Audiophile Alert - Page 3

Thoughts on budget

So you’ve decided on the amount you want to spend, and have started looking around online. From my experience, and to a much higher degree than other electronics – Hi-Fi equipment prices online in no way resemble the price you’ll actually pay for that equipment. So, don’t let anyone tell you your budget is too low, if anything, suggest your budget is $500 less than your actual budget, so you can help them during their struggle to find you things within your budget “Oh, I’ve heard of that brand (lie), yes, I’d be prepared to spend a bit more on those”. Alternately, play it the other way and give no indication of your budget, just what speakers you think you’re interested in, and work backwards from there. “Is that the best you can do” is an expression which typically elicits price savings.

What you need

I’ve done several breakdowns, based on the decision to buy all parts at once, or piecemeal. From discussions with several people (including sound engineers, forums, and in-store staff), the recommended order of purchasing components, along with a brief explanation of the component is as follows:

Cables – Speakers do not come with cables, fun right? Speaker wire varies insanely in price, for entry-level, expect to pay $10 - $30 a metre… Don’t go buying this from Jaycar, or re-using some old wire you found in the shed. Subwoofers connected in LFE mode require 1 Coaxial Cable. If your receiver is going to sit in a cabinet or is otherwise difficult to access the rear cabling, add a metre per cable you need. Another thing to keep in mind is being able to easily differentiate the positive and negative segments of wire is useful, so you don’t accidentally plug a positive end into a negative port and vice versa. I mention this, because mixing it up will cause negative effects, in some circumstances, mostly bass-related (but also peace of mind, if you’re OCD about such things).

Receiver – Below $3,000, receivers do not have an audible impact on the sound of the music, so your primary consideration needs to be 5.1 / 7.1, 3D Support, 4K Support, ARC Support , RMS Watts per channel, Amperage. If you are looking to spend more than $3,000 on this item, ensure the speakers you listen to are either the ones you plan to use with the receiver, as receivers do ‘interact’ with speakers in different ways, which is to say certain pairings of brands work better.

No. of HDMI inputs – do you have a modern gaming console? Media Centre? Etc.

No. of Analogue inputs – do you have a VCR? Old-Style camcorder? Retro gaming console?

Lastly, consider physical dimensions and heat dissipation; will it fit on your shelf? Will there be enough ‘airspace’ for heat to escape? The last thing you want is the overheat trip sensor to flick, just as you hit as your song crescendos.

Stereo Speakers – Whether you’re primary goal is music or movies, the front left and right speaker represent the majority of the sound you’ll be hearing. Consider Total Harmonic Distortion values <0.1 or <0.07 (lower is better – a more accurate reproduction). Also consider physical dimensions, as speaker placement is critical (5.1, 7.1 and 9.1, according to Dolby). I wouldn’t suggest getting ‘Bookshelf’ size speakers as front speakers, due to the ‘limited’ sound they’re capable of producing.

Subwoofer – This first, instead of rear speakers, as it creates impact, for those who have experienced 5.1 before, perhaps rear speakers create more impact, this could depend on whether the setup is for music or movies. Consider RMS Watts. Also consider physical dimensions, as subwoofer placement is critical (not to mention, subwoofers can be / are quite large).

Rear speakers – These create surround, they don’t need to be anywhere near as powerful / large as the front speakers, as they operate at a much lower volume (since they are typically closer to you, and rarely get your attention for longer than the duration of a helicopter fly-by). Also, they don’t ‘replicate’ the sound from the front speakers, the receiver analyses the content to determine what works best to send to the rear speakers (assuming upscaling), otherwise, the 5.1 dictates what sounds are sent. Further, the speakers themselves are not the only cost; you’ll want to mount them at couch level ear-height (as per the Dolby guide for best effect). Lastly, if your goal is solely music, consider most music doesn’t get released with a ‘rear’ track, having the receiver ‘upscale’ to this is not what the artist intended, and, in my opinion, doesn’t sound good at all.

Centre speaker – Last, since, if you've invested in quality stereo speakers, vocal clarity during ‘busy’ movie scenes is no issue.