I was thinking about how speakers and front-end components--or even cables--are so much sexier to talk about than electronics.
So when what was/is your philosophy when you assembled/are assembling your dream system?
Call me old school, but I still believe in getting the front-end right and subscribe to the philosophy of crap in, crap out. I don't care how much money you spend on room Rx, it isn't going to fix crap (but one does have to start with a reasonable, say not a square room). All the system will do is sound like crap.
Then the next choice is speakers. I want to choose something that I am going to be happy with for a long time. In my experience, speakers are often much better than we realize and are another victim of the crap in, crap out syndrome (of course, careful room placement is rule number #1). So I would spend more then on the speaker and then build the electronics around the speaker. In fact, maximizing the electronics for the speaker; it might seem crazy to run a $20K amp on a 10K speaker (or any other price range for that matter) but when you have maxxed out your investment and are ready for the next jump.
Now I will add having a good dealer makes this journey less precarious. While you may spend more money up front, a good dealer will save you money on the back end and not making bad choices! Or ill considered choices. Then again, many audiophiles don't have a nearby dealer and we have to consider their situation.
So when what was/is your philosophy when you assembled/are assembling your dream system?
Call me old school, but I still believe in getting the front-end right and subscribe to the philosophy of crap in, crap out. I don't care how much money you spend on room Rx, it isn't going to fix crap (but one does have to start with a reasonable, say not a square room). All the system will do is sound like crap.
Then the next choice is speakers. I want to choose something that I am going to be happy with for a long time. In my experience, speakers are often much better than we realize and are another victim of the crap in, crap out syndrome (of course, careful room placement is rule number #1). So I would spend more then on the speaker and then build the electronics around the speaker. In fact, maximizing the electronics for the speaker; it might seem crazy to run a $20K amp on a 10K speaker (or any other price range for that matter) but when you have maxxed out your investment and are ready for the next jump.
Now I will add having a good dealer makes this journey less precarious. While you may spend more money up front, a good dealer will save you money on the back end and not making bad choices! Or ill considered choices. Then again, many audiophiles don't have a nearby dealer and we have to consider their situation.
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