The term upgrading is often used almost in ridicule when talking to or about audiophiles and indeed I cringed just now when typing it. However, it is a good description for the aim of this and subsequent articles as they discuss the ability to improve by change, whether it's a small tweak or the wholesale replacement of major components. I hope as a result people will be driven to make adjustments to see what can be gained from their system irrespective of how big a change they intend to make.
The first thing to decide is whether the sound of your hi-fi matters. In many cases it seems that a lot of the population doesn't worry how the music sounds. So I guess the question that you have to ask yourself is whether it matters to you. If you are intending to purchase new equipment, do you care what it looks like and what other people think of it? Will you decide purely with your ears? If you answer no and yes respectively to these questions then you've come to the right place. If you are bothered about what other people think then buy the flashy looking five-star reviewed products, stick them together, cut out the reviews and just show everyone how good they must be.
The killer hi-fi system
Okay, so you have decided to upgrade your system in some way. There may be a number of reasons for this decision - new house, a windfall, partner/spouse moving in (or out) or just unhappy with what you currently have. Whatever the reason, the seemingly obvious, but easily most important consideration to make is that you get what you want from the changes you make. What is it that we all should be looking for in the killer hi-fi system? Well it has to be a system that plays every genre of music or at least all of the ones you like, well.
Realistically, this is a bit of a tall order unless you have a very specific or narrow taste in music. Generally the ability to do everything well comes when you spend a lot of money because the manufacturer has spent a long time with the product in R&D getting the last 10-20 per cent out of their product. However, with care and attention to detail a budget system (for the purposes of this article I'll be talking about a player, amp and speakers costing around £1,000-£1,500 in total) can get very close and satisfy most requirements.
The best place to start is to carefully analyse what you currently have. What do you feel are the shortcomings and strengths of the current system? What genre of music do you listen to? What choices do you have for positioning the equipment differently and have you tried different room layouts? After doing this analysis you should have developed some concrete ideas of what it is you are trying to obtain - and you'll hopefully have some idea of the constraints that the room and your listening conditions can impose on the system. If you can do some scale layout drawings or sketches of the room and potential speaker positioning it is always useful.
One question that you will probably end up asking yourself is whether there is a right and a wrong sound. Well, perhaps disappointingly, the answer to this is kind of yes and no. There do seem to be pieces of equipment that score well with multiple reviewers, which suggests that there is a sound that pleases all. However, look at some high-end hi-fi magazines and it soon becomes very apparent that there are some very single-minded pieces of equipment out there, a good example being some of the more bizarre-looking horn-loaded speakers. Ultimately, we all have our own tastes in music and what it is that makes it sound great.
That doesn't mean that it is not worth canvassing someone else's opinion on the sound. A point worth noting here is that whilst audiophiles are mainly males, females of the same age generally have better hearing. I am not going any further with that line of reasoning for obvious reasons but suffice it to say your partner's opinion could be valuable. The most important thing at the end of the day is that the system sounds right to you and you enjoy your music collection to the full.
Choosing the right equipment
Speakers
Let's start with the piece of equipment that is the most room and budget-dependant - speakers. If you have a limited budget or a small room then consider standmount speakers very seriously indeed.
Budgetary reasons first: making a box stiff and resistant to detrimental resonance gets more difficult, and hence more expensive, the bigger it gets. Also, material consumption obviously increases the bigger it is. This means that it is possible for a manufacturer to make a small speaker enclosure for significantly less money and therefore often better value.
Standmount speakers also have the drive units mounted closer together and the stands are often adjustable so that the tweeter height can be positioned perfectly. All of this matters a lot more when you are sat very close to a speaker, so bear this in mind. Standmounts also have a couple of side benefits since with the drives and ports all being relatively high they can avoid nuisance furniture such as sofa arms etc. In general the smaller standmounts can also tolerate being that bit closer to the back wall, especially if all the ports and drives are located on the front baffle.
Amplifiers
Amplifiers also benefit from careful selection and pairing with speakers. If you listen to music at very low volume levels you will often notice that the balance of the sound suffers. What you tend to notice is that the bass rolls off seemingly disproportionately to the reduction of the volume as you start to get to lower volumes. This is a common complaint and is a result of the physical driving of the speaker cone. Higher power output amplifiers go some way to overcoming this problem.
More specifically, high current availability at the speaker terminals is what can separate the drive capabilities of the amplifier. As already mentioned, the speaker will also play a significant part in low-volume performance. If you don't have a system that works well at low volume, then you will find yourself all too often reaching for the volume knob to gain appreciation of the music - unless you have a very understanding spouse and/or neighbours.
Players
The most important thing for the source component is that it extracts every piece of information from the recording as accurately as possible. If the information is not read by the source component then you are never going to hear it. Over the years opinion has varied about the most important component in the system and where to spend the most money. But the only sound advice here is not to end up blowing so much of your budget that you end up with a hopeless imbalance between the capabilities of equipment as the basis for your long-term system.
Many consider that a good turntable will outperform CD, and I have to say I agree. However, for a number of reasons many of us went through the transition to CD a number of years ago and find it difficult to go back. There have been alternatives such as DVD-A and SACD more recently, but neither of these formats seems to have grabbed the market as some might have liked. Of the two, SACD has been marginally more successful, even if the offerings are fairly limited. SACD/CD hybrid players seem to do a pretty good job of handling CD replay, so you can indulge yourself with a few great sounding SACDs as well as being able to listen to your CDs. In my opinion the multi-format players that play every conceivable format of laser-read discs should be avoided at all costs. The old analogy of “jack of all trades, master of none”, comes to mind.
A word or two about buying
In every likelihood you will probably have some preconceived ideas of a manufacturer of equipment that you want to listen to as a prelude to buying. Often this will have come from reading hi-fi magazines or having heard praise or recommendation from a friend or relation. The important thing is not to be too set on buying a particular brand at this point - the chances are, like most things, that you may find something better once you start looking.
The next important step is finding a shop to buy this equipment from. Unfortunately, the web isn't really an option here - remember you need to be buying with your ears not your eyes. So the only way you are going to do this is by auditioning the equipment. Start visiting some of the local hi-fi shops and talk to the guys there. Tell them what you are looking for and your budget. It's worth mentioning the size of your room and any other pieces of information or constraints you feel many be worthwhile - something that sounds fantastic in the showroom may not necessarily cut the mustard in your home set-up.
At this point it is probably worth visiting a few to see how you feel about the shops, the equipment, the facilities and even the staff. The next step involves working closely with one of the shops to find the equipment or system that you want to buy. While you are not entering into an exclusive contract with one shop, I feel that you should be as fair as you can. Spending hours auditioning at lots of shops only to buy the equipment off the web is not really acceptable.
You will find most hi-fi shops put a lot of time and effort into helping you make the choice to satisfy your requirements. Sure they make money out of the sale but they also hope to develop a relationship that sees you visit them if you ever upgrade again - specialist audio and AV are relatively small markets. You will also find that most of them will offer support to you for ironing out problems that you may run into after sale. In some cases they will even allow home auditioning of equipment in some form or another, which can be invaluable.
Some people find the thought of hi-fi shops daunting, feeling that they might be embarrassed by their lack of knowledge. Don't worry, most shops are run by enthusiasts. They realise that not everyone will know as much as they do about hi-fi. They also realise that everyone's needs are not the same, which is why they will offer a range of equipment that suits different tastes and budgets. The most important thing is that they have all of this equipment together, which enables them to get to know what works well together and how to put together systems that will satisfy your requirements.
If you are buying parts of a system then be prepared to take the components that you already have into the shop. You will probably need to book an audition in advance to allow the shop to set up the equipment in their listening rooms. It is important that you bring along a selection of music that you are familiar with and represents the tastes that you have in music. Listen to advice from the staff and answer their questions as descriptively as you can. Tell them what is that you like or don't like about the sound. If you feel that you are close to the sound that you want but it is not perfect then ask if changing the position of the speakers or the cables in the system may yield the changes you want. Take note of the equipment and cables that are used in the system as this can be very useful later.
Lastly, do be careful of the 'wow factor!' In short bursts very bright engaging systems can sound very impressive. The downside of this is that the sound is often not very accurate and they can become very fatiguing if you listen to them for longer periods of time. Try to find a balanced sound that portrays the music as accurately as you believe it should sound.
There are pieces of music that can really betray systems for what they are. If you find that some of the recordings that you are playing sound great but others are disappointing, then you are probably looking at the wrong system or combination of components. Try to spot all the things going on in the piece of music - overall clarity is what is important. You should be able to pick out individual instruments in even very complex arrangements.
Read Part 2 of this feature.
