Why seperates

Running on from "You're first ever hifi..........." just wondered why you have gone the seperates route - most people are quite happy (in their ignorance ?) with mini systems etc so why did you first get a seperates system.
Me, I was after a "hifi" and was persuaded by my then manager to listen to his - the next day I bought my Nad 9020e, some philipps cd player and Rotel speakers and have not looked back since..............

 

I have always been into consumer electronics at a very young age, I had gone through many crappy mini systems. I just randomly happended to pass a Richer Sounds store and saw how cheap some of their stuff was. I bought some Ariston kit and was amazed how good it sounded and it all went from there.

For me seperates are about sound quality and flexibility. Everything in my room is attached to my pre amp.

I could never go back.

 

Simply superior sound quality. Although there is a trend towards products like the Linn Classic and that sounds mighty fine IMO.

 

there does seem to be scope for better SoundQuality/£ in having separate boxes do different/separate things. How to determine which should be separate is the trick.

The following five stages can be combined in various ways:

1. transport/pick-up [mechanical]
2. dac [electrical/conversion]
3. pre-amp (volume control and multi-source handler) [switches]
4. poweramp [electrical grunt]
5. speakers [mechanical]

All functions/stages could be in a single ghetto blaster but unless unwanted side-effects can be kept from interferring the result aint what it could be.

We have examples here of active speakers, integrated amplifiers and integrated CD players.

CDP + poweramp + speakers

is achieved by having a vol control in the CDP (either by including an analogue attentutor as a form of pre-amp, or by conttrolling volume in the digital domain and doing without a pre-amp).

It would be nice to have fewer boxes, if only to save on interconnects, but I suspect that I'd have to pay a lot to get the same effect.

 

It looks more impressive when my mates come round

 

but doesn't always impress the other lot!

... but if music be the food of love ....

then its the sounds not the boxes that matter

 

I stumbled across seperates cos when I went to college I didn't want to risk my then spanking new Sony midi system in the madness of the halls, so just took the CD player and bought an old Yamaha amp and got given an old pair of B&O speakers......and it was better than the Sony setup by a fair bit, and cost me almost nowt. Still, it's cost me a little more since then, although thanks to perpetual bargain hunting, not too much more....all things considered....

 

No its entirely the boxes. The more of them the better. The fact they play music is entirely academic.

 

Who cares about that? Music's my wife and life anyway, so if they can't deal with it, I won't deal with them. Saves me money in the long run too - he he. Any woman worth their salt will see that it's only a load of shoes, handbags and skirts from a man's perspective anyway

I got into music (and checking out electronic equipment) at 5 years old, even though my first "hifi" didn't appear until I was 16. I heard seperates round our Domestic Science teacher's house in 1987 and that was that

 

I like the effects of the different coloured LEDs and glowing valves myself.

 

Yeah you gotta have glowing bits. Can't beat a good screen that dances to the music either. And buttons, lots of buttons

 

hmm.

I'm pleased to report that it was with pooled pay packet that 'me and her' bought first hifi separates, that (celestion ditton) speakers lasted 25 years in shared living room, that mutual give&take has meant that boxes sit on Hutter (high WAF) and speakers are now epos floorstanders (high WAF), and that all sounds are Ace.

There is a mid-space between nerdy blokish boxes and hi gloss lifestyle set-ups that is affordable and great SQ/£, and does not alienate what for me are attractive.

btw, my kit is: transport + dac/pre + poweramp + speakers, all bought s/h.

As for buttons and glows, the kit sits off-centre and I prefer to gaze upon the conjoured holographic image of those musicians that play for me, as they take care about the flickering fire that glows between those speakers.