The best money I ever spent in audio is....

Keith_W said:
Probably fair that I can't compare myself to someone who does this professionally, or who has set up thousands of systems. I have "only" set up my own system and helped measure maybe a dozen others - and I am still learning. Audio is my hobby and not my profession, so I can accept that my technical proficiency does not compare to someone who does this for a living.

I am not averse to paying consultants to help me. Many years ago, I had my room professionally measured. I watched very closely what the guy was doing, and learnt a great deal - not only about my room, but how to take those measurements myself.

Since then I have done hundreds of measurements in my room, and my understanding of my system and room is definitely worth the paltry price I paid for the equipment. Like I said - $50-70 microphone, $150 sound card, and $20 in cables. This is less than what you pay for a set of cables (in my case, it is about 1/15 the price of my speaker cables!) - and the stuff you learn is more than worth it. I have now upgraded to a $900 microphone and $1500 sound card.

What you will see when you start taking these measurements will really open your eyes and train your ears. Because I have spent so much time listening to sine wave sweeps and test tones, my ears alone can tell me exactly where an anomaly is if I hear something. I don't have to say that "this sounds too bright" - I can say that "there is a peak at about 8000Hz" and then confirm it by taking a measurement. I can also tell the difference between a frequency anomaly (e.g. a peak at 8000Hz) or whether that "brightness" at 8000Hz is due to harmonic distortion from a much lower frequency by hearing alone, and then confirm it with a measurement. When I go listen to another system, my ears alone can tell you where the frequency anomalies are. It is not because I have golden ears, it is because I have done this hundreds of times and have confirmation from my microphone whether I was right or wrong.

Of course I don't compare to a professional who does this for a living. But I think I have more of an insight than the average hobbyist who doesn't check what he is hearing with measurements.

I am not suggesting that your own effort at measuring your speaker and room would be better than a professional. But I think it is important that we try. The cost of entry is very low.
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Hi Keith,

The knowledge you have learned and the time you have invested in acquiring it are commendable. I would love to acquire those skills. Congratulations!

Your point is well taken that we are better audiophiles if we acquire the testing skills you mention.

But for me, and at the risk of beating an already certifiably dead horse, this is still a part-time hobby. Sometimes I have to hit the salt mines to pay the rent! So while I already possess a microphone and software and would love to spend more time to acquire and hone the skills you mention, it's going to take me a while to do so.

My point is simply that we don't all have the time, or the inclination, or the patience, or the talent to do it ourselves, and are therefore better served by hiring a qualified third person.

We may also wish to consider that while diagnosis is a necessary skill, it is not a sufficient skill to getting to a great sounding system. There is still the skill of knowing how to fix the diagnosis. And that is a different skill level altogether.

So, in the absence of investing the time to diagnose and fix problems, or until we do so, we can advance our system performance further and faster if we avail ourselves of the services of an experienced audio professional.


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Melbguy1 said:
And as Hiro said above, you can just keep improving your room and optimize your setup to get further gains in sound.
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This very much corresponds with my own experience, having just implemented acoustic treatment in my dedicated listening room. The impact is for sure comparable to investing five figures more into electronics or LS.


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My speakers. As soon as I hooked them up, and turned them on, I said "This is better. Much better". Everything else was just laying the foundation for the speakers to perform.
 
Pound for pound, the best money I've spent was on the minidsp dirac unit. I don't think I even spent more than $500 on it and it gives me the ability to measure and correct the room speaker interaction and keep my favorite DAC, the PS audio Directstream. Just an immense improvement with the ability to tailor the preferred freq curve as well.
 
Toomey said:
Avantgarde Zero XD speakers paired with Aurender N100H.
No worries about matching cables, amps.
Very, very enjoyable.
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So glad you like them! I've sold quite a few pairs and everyone loves them. I remember when Jim Smith heard my demo pair. He said, "I wouldn't change a thing."
 
Magnepan Tympani T-1Ds. I think they were like $1500. new.

Had them biamp'd with an ARC D79B on top and a D-110B on the bass.

Lots of fun.
 
Kuoppis said:
This very much corresponds with my own experience, having just implemented acoustic treatment in my dedicated listening room. The impact is for sure comparable to investing five figures more into electronics or LS.


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Exactly! At some point you have to say your speakers are good enough, and then concentrate on optimizing your system/room. That could include amplification, grounding, improved isolation, room treatments & even subs. As a general principle, I feel like all those boxes should be ticked before adding better/more front end components. But never say never they say!
 
For me it has been the Goldmund Job INT.
Bought it earlier this year thinking of a second system.

I still shake my head in wonder at the sound.
 
Buying a jenving CAT7+ ethernet cable for my Devialet-system. Equivalent to $110 spent for a SQ improvement normally costing 20 times more...


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk
 
In terms of software: Audiophile Optimizer (in use for my dual-streamer setup), hardware: a shared first place with my DIY-kit from Siegfried Linkwitz and my Nord amplifiers.
 
For me, it's the...

Parasound Halo P5 Preamp: It has a dead silence to it that I haven't experienced before. It's dynamic, organic and extremely clean sounding. It has a wide and deep sound stage that's very convincing. Using its built-in analog crossover, it made subs that were barely good enough for movies sound great with music and movies, giving a lot more detail than ever before, and even deeper bass extension. It's built-in DAC is also amazingly good sounding, besting that of the fully upgraded Schiit Bifrost I had as well as the DAC in my Oppo BDP-105D. This preamp's performance is well beyond it's price point. It completely blows away the McIntosh C15 and Musical Fidelity A3.2 CR preamps I had.
 
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