I have now been in touch with the world of Hi-Fi for over 7 years. I have read up countless reviews and given a lot of thought to Hi-Fi System assembling. I have assembled my system as well. I have interacted with very experienced members in online forums. I have sensitive ears and I can pick up differences in sound.
Overall I would say that the world of High Fidelity is nice but it has its own quirks.
Let me look at both sides of the coin. This could be very useful for those getting into high quality audio.
Reproduction
------------------
Firstly, High Fidelity is faithful reproduction of recorded sound. This is good. It really feels great when we listen to a better reproduction of audio.
Now on the flip side this has become a thing in itself where there seems to be no end to how high things could go. Here & here for example is a video demonstrating why we need 1000watt high quality amplifiers. The 1000watt amps in the first video are CH Precision amps costing $65,000. These are simply out of reach of normal public. And this defeats the purpose. OK, you could buy Parasound JC1 monoblocks but they cost $9,000 and thats just the amp. So live sound is just out of reach of the public.
The only convincing live system I have heard that is also cheap costs about $9,000. Which again is out of reach of general public at least here in the East.
Quality
---------
You could buy Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks for $2,400 but you would have to take a quality hit. And anything thats MOSFET (higher quality) costs $2,500 and above starting with 160watts of power in Parasound Halo integrated amp. 160 watts is demonstrably low amount. These considerations are important as the stated goal of Hi-Fi is accurate reproduction of live recording AKA live sound.
System Matching
-----------------------
Its great when it works but if you wanna go live sound + within budget, you have few options and you might have to take a hit. Plus its a chore.
Power
--------
I do not know about the West but in India I have no idea where to procure an electric point which has amperage more than 22Amps. I mean that used to run a 5.5 ton air conditioner in my cafe. And these 1000w monoblocks state that they are aiming for 100 or so amps.
Processed Sound
---------------------
British anything sounds very processed to me as opposed to organic natural sound.
Sound Characteristics
----------------------------
Its amazing that knowledgeable people talk in terms of sound qualities. I myself have learned from them and from listening. But here again there is a huge confusion among the public as to what sound characteristics to aim for at what price level; forget about proper evaluation & demo of systems with these. I have dealt with this topic here.
Max Budget
----------------
What does ordinary public buy for speakers? They buy $50 / Rs 4,000 systems that are either 2.1 or bluetooth. What does a music lover buy? At the max, he buys a micro or mini system costing $300 / Rs 25,000. How far can you push those people? Maybe upto double their budget or $600 / Rs 50,000.
Keeping this in mind, a Hi-Fi system should cost no more than $1,200 and a live system should cost no more than $2,500 / Rs 2,00,000.
That is as far as people can be pushed. That is what makes sense.
I do not know how to configure such a system.
But you can bet I am going to try.
Overall I would say that the world of High Fidelity is nice but it has its own quirks.
Let me look at both sides of the coin. This could be very useful for those getting into high quality audio.
Reproduction
------------------
Firstly, High Fidelity is faithful reproduction of recorded sound. This is good. It really feels great when we listen to a better reproduction of audio.
Now on the flip side this has become a thing in itself where there seems to be no end to how high things could go. Here & here for example is a video demonstrating why we need 1000watt high quality amplifiers. The 1000watt amps in the first video are CH Precision amps costing $65,000. These are simply out of reach of normal public. And this defeats the purpose. OK, you could buy Parasound JC1 monoblocks but they cost $9,000 and thats just the amp. So live sound is just out of reach of the public.
The only convincing live system I have heard that is also cheap costs about $9,000. Which again is out of reach of general public at least here in the East.
Quality
---------
You could buy Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks for $2,400 but you would have to take a quality hit. And anything thats MOSFET (higher quality) costs $2,500 and above starting with 160watts of power in Parasound Halo integrated amp. 160 watts is demonstrably low amount. These considerations are important as the stated goal of Hi-Fi is accurate reproduction of live recording AKA live sound.
System Matching
-----------------------
Its great when it works but if you wanna go live sound + within budget, you have few options and you might have to take a hit. Plus its a chore.
Power
--------
I do not know about the West but in India I have no idea where to procure an electric point which has amperage more than 22Amps. I mean that used to run a 5.5 ton air conditioner in my cafe. And these 1000w monoblocks state that they are aiming for 100 or so amps.
Processed Sound
---------------------
British anything sounds very processed to me as opposed to organic natural sound.
Sound Characteristics
----------------------------
Its amazing that knowledgeable people talk in terms of sound qualities. I myself have learned from them and from listening. But here again there is a huge confusion among the public as to what sound characteristics to aim for at what price level; forget about proper evaluation & demo of systems with these. I have dealt with this topic here.
Max Budget
----------------
What does ordinary public buy for speakers? They buy $50 / Rs 4,000 systems that are either 2.1 or bluetooth. What does a music lover buy? At the max, he buys a micro or mini system costing $300 / Rs 25,000. How far can you push those people? Maybe upto double their budget or $600 / Rs 50,000.
Keeping this in mind, a Hi-Fi system should cost no more than $1,200 and a live system should cost no more than $2,500 / Rs 2,00,000.
That is as far as people can be pushed. That is what makes sense.
I do not know how to configure such a system.
But you can bet I am going to try.
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