Matt's turntable, amp, and speakers.
(Credit: Matt Calderone)What's the definition of a great hi-fi? It's the one you're listening to. Not just for background "listening," but actual, focused listening.
Investing a lot of money on a hi-fi isn't the only way to get there. In fact, spending as little as possible on decent gear is the best way to get acquainted with good sound. Who knows, you might become an audiophile.
My friend Matt Calderone might be on his way. He was given a used Denon DP-7F turntable, and recently bought a Kenwood KA-701 integrated stereo amplifier on eBay and a pair of Klipsch speakers through Craigslist. All told, he spent less than $200.
Calderone is 26 years old so I was curious about how and why he wound up with a hi-fi. He says he's always been interested in LPs, and he likes listening to them over a decent stereo, not computer speakers. Calderone thinks good speakers make a big difference.
It's not just that the sound is better, music engages on a different level when heard over a hi-fi. Calderone frequently winds up just sitting on the couch and get this, he listens to entire records! The music is the main focus; vinyl has that effect on some people. Calderone is going to add a CD player soon, but for now his system is analog only.
The hardest part of buying a used hi-fi is picking the right gear. If you're new to hi-fi ask an older relative who knows audio about which brands are worthy, but for starters I'd recommend steering clear of Sony and Bose products. I like Creek, Denon, NAD, Onkyo, Pioneer, and Yamaha amplifiers and receivers; look for used Advent, AR, Boston Acoustics, DCM, Epos, Infinity, Klipsch, Magnepan, Mirage, Monitor Audio, NHT, Polk, Snell, or Vandersteen speakers. For a few hundred bucks you can put together a very listenable used system.
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The Audiophiliac poses with a mint condition '55 Chevy.
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)If you're into cars you've probably have read a million stories about guys who invest tons of money and time restoring cars. You know the type, a baby boomer in Texas buys a '65 Mustang for $3K, and then over the next five years drops $30K to make it look brand new. But it's still a 42 year old car and no matter how pretty it looks, it can't compare, performance-wise, to any decent modern car, or for that matter, a brand new Mustang. The new one could blow the doors off the original, but it doesn't have the magic of the '60s models.
Point is, our passions are our passions, so whether we're into collecting cars, baseball cards, wine, watches, or duck decoys, rationality goes out the window. We're each free to blow huge amounts of cash on our passions and for me high-end audio is my drug of choice. If a new or old amplifier gets me a tiny bit closer to the sound of Jimmy Page's guitar in its full glory on "Dazed and Confused," it's worth it. The best stuff's sound somehow means more, so much so, it's hard to stop listening. That's what great audio gear brings to the party.
This Conrad-Johnson Premier Eight power amp is a beauty.
(Credit: Conrad-Johnson)Some audiophiles buy their fantasy machines and restore them. True, I doubt too many of us are tracking down our long lost Kenwood or Pioneer stereo receivers, but ten, twenty, and even thirty year old McIntosh, Marantz, Audio Research, Conrad-Johnson preamplifiers and power amplifiers are still sought after. These high-end designs they were built to last and for the most part can be used forever. Their beautifully machined, all-metal construction is devoid of flash or glitz, but the feel of the controls and switches, after a bit of restoration, imparts a sense of integrity no iPod will ever match.
Sonically the golden oldies tend to be a little soft around the edges, with mushy bass, and the treble detail may be a fading, but their soulful sound brings out the romance in music--it just seems to tug at your heartstrings more than today's mass market components. High-end audio of the '70s and '80s was dominated by American companies, most of which are still around, and still provide service for their products. McIntosh makes every effort to repair out of warranty products dating back a half century in its Binghamton, NY factory! A lot of the best Mac stuff still goes for big bucks, but Dynaco's ST70 was a classic 35 watt per channel stereo tube amp from the 1960s, and is still in the affordable range. It sold in huge numbers and is highly regarded as an entry level design. I found this one on Audiogon selling for $400 and it looks pretty sweet.
This classic could light up your life.
(Credit: Audiogon)
I met Richard D at the Home Entertainment Show in NYC in May and we immediately connected. The guy's a really intense audiophile, equally passionate about sound and music. He's a Final Cut video editor and producer by trade, so sure, he's a total tech geek. Just like me.
Richard cues up a record
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)Last week I dropped by his Manhattan apartment to check out his hi-fi, and I have to say, it's pretty unusual. I didn't recognize any of his components, except the Atma-Sphere vacuum tube power amplifiers. The tubes illuminated the room with a lovely warm orange glow, so I felt right at home.
The monitor speakers' sides are covered with an exotic knitted weave, and Richard explained his speaker cabinets are made out of the sort of "ballistic ceramic" material used to make body armor. His speakers are, in fact, two-of-a-kind prototypes that were never put into production, probably because they would have been too expensive to manufacture in significant numbers. Oh, and there was a cool looking Raven turntable on a shelf under the amplifiers.
Richard has around 4,000 LPs, and when he played a Louis Armstrong recording from the '50s or '60s the system sounded amazingly good. Pops' vocal and trumpet were three dimensionally present and the sound was extremely precise. I loved the way the speakers communicated Armstrong's energy and rhythm--he sounded absolutely "live." And the band's acoustic stand up bass' percussive pluck and "woody" resonance were exceptionally realistic. The sound was oh-so high-fidelity, it was truly great.
Aah, the golden glow of tubes!
(Credit: Richard D)Richard's drawn to gear that pushes the technology envelope, like his Liquid Ceramic Composite Conductor Audio Cables that are as thick as garden hoses. This level of exotica is really expensive, so Richard buys most of his gear second hand from Audiogon, a great source for used audio. Even so the system is worth about as much as "a nice car." He also prefers to buy from folks who allow him to try the gear at home, so he knows if he's really going to like it.
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