maxg Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Here's the thing. I have become a total believer in synergy when it comes to getting the most out of audio. That synery is not only in terms of individual items of equipment working together, with their incumbant cabling requirements but also in terms of synergy with the room, the listeners ears, the music chosen, the preferred volume levels, listening habits and so on and so forth. The problem is this makes recommending individual components to people so difficult as to be almost impossible. Even recommending a system is out if you dont know their environments and preferences. The converse is also true. I can read a glowing report on any given item and immediately wonder - how will that integrate into my system? Answer - no idea unless I get my hands on something to try it. Once tried things often get more complicated. Oh yes - such and such an item is better than what went before - but I am not really getting the benefit as I now need to upgrade my amp or pre-amp or phono stage, arm, speaker cables, interconnects, room acoustics you name it. The bottom line on all this is that I am becoming more and more loathed to make any recommendation to anyone on things audio. This coincides with the point at which I have both more knowledge than I ever did and get asked more often. Its a bugger really. Makes reading reviews of products nothing more than an academic exercise and requires some fancy verbal footwork when confronted with friends asking questions. On Saturday we were at a dinner party at a friends house (his birthday). During the conversation I was asked what said friend should buy to replace his now defunct CD player: I started confidently enough - having an idea of what I thought he wanted... "Well these days DVD players are so good you might as well get one of those and have the best of both worlds. Actually CD players have come a long way since you got yours - a better CD player would certainly bring out the music better. Come to think of it you may as well get an SACD player as they play CD's as well and you get the option of better quality on SACD disks. Er. no I havent tried DVDa - that may be your best bet. Alternatively why not get an all in one player - although these are not supposed to be good in all areas unless you spend big bucks. Oh, you like the idea of having lots of music available to avoid having to change disks - yes changers are an option but you might want to look at MP3 functionality if you can live with the reduced quality - er, yes - MP3 quality does vary with bitrates - about 7 hours on a single disk at that rate - hard disks? Yes they can hold weeks of music - sorry I havent tried DVD recorders as a source - with or without hard disks.... Oh you have an old vinyl collection you havent played in years...er...could I have another glass of wine.... Conversation reached its nadir when he started on about changing the speakers and what watts really mean, why more doesnt necessarily mean louder with different speaker sensitivities and so on and so forth till he finally decided to forget the whole thing. Oh yes - in the middle of all that the Bose thing came up too. I was exhausted by the end of it and I have a feeling no-one was any the wiser at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Good post Max. Oh so true so true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 I'd recommend the Reference Series over Synergies myself...... Oh! that's not what you are talking about? Nevermind! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Seriously Max, People ask for your advice based on your relative experience with things audio. When they ask you need not have any qualms about recommending what YOU feel would be suited for the situation and what YOU feel should be avoided. They are asking afterall for your OPINION not some mambly-pambly wishy-washy audio magazine type recommendation. You would have been well served to blurt out Sony 777ES is what I recommend for you because it meets all of your needs percieved by ME. You are'nt trying to sell anything and get no finders fee so be free with your opinions. I am sure that your friends value them and your friendship. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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