Does your music system finally sound the way you had hoped? Congratulations if the answer is yes. Now you can leave it the way it is and turn your attention elsewhere. Or maybe not. Is anything ever so good that it couldn’t be better yet? As Robert Browning famously said, a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, else what’s a Heaven for? So yes, you’re going to upgrade your system, since otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this, but in what fashion? It depends on how satisfied you are with what you hear. If you are, look in one direction, but if you’re not… Over my years at the helm of UHF, I’ve seen literally thousands of letters from audiophiles who were more or less satisfied with the sound of their systems, but who in any case wanted advice on how to improve them. Or fix them. Different problems, different solutions. The philosophy of this magazine has remained steady over the years. Whether a music system is capable of thundering bass, liquid midrange or light, sparkling highs, it must above all get the music right. The melody should be easy to follow. Rhythm should be communicative. In a good recording, harmony should give you at least a small case of goosebumps. Words should be intelligible. I need hardly add that the system should not annoy you in any way. That looks like a pretty tough list, and certainly there is no inexpensive mid-fi system in existence that can give you even half of it. However there are well-chosen entry-level systems that can give you most of it, perhaps even all of it. Such a system need not cost a fortune, perhaps $3000 or $4000, or about the price of the decor group on a mid-sized car. It can be improved, to be sure, and we’re here to help with that. But perhaps you’re not at all happy with your system, even if you’ve spent a lot more money than the strict minimum. Perhaps it puts you to sleep, or — this is a lot worse — it hurts your 82 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> State of the Art by Gerard Rejskind ears. Perhaps you can’t figure out what anyone is singing, or what instruments you’re hearing. One symptom of serious trouble: you search through your music collection, and you can’t find anything that tempts you. Oops! If you’ve already spent a lot on your system, you may go into panic mode. Perhaps a new interconnect cable is what you need. How about that power filter you’ve read about? A $600 power cord should make things better, shouldn’t it? Is it true that silver bullets can stop werewolves? Please, doctor, anything, only make it stop hurting! Those are the worst conditions for making a decision. Werewolves are found only in books and movies, and there is no silver bullet for hi-fi. However the potential for wasting money is huge, and money ill spent can make a system worse rather than better. We suggest starting with measures that are free, or at least inexpensive. Repositioning the speakers is such a measure, and you’d be surprised how much difference even a small change in placement can make. STATE OF <strong>THE</strong> ART: <strong>THE</strong> BOOK Get the 258-page book containing the State of the Art columns from the first 60 issues of UHF, with all-new introductions. See page 6. And placement is just one aspect of room acoustics, as you no doubt know. You can considerably improve your room by adding materials (Paul Bergman wrote an entire series on this topic in issues No. 77 through 85), and these are not necessarily expensive. Some affordable changes can be good enough to let you know you’re going in the right direction. That will encourage you to proceed cautiously, confident that you’re not travelling the wrong way on a oneway street. Also remember basic maintenance, such as cleaning connectors. A good dealer can be of great help. Perhaps you suspect your <strong>CD</strong> player of being at the origin on the pain in your ears. Pack it carefully, and make an appointment with the dealer to go and hear it in the showroom (don’t just drop in unannounced if you want to stay on good terms). Of course the associated equipment and the acoustics will not be the same as at home, but the session may possibly answer one key question: can this player be made to sound good? If it can, then it isn’t the leading cause of what’s bothering you. Of course, a friend who also owns a high end system can fill that role too. What’s important is not to start throwing money at a problem without knowing what the problem is. With a few exceptions, gear from competent manufacturers can be made to sound at least pretty good, which is to say reasonably revealing and not annoying. Perhaps your player or your amp was not a good choice, but that doesn’t make it the sole cause of your woes. What you need to do, with the help of your own ears, a friendly dealer, and of course UHF, is getting your existing system to sound at least reasonable. It may not be as revealing as you like, but it shouldn’t be opaque to music values, and it definitely shouldn’t be painful to listen to. At that point, you can move forward again. But if you’re hoping for a silver bullet, you will in fact be firing a lot of expensive buckshot at a target you can’t see. Fix the worst stuff first.
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