Re: Stereo equipment poll


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Posted by Brian Frederiksen on April 13, 2001 at 10:14:31:

In Reply to: Stereo equipment poll posted by David M. on April 13, 2001 at 02:04:01:

I worked my way through grad school working in a stereo shop. Later I got into wiring big-buck houses in never-never land. Been doing this for 25 years. As far as my own house, there are four interconnected systems:

1) Pair of Monitor Audio speakers with and ADS sub with an ARC Class A amp with Adcom pre. The amp is really where the sound comes from. I have heard great speakers with crap amplifiers and it sounds like crap. Luckily, I didn't pay 3g's for the amp.

2) Surround Sound with Mission fronts and center, JBL powered sub and some ceiling rears. I have connected hundreds of surrounds and was impressed with only 5 of them - all had great subwoofers. Get a big one! Also, run to the store for a DVD. Now if they would come out with affordable HDTV, I could get rid of a 27" TV!

3) Ceiling speakers throughout the house - kitchen, dining, bedrooms and of course the bathroom! The installation is not for the inexperienced (that's one of the things I do in never-never land) but having sound everywhere is great. Back to the amp, I have a Quad class A amp on these speeks - crazy but it makes ordinary speeks sound like a million. Great place for a 100 stacker CD changer doing shuffle play!

4) The studio - a pair of Boston Acoustics speeks bolted on the wall with a Yamaha amp. Here's all the recorders, 1/4 and 1/2 track reels, cassette decks, CD burners mixer, patch bay and a connection to the computer network (another story).

Sound nuts? Doesn't everyone have a system like this? Remember, I have been in the stereo biz for 25 years and have done a lot of horse trading. There are stories about how most of this was picked up.

Unfortunately, a lot of stereo equipment today has a big emphasis on the high end with a real tinny sound. Just putting a sub woofer on doesn't really solve that. The key is the signal sent to the speeks, the amplifier. Not to say everyone needs a class A amp (unless there is a deal) but a good signal must be sent to the speeks.

Finally, never judge a speaker by "how many watts be they." Power does not blow out a speaker, distortion does, maily clipping. I got out of retail because too many morons would judge a speaker by fake power ratings. There are more important things especially the way they sound. That's another subject because everyone hears differently. I once had a customer buy a system that gave me a headache because the tinny high end. Turns out he was an ear doctor and told me he tested his hearing and he had limited mid to upper frequency hearing. These were the only speakers he could hear some high end. After he bought them, he told me to take 2 asprin!



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