AudioSalon - scotlands first and foremost hi-fi dealer since 1979

How 2 Try & Buy Hi-Fi

How good is your knowledge of product matching and synergy?
Test your audiophile IQ by this ten-point test.

Use your best judgement to tick the following statements which are correct.

1. Valves are warmer sounding than transistors.
2. Low wattage amplifiers (triode, valve, single-ended, Class A) need efficient speakers; high power amplifiers should be matched with less efficient loudspeakers.
3. The fewer and simpler the components in the signal path the better the detail and accuracy of reproduction.
4. Balanced circuits (used in pro gear) are better than single-end RCA which contaminates the negative with the earth spuriae.
5. Ribbon and electrostatic drivers offer superior speed and mid-range purity compared to moving coil speaker systems.
6. Bigger and more expensive speaker systems are better than smaller monitors.
7. Isolation stands improve the performance of hi-fi equipment by attenuating structural feedback.
8. The importance of audio cables should be reflected by the Rule of Thumb to spend around 10% of the system cost.
9. Mains purification, ideally AC regeneration, is required to purify the power to a high resolution audio or AV system to enjoy the beauty of 2am sound during peak demand convenient times.
10. The more you spend, the better performance and satisfaction you can obtain (applies equally to cars, women and hi-fi).
    a) The next purchase is your ultimate aspiration.
    b) Planned upgrading is the way to spread costs
    c) Used and ex-dem gear imposes the big loss on the first buyer
    d) Future-proof products with replaceable boards or software preserve their value. Agree with two of four amounts to Yes.

ANSWERS: each and every one of these conventional wisdoms you learned from Hi-Fi journalists is rejected by consultancy type dealers who have experience to assemble excellent systems. The reason you never hear these systems in their showrooms is because customers daily demand source A with amplifier B and speakers C.
Why are these conventional wisdoms all so believed yet wrong enough to waste your money, cause disappointment and the decline of the high-end.

1. False. Valve afficionados argue endlessly about triode v. pentode, KT88 v. 300B v. 2A3 etc, and we can easily demonstrate a transistor amplifier which is warmer than a valve amplifier. Warmer can mean anything from a false syrup signature to a reproduction which is harmonically pure, ie not stripped of its timbre to sound clean and detailed. Audiophiles tend to cure their last problem or imbalance. Balancing imbalanced components is a precarious “balancing act!”
2. False. We once demonstrated an inexpensive Audion monoblock with an expensive Audio Note monoblock; both used a single 300B of the exact same type (TJ); both were thus rated at 9 watts but one drove Zingali speakers effortlessly due to its power supply. A single 300B drives some of our most inefficient loudspeakers, depending on the amplifier’s power supply stage, and power transfer character (impedance etc). Some of the best systems combine our mega powerful  solid-state amplifiers with 90dB efficient loudspeakers where common wisdom would correctly show that you are only using the first 5 watts or so to generate 96dB sound pressure level.
3. Surprisingly, not so. Of course, one minor component can lose or distort the signal irrecoverably, but a very well designed and made product need not. The fabulously expensive but brilliantly conceived Audio Palette which launched Cello had 9,000 components yet sonically transparent. In the mid 1980s the digital sting and glass ceiling of early CDs disappeared on playback on a well-aligned ReVox B77 analogue tape recorder. The first Mark Levinson reference pre-amplifier inserted between its CD player and amplifier clearly retrieved bags more timbre and detail.
4. A trap for the unwary. A lot of pseudo-high end products merely provides balanced connection by a transformer or worse an op amp converter, best bypassed! The real thing is called “fully-balanced” and uses two symmetrical wires for + and – and the outer braid to separate the earth along with its degrading spuriae. Some triode valve and even solid state products (Sugden and PassLabs) employ single-end connection with the full phase of the audio signal; Mr Kondo of Audio Note used both techniques, albeit quasi-balanced (earth drain at the cable source end) thus, the best single-ended outperforms the best fully-balanced circuit because there is no phase splitting required. A system which mixes these techniques (very common) has an unfortunate owner.
5. Moving coil drivers have developed like the PC, in giant leaps; compare a Lowther paper mid (state of the art in the 1960s) with today’s ceramic units! By the 1980s I used to make lots of money selling Quad electrostatics for their mid range, but I went home to a pair of ProAc Studio 3’s using an ATC driver of far superior mid range purity and detail. Today, the Danes dominate moving coil driver development (why I am not sure) and the cost-no-object Gryphon Poseidons reach new levels of realism, yet employ moving coil drivers thoughout; 34 of them, in phase under all conditions. At a more modest price level, Zingali’s horn designs use compression drivers which outperform ribbons or electrostatics on all counts.
6. Another misconception. What matters is the ratio of room volume to loudspeaker internal volume; in all other cases mini monitors outperform their big brothers. Solutions come in the form of Zingali’s Omniray patented maths, or Gryphon whose wallet-busting 800 kg towers accomplish point-source sound by spherical geometry and revolutionary crossovers.
7. Very, very sadly, hi-fi stands make or break even a modest system’s performance but is misunderstood by trade and public. Isolation stands have most effect by attenuating the vibrations from its adjacent equipment and their mains transformers; by mass-damping and resonance tuning, a well-designed platform can even save equipment from the worst effects of its own transformer and microphonic components.
8. The “commercial” audio cables (exercises in branding) have rightly created many cynics and unbelievers, but there are a handful of men who have designed great cables and won converts. We sell JPS Labs from a company which invented its own metal alloy. Ten percent is not enough, but a dollar on a “con-cable” is 90 cents contribution to the marketing men. In my experience, these few systems where the cable cost more than the components always sound great, because the owner knows how to break the rules of con-vention!
9. Passive mains purification usually changes the sound, because the owner of the new apparatus gets to hear his new purchase immediately. Active techniques usually strangle the sound unless the equipment is built like a power-station and housed next door to the dedicated music room. Even AC regenerators  improve the sound slightly by simple and cheap passive techniques, but the benefit of external regeneration is limited by providing the same as the mains 60Hz unbalanced power. And AC regenerators pass RFI and EMI in exactly the same way amplifiers do.
10. The more you spend, the happier you will be; and the west is best, God Bless America. My advice is to spend the least on hi-fi that reaches the level where you enjoy the music; and that varies with each person much like drugs dosage (not that I have much experience of pharmacology).

1. In life, as in Hi-Fi, ensure each stepping stone is stable;
2. Planned upgrading costs more than the worst APR;
3. Consulting dealers have been replaced with the wisdom of buying used and ex-dem (letting the first owner take the hit) without asking why the unfortunate owner is taking a loss his once-prized investment;
4. Future developments are almost always unpredictable; minor upgrades to equipment are very cynical and profitable commercial exercises, and very predictable.