Wednesday, October 17, 2007

HiFi 02 : Sum Of The Parts

I have always had an interest in hifi. That is; the facility to reproduce music with as practical an approach to fidelity as reasonable and economic.

I say reasonable. I have heard some incredible rigs at hifi shows and at dealers. Some have cost into six figures - and I'm talking UKpounds here.

But probably the best system I ever heard cost in the region of UKp4k at a show in Bristol some years ago. Still a lot of money, but I'll bet lots of people round here spend a lot more than that on their home theatre/cinema system.

As I recall, the rig was in the Wilson-Benesch room, consisting of one of their turntables and speakers playing through a Chord amplifier. The demo disc was Lou Reed, Walk on the Wild Side. And in the bit the coloured girls go, Doo doo ... you could place every singer in the chorus at an exact place in the room. Nice. I hasten to add, the image to the left represents home theatre overkill, not a modest hifi setup.

Anyway, what I am doing is putting together a system from favourite and found bits and pieces with the occasional purchase, coping with the 110v/220v problem and producing a modest, but practical and competent system.

Next HiFi article; 110v/220v and why it's an issue for me.


*See my hifi / media index here.