. Home cinema....keep it....not interested, just give me the opportunity to play music when I like and as loud as I like. Freedom is king.

 

[chebby]

I think £50k should just about get me that oak panelled library/study with enough change for a naimuniti and a nice pair of Spendor bookshelf speakers.

 

[the record spot]

I suppose you're looking for a bit more than a refurbished Dansette presumably?

 

[chebby]

the record spot:I suppose you're looking for a bit more than a refurbished Dansette presumably?

Turntables should not be allowed in the study. (It is not a place to dance after all.)

But a really nice Loricraft refurbished Garrard 301 with something like a Jelco arm and Ortofon SPU cartridge in a matching oak plinth could be made an exception for a little quiet jazz.

 

[John Duncan]

Well it'll get me one of these for starters...

 

[chebby]

JohnDuncan:Well it'll get me one of these for starters...

That is a shed. Not even a good one.

This is more like it....

(Black & White infra red gardens obviously cost a little more to maintain.)

 

[idc]

I would want the best off all worlds with a ton of style and wow factor thrown it.

1- I want the perfect setting for music and so an outdoor rooms, such as the Qube. It would be full of my music books, album artcovers, concert programmes etc I have had framed and I would collect some other memorabillia. I would have a top of the range Apple laptop to surf the net.

2 - Also in the Qube would be Sooloos music server connected to the the DSP3100 speakers in the Qube and some DSP5200 speakers in the livingroom of the house. There would be a remote control setup so I can also work the Sooloos in the Qube from inside the house. Plenty of wow factor there.

3 - Finally in the Qube I would have a Benchmark DAC connected to the digital out of the Sooloos Control 10 and that would connect into a modded Musical Fidelity X-CANV8P, various other headphone amplifiers and my huge collection of headphones.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Hmmm....

I would start by making a list of 3-5 models for each device (CD, amp, speakers, sub, AV amp etc). Each model I would have to like the looks of.

I would then get in touch with a couple of dealers who sell these and get home trials of all of them.

I will then keep the ones I like the sound of most.

Separate stereo setup, probably valves, electrostats, maybe music server, and separate video.

50K probably not enough, though. ;-)

 

[sometimesuk]

£50k for the "Ultimate" system is a bit tight, why not make it £300,000.00 on equipment and a limitless budget on construction a dedicated room.

I would find myself a specialist hi-end dealer, say absolute sounds, tell them what I want sound wise, and I would just listen to just stereo systems, with CD player as main source and a DAC, to future proof the system, for future hard disk music source.

I would also install a dedicated mains spur into my chosen room.

Sound wise, I want a very clean, neutral, natural sound that is balanced. I do not want anything that sounds laid back.

System wise: Don't really mind about looks as long as the kit is reliable (pref no valves, don't want hassle or cost of changing them), industrial looking and the amplifier is a power house.

The speakers will have to be large, with 15inch bass units. I still remember my dads leaks 2075's(?) with their 15 inch bass units. I'm not talking boom, boom, boom, more like natural and effortless bass that is very easy to listen to and sounds right.

Problem is, the only speakers I know that have just large drivers are some PMC model, Wilson Audio Alexandra and Focal Grande Utopia. Apart from the PMC, they both cost more than £50k.

 

[shooter]

When i started the system building over 20 years ago i never thought i would get so engrossed in seperates. I cant tell you how much i have spent since those days because i dont know. What i can tell you is most of those days were spent going sideways electronically. What i mean is i would by a £500 amp and a few years later bye the new model or change brands and spend another £500 and never move forward. Those days were good and exiting but going into my local dealer and listening to a 40k naim set up things had to change.
Nearly 2 years has now passed since my last holiday (i've promised her this year!!) and other sacrifices but that has what its taken to move forward and get into the realms of hifi. I've spent some time at dealers listening to products of quality and theirs nothing like it.
Going from budget(i still have my rpm5 & love it) to hi end for me has beeen an amazing time. Listening to all my old lp's and cd's has never been so good. Sitting and hearing whats going on in the studio is just awesome. So for me i'd say sound quality from top-notch circuitry and components is where the money should go. I'd sacrifice looks for sound any day. To give you a 50k (not including cables & phono stage) system i'd be happy with was hard but and it came in just over, so here it is.

Chord CPM3300 £7'800

Chord Red Reference CD £13'500

Origin Live Sovereign with Conqueror Tonearm £6'500

Mijabi 47 Cartridge £3'000

Wilson Benesch Chimera £20'000

Give us an unlimited fund and i'll start with the Continuum's Caliburn at £115k!!!