I have been a music enthusiast for over 60 years. Have had several systems over the years. I'm retired now and have no interest in mixing and matching components. My goal at this point in time is an excellent system without the "journey". So I am in the process of putting together a complete Perfect Wave system that plays well together. Thanks Paul.
My previous setups were all the same brand. I have mix and match now and couldn’t be any happier. I went from receiver to separates. I have a Marantz AV8805A pre/pro, Yamaha Aventage MX-A5000 11 channel power amplifier, Oppo UDP-205 4K player, Technics 1200 turntable and an Onkyo double cassette deck. The front left and right channels are Bowers and Wilkins. The center, surround and surround backs are all Acoustic Research. The front heights are Polk Audio and for bass I have two 18” Velodyne DD18 powered subwoofers. XLR cables make a huge difference (at least for me) compared to RCA.
For 30+ years, my electronics were from different manufacturers, but now I'm a happy BHK amp and preamp owner. Going forward, I'll use the phone cartridge and cables to shape the sound in a different direction if need be.
I'd have to agree with your assessment. As a starting audiophile, it makes sense to buy an all-in-one, or if you desire separates from a single company. That way you are ensured your getting the best sound at your level of experience. Then, as your experience broadens, you may find that you want to eek out the best from your speakers. So you'll look for a separate that enhances some aspect of your speakers, maybe you want to enhance the warmth or bottom-end bass. But before you get there, you need to start from a given point. Mixing from the get go you'll find it harder to define the starting point of exchange. As always an excellent video. Thank you.
Thanks Paul and all the great questioners and also especially all the other great comments here as well! I do mixing and I move a lot of hifi equipment. I know what my ear like and what is important for critical listening, I have 3 systems setup for my own use at the moment, all very very different from one another and I love to listen to all of them...! Though I think gain staging can change them substantially .....
I like what Radio Shack did with their catalogs where they would match up components according to budget levels. There was a "Good", "Better". and "Best". Component systems, or a kit of speakers, turntable, cartridge, and a receiver, were matched by how they worked together within a budget constraint. Wish someone would do this again.
Mixing brands can be tricky when you take 2 hours to properly setup the speakers and still don’t sound right because if it. Properly matching is recommended but it’s all a matter of trial and error and correcting those errors to get the best of what you have.
I think I’ve heard Paul say in the past (before the fr 30) that one is generally better off buying speakers from a company that specializes in speakers vs a full line up. I think that’s good advice and would apply to sources too- turntables, CD players and DACs/streamers. The synergy thing would seem most applicable for pre and power amps and related power supplies IMO.
yes, and the DAC. the DAC effects the sound just as dramatically as the amplifier. if you buy speakers that you auditioned and also are known to sound a certain way, and you buy from another company and it doesn't perform, then that company simply just doesn't make good components
In my case: I found a companie (Linn) and a Dealer I trust (Speaker’s Corner in my hometown Kiel in Northern Germany near Hamburg; you might know them, they also reissue vinyl records). After more than 40 years of searching the „best“ sound I am tired of comparing cables and other stuff. Very important: I can hear every new component at home before I buy it. And the dealer helps to install them if necessary. Greetings from Northern Germany
Absolutly right - first is level of user expertise. Having one type of technology allows using the system produced by one producer and through years I was by this side .. Because producer matches all very good and renders it with own speaker, often made to get exceptional outcome which is reflecded in price . Last time I got old tourist size vintage boombox radio casstette, made by such reputable company with price tag in 1980 about 250 USD. All inside is by them (with speakers included) and their own patented 3D sound extension and it blew me away how from distance 3 feet it does job emulating sound of big system and bringing music from space around . Magic. But for somebody who uses different types of media, which are from mixed producers, like tape, LP, CD cassette, Radio, PC and TV, even own engineered recordings such one system designed (with even many inputs) may be too limited to control and get most of it . Sometime we need do design in our own way, anyway to make it worthy needs a lot of testing and comparisons and unfortunately experience grows in time . Last time I decided by ear that my cassette and LP both need tube inputs in my integrated tube while R2R is ok when driving directly B&O IC preamp with loudness and remote. This B&O preamp drives Uher transistor preamp which forms main loudness curve and this preamp is driving tube integrated to double widerange speakers in personalized enclousers I do not think any producer would imagine such customer :).
That’s more than half of the fun. The trying and matching to get the sound I’m looking for is the core of fun. Buying a pre-made set of equipment based on someone else’s preferences is a disservice.
It really depends on so many things. Like PS Audio, others try doing the same, also in the higher end. I own an almost complete system, front to end. The French company Lavardin, makes amps. But their "sister" company also makes speakers for the amps to fit with. I own the top of the line Pre/Mono combo, all with their upgraded cables: interconnects, power cables, speaker also. When this is put together, with speakers build to match perfectly, then it's hard to beat, like i' m sure u also trying doing at PS Audio ✌️❤️🇩🇰
Basically, if you wanted to simplify this, pick a company who's range of products are affordable to you. You purchase either piecemeal or a complete system. In this way you know everything is compatible and all the fiddling and tweaking are pre sorted out by for example, Paul.
I've been mixing and matching since 1960's and until very recently, I've been quite successful in it. Brands included Lafayette equipment early on, Harman Kardon, Crown, NAD, various Asian tube products, DBX, and a few pro sound reinforcement devices. And as of the last 2 years PSAudio. But recently I bought an Adcom GFR5400. Stand alone, the amp is a good performer. But in a multi-amp system it doesn't get along with any of the others. It's gain structure is completely different requiring many DB of level adjustment at one level, only to require a different relative level setting when turned up or down rendering it unusable for my present needs. And this doesn't even begin to address any audible quality variances. So, while this hobby/lifestyle is so very important to me, I can see where, for some, it might be an exercise in frustration. That being said, my PSAudio Gain Cell DAC has been the cornerstone of my system and actually plays, not well, but perfectly with every amp from cheap tubes to high power solid state. Kudos to you Paul as I think you had quite a hand in it's design. And I can only imagine what your higher end gear might be like. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Once I had a monster Adcom amp, and found it a creep amp. I rapidly sold it, and the guy who bought told me: it was made to play well only with a Adcom preamp. Well, it was too late for me. I sold the amp for some few bucks.
Recently had to buy, well wanted to, a new CD player. I have Linn speakers, amps and pre-amp. As far as I can tell Linn no longer makes a CD player, so I bought a Roksan. Similarly I cannot buy everything from PS Audio, much as I'd like to. Where is their turntable (rhetorical)? Many / most providers are the same, they don't offer everything in the chain.
When you start from your speakers for whatever reason, it may well be that the speaker company only makes speakers, so you'll have to mix with other brands for your amp for example. The only clue for a good match on paper is the Ohms. This, however is no guarantee whatsover that the marriage betwen the amp and the speakers works out. Dedicated speaker companies should provide a list of matching amps to tackle this. Not only based on Ohms or Wattage. This is also true for speaker brands that do provide a variety of amps and vice versa.
I think something that could be helpful discussing specific aspects of mixing and matching that are technically important, largely related to input impedances, output impedances, gain levels, output levels. My DAC, preamp, and amp are from different companies but pair well due to the factors I mentioned. In short there is some equipment that pairs poorly on a very objective and technical levels that can be avoided with a little research.
Please do some better looking amplifiers. I need that thing to look retro. I just need it. All the PS stuff looks like dial up modems from the early 2000s. I cant have that sitting as a centre piece in my living room.
Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating for sure. I've heard reviewers say for example that the Denafrips Ares II DAC did not pair well with the Bluesound Node streamer and that because the Ares II had no op amps after the R2R ladder, that you had to be careful to match the impedance of your preamp accordingly. Of course those reviewers never mentioned what VALUES of impedance were necessary, and even if they did, many manufacturers don't give you all that electrical information on the specifications sheet so you end up just blindly buying, hoping for the best.
Limiting yourself to one company is not only boring it is limiting your results as well. No one company makes the best of everything and who makes everything anyway from a TT to a stand alone streamer, DAC etc? If you're like most people you piece together bits over time and by the time you get this or that it doesn't even match cosmetically. 99% of us don't usually buy our dream piece because another one went on sale and you couldn't justify the price difference. I know my amp is nicer than the one I had my heart set on because the 40% off demo model was too good to pass up and I still spent more than I wanted.. 20 years later it's still the heart of my system. Best purchase of my life @~$2.50 a week and getting cheaper by the day.
I’ve always mixed and matched. It doesn’t necessarily follow that a company that is good at CD players is good at pre or power amps. Even less so at loudspeakers. I’ve always sought best in class at each level of my system within my budget.
There is some beauty in a system that appears with a coherent design and user interface but the notion of audio performance "synergy" can be quite questionable. But some obvious things exist such as you need a power amp that can drive low impedance loads when connecting a speaker that has low impedance dips. Actually power amps and speakers is where you have the most critical cross-dependencies and need to worry about synergy.
( My current system - 2- mono Parasound JC plus 1's, Niagara 5000 power conditioner, Audio Control Ref 6se pre-amp, DCS Bartok Dac, Monitor Audio PL 500II tiger wood series) I like mixing and matching. It's like a pizza restaurant. You could have the finest ingredients ever and you throw it all on the pizza with no thought and cook it won't be that good. If you take the time to get the sauce nice and level and have just enough yeast time into the dough for best flavor and put proper spacing of toppings on each slice it can taste incredible. So it's all about the room, the gear, and the set up. Not all audio companies are equal nor do they have the best gear through all of their lines. One company might make an awesome amp that crushes others in sound quality in a particular price range say 10,000 but their other gear is just mediocre. You might also love an amp from a company but not their speakers. I have also noticed research and development costs a lot of money and takes time so audio companies might make something incredible in 2020 but now it takes them another 5 to 10 years for another breakthrough while another audio company in a different phase of testing and creating has a new piece in 2022. So the companies tend to leapfrog each other at different intervals based on research timing with costs and bringing to market. That in itself can make it exciting for an audio enthusiast as it's like fireworks (which I also love) you get too see new stuff each year (effects). Make sure you have a dealer in your area that can bring sample gear to your room for testing, listening, and dialing in. Their sample gear is often already burned in with lots of listening hours so you can test and try it in your space. Dealers won't do this just for anyone they want to know you can afford the gear and are trustworthy (If it's a small purchase like 1,000 to 2,000 likely not worth dealers time as with paying employees to go out to your place no profit in it for them). You can have systems from 1,000 to over 1 million. There is the spectacle part of audio (look) and then the performance. It's great for gear to look nice but you do not want a majority of the cost of purchase into that over the internals and the performance. The best manufacturers make product look nice on the outside but really focus on the internal for sound quality and build sustainability long term.
@@Mark-lq3sb yes audio research. I used to do car audio way back in the day so put audio control by mistake. I used to have a custom system in my car with an audio control dual 31 band third octave eq. That was before all the digital stuff in the late 90's
I spent the last 10 years buying vintage stereos from thrift and garage sales and Craigslist etc. So if I had bought a $4000 system 10 years ago I might get $1800 for it now....likely under $1000. But since I spent $2000 on 100 things at thrift stores, I have my 1970's stereos/speakers/components valued at $6000...and I've already sold $2000...And I have a system I will never part with.
It’s been a 40 yr journey First system fisher tube system Dynaco tubes Dynaco ss Phase linear ss Then I started mixing matching Currently Paragon 10 preamp tubes McIntosh mr 71 tubes tuner Audio research ec-4 crossover tubes Lows crown d-50 ss Mids hk citation ii tubes Highs dynaco st-35 tubes Why? Because after years of swapping these currently sound best to me Use what sounds best to you
Guess it’s like the chair your sitting on. the furniture in that room is a hodge podge of hobo chic but it works. Your smiling your happy so there you talk to you next time bye
There's no objective correct answer to that question, just subjective to each person's preferences. If you like symmetry and uniformity, you'll probably go with the same brand/line of gear (or if you like the 'sound' of the company). If you like specific functionality, you may choose difference brands for their respective pieces of hardware and their features, and if you want to fine tune, you'll try mixing and matching. But that's speaking the blooming obvious, so ignore me. :^D
@@ianjohnhorwood2605 wow, I don’t think you have ever heard 100 watt belles class A…. Just as good as my Clayton’s but I doubt you have ever heard of them either….
The whole reason behind the creation of component stereo is so that the owner can upgrade one item or another as time and budget allows. It grows with you. I'm using the same Marantz 1090 integrated amp that I bought new in 1979. Picked up my Akai 2450 Tuner a couple of years later. But I'm on my fifth or sixth turntable, my fifth CD player, my fourth tapedeck, etc ... Along with the Mirage satellite speakers I bought around 1993, I added a Polk subwoofer around 2011. There's a pair of Shure SR 106 Crossovers separating things, and it all works very well because it sounds great and works harmoniously. The idea of buying everything from the same company just because it looks nice and might impress the neighbours is not where it's at.
Mostly you strat out with something affordable, then seek out the dislikes and modify or upgrade gear as needed like if your speakers are bright you may want a warmer amp or vis versa. And so on.
As a new audiophile. I find myself searching for different components with good reviews. But when the rubber meets the road I’m also looking for something with awesome “sex appeal”. Aka Meters, lights, shiny metal ect. Some of the high end stuff that I probably could afford; I decide not to buy it it because I don’t care for the way it looks.
Wow the Stellar line has a massive price reduction!! The margins in your stuff must be off the charts!!!!! Like cable margin off the charts. Just sickening.
I have been a music enthusiast for over 60 years. Have had several systems over the years. I'm retired now and have no interest in mixing and matching components. My goal at this point in time is an excellent system without the "journey". So I am in the process of putting together a complete Perfect Wave system that plays well together. Thanks Paul.
More of a “mystic knowledge” when you get the right sound. It’s either there or it isn’t! 👍👍👍
Yeah, most people get lucky, or live with what they have until they're finally convinced that something isn't right.
My previous setups were all the same brand. I have mix and match now and couldn’t be any happier. I went from receiver to separates. I have a Marantz AV8805A pre/pro, Yamaha Aventage MX-A5000 11 channel power amplifier, Oppo UDP-205 4K player, Technics 1200 turntable and an Onkyo double cassette deck. The front left and right channels are Bowers and Wilkins. The center, surround and surround backs are all Acoustic Research. The front heights are Polk Audio and for bass I have two 18” Velodyne DD18 powered subwoofers. XLR cables make a huge difference (at least for me) compared to RCA.
Thx so much for these videos. Im just starting my audio journey (coming from cheap 5.1 market systems) and these videos help me alot.
For 30+ years, my electronics were from different manufacturers, but now I'm a happy BHK amp and preamp owner. Going forward, I'll use the phone cartridge and cables to shape the sound in a different direction if need be.
I'd have to agree with your assessment. As a starting audiophile, it makes sense to buy an all-in-one, or if you desire separates from a single company. That way you are ensured your getting the best sound at your level of experience. Then, as your experience broadens, you may find that you want to eek out the best from your speakers. So you'll look for a separate that enhances some aspect of your speakers, maybe you want to enhance the warmth or bottom-end bass. But before you get there, you need to start from a given point. Mixing from the get go you'll find it harder to define the starting point of exchange.
As always an excellent video. Thank you.
Thanks Paul and all the great questioners and also especially all the other great comments here as well! I do mixing and I move a lot of hifi equipment. I know what my ear like and what is important for critical listening, I have 3 systems setup for my own use at the moment, all very very different from one another and I love to listen to all of them...! Though I think gain staging can change them substantially .....
I like what Radio Shack did with their catalogs where they would match up components according to budget levels. There was a "Good", "Better". and "Best".
Component systems, or a kit of speakers, turntable, cartridge, and a receiver, were matched by how they worked together within a budget constraint. Wish someone would do this again.
Mixing brands can be tricky when you take 2 hours to properly setup the speakers and still don’t sound right because if it. Properly matching is recommended but it’s all a matter of trial and error and correcting those errors to get the best of what you have.
I think I’ve heard Paul say in the past (before the fr 30) that one is generally better off buying speakers from a company that specializes in speakers vs a full line up. I think that’s good advice and would apply to sources too- turntables, CD players and DACs/streamers. The synergy thing would seem most applicable for pre and power amps and related power supplies IMO.
yes, and the DAC. the DAC effects the sound just as dramatically as the amplifier. if you buy speakers that you auditioned and also are known to sound a certain way, and you buy from another company and it doesn't perform, then that company simply just doesn't make good components
😁YES I WAS SURPRISED WHEN YOU PROMOTED PS AUDIO …but not really 😁
Someday I hope to see and hear 👂 them 🤗 …But for most of us the 🔑 key is SYNERGY 😍😍😍
One suggestion if you have neutral to bright sounding speakers is to pair them with electronics that are a little bit on the warm side.
In my case: I found a companie (Linn) and a Dealer I trust (Speaker’s Corner in my hometown Kiel in Northern Germany near Hamburg; you might know them, they also reissue vinyl records). After more than 40 years of searching the „best“ sound I am tired of comparing cables and other stuff. Very important: I can hear every new component at home before I buy it. And the dealer helps to install them if necessary. Greetings from Northern Germany
Your gear is expensive, Paul! Even selling kidneys won't cut it! I want an FR 30 lol.
Excellent start. Stay with PS Audio. ;-)
Absolutly right - first is level of user expertise. Having one type of technology allows using the system produced by one producer and through years I was by this side .. Because producer matches all very good and renders it with own speaker, often made to get exceptional outcome which is reflecded in price .
Last time I got old tourist size vintage boombox radio casstette, made by such reputable company with price tag in 1980 about 250 USD. All inside is by them (with speakers included) and their own patented 3D sound extension and it blew me away how from distance 3 feet it does job emulating sound of big system and bringing music from space around . Magic.
But for somebody who uses different types of media, which are from mixed producers, like tape, LP, CD cassette, Radio, PC and TV, even own engineered recordings such one system designed (with even many inputs) may be too limited to control and get most of it . Sometime we need do design in our own way, anyway to make it worthy needs a lot of testing and comparisons and unfortunately experience grows in time .
Last time I decided by ear that my cassette and LP both need tube inputs in my integrated tube while R2R is ok when driving directly B&O IC preamp with loudness and remote. This B&O preamp drives Uher transistor preamp which forms main loudness curve and this preamp is driving tube integrated to double widerange speakers in personalized enclousers I do not think any producer would imagine such customer :).
How do you submit an audio question to Paul?
That’s more than half of the fun. The trying and matching to get the sound I’m looking for is the core of fun. Buying a pre-made set of equipment based on someone else’s preferences is a disservice.
It really depends on so many things. Like PS Audio, others try doing the same, also in the higher end.
I own an almost complete system, front to end.
The French company Lavardin, makes amps. But their "sister" company also makes speakers for the amps to fit with. I own the top of the line Pre/Mono combo, all with their upgraded cables: interconnects, power cables, speaker also. When this is put together, with speakers build to match perfectly, then it's hard to beat, like i' m sure u also trying doing at PS Audio ✌️❤️🇩🇰
Mix home audio gear with pro audio gear, and the fun REALLY starts.
Basically, if you wanted to simplify this, pick a company who's range of products are affordable to you. You purchase either piecemeal or a complete system. In this way you know everything is compatible and all the fiddling and tweaking are pre sorted out by for example, Paul.
I've been mixing and matching since 1960's and until very recently, I've been quite successful in it. Brands included Lafayette equipment early on, Harman Kardon, Crown, NAD, various Asian tube products, DBX, and a few pro sound reinforcement devices. And as of the last 2 years PSAudio. But recently I bought an Adcom GFR5400. Stand alone, the amp is a good performer. But in a multi-amp system it doesn't get along with any of the others. It's gain structure is completely different requiring many DB of level adjustment at one level, only to require a different relative level setting when turned up or down rendering it unusable for my present needs. And this doesn't even begin to address any audible quality variances. So, while this hobby/lifestyle is so very important to me, I can see where, for some, it might be an exercise in frustration. That being said, my PSAudio Gain Cell DAC has been the cornerstone of my system and actually plays, not well, but perfectly with every amp from cheap tubes to high power solid state. Kudos to you Paul as I think you had quite a hand in it's design. And I can only imagine what your higher end gear might be like. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Once I had a monster Adcom amp, and found it a creep amp. I rapidly sold it, and the guy who bought told me: it was made to play well only with a Adcom preamp. Well, it was too late for me. I sold the amp for some few bucks.
Recently had to buy, well wanted to, a new CD player. I have Linn speakers, amps and pre-amp. As far as I can tell Linn no longer makes a CD player, so I bought a Roksan. Similarly I cannot buy everything from PS Audio, much as I'd like to. Where is their turntable (rhetorical)? Many / most providers are the same, they don't offer everything in the chain.
When you start from your speakers for whatever reason, it may well be that the speaker company only makes speakers, so you'll have to mix with other brands for your amp for example. The only clue for a good match on paper is the Ohms. This, however is no guarantee whatsover that the marriage betwen the amp and the speakers works out. Dedicated speaker companies should provide a list of matching amps to tackle this. Not only based on Ohms or Wattage. This is also true for speaker brands that do provide a variety of amps and vice versa.
I think something that could be helpful discussing specific aspects of mixing and matching that are technically important, largely related to input impedances, output impedances, gain levels, output levels. My DAC, preamp, and amp are from different companies but pair well due to the factors I mentioned. In short there is some equipment that pairs poorly on a very objective and technical levels that can be avoided with a little research.
You are great Paul thank you Sir
Please do some better looking amplifiers. I need that thing to look retro. I just need it. All the PS stuff looks like dial up modems from the early 2000s. I cant have that sitting as a centre piece in my living room.
Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating for sure. I've heard reviewers say for example that the Denafrips Ares II DAC did not pair well with the Bluesound Node streamer and that because the Ares II had no op amps after the R2R ladder, that you had to be careful to match the impedance of your preamp accordingly. Of course those reviewers never mentioned what VALUES of impedance were necessary, and even if they did, many manufacturers don't give you all that electrical information on the specifications sheet so you end up just blindly buying, hoping for the best.
Limiting yourself to one company is not only boring it is limiting your results as well. No one company makes the best of everything and who makes everything anyway from a TT to a stand alone streamer, DAC etc? If you're like most people you piece together bits over time and by the time you get this or that it doesn't even match cosmetically. 99% of us don't usually buy our dream piece because another one went on sale and you couldn't justify the price difference. I know my amp is nicer than the one I had my heart set on because the 40% off demo model was too good to pass up and I still spent more than I wanted.. 20 years later it's still the heart of my system. Best purchase of my life @~$2.50 a week and getting cheaper by the day.
I like my Vtl amp and pre hooked up with Cardas cable feeding my Tannoy nfm8 and REL sub
I guess I need a Kef Poweramp and dac
I’ve always mixed and matched. It doesn’t necessarily follow that a company that is good at CD players is good at pre or power amps. Even less so at loudspeakers. I’ve always sought best in class at each level of my system within my budget.
There is some beauty in a system that appears with a coherent design and user interface but the notion of audio performance "synergy" can be quite questionable. But some obvious things exist such as you need a power amp that can drive low impedance loads when connecting a speaker that has low impedance dips. Actually power amps and speakers is where you have the most critical cross-dependencies and need to worry about synergy.
Love your videos .
But I think the opportunity is lost to go a bit deeper on this topic.
( My current system - 2- mono Parasound JC plus 1's, Niagara 5000 power conditioner, Audio Control Ref 6se pre-amp, DCS Bartok Dac, Monitor Audio PL 500II tiger wood series) I like mixing and matching. It's like a pizza restaurant. You could have the finest ingredients ever and you throw it all on the pizza with no thought and cook it won't be that good. If you take the time to get the sauce nice and level and have just enough yeast time into the dough for best flavor and put proper spacing of toppings on each slice it can taste incredible. So it's all about the room, the gear, and the set up. Not all audio companies are equal nor do they have the best gear through all of their lines. One company might make an awesome amp that crushes others in sound quality in a particular price range say 10,000 but their other gear is just mediocre. You might also love an amp from a company but not their speakers. I have also noticed research and development costs a lot of money and takes time so audio companies might make something incredible in 2020 but now it takes them another 5 to 10 years for another breakthrough while another audio company in a different phase of testing and creating has a new piece in 2022. So the companies tend to leapfrog each other at different intervals based on research timing with costs and bringing to market. That in itself can make it exciting for an audio enthusiast as it's like fireworks (which I also love) you get too see new stuff each year (effects). Make sure you have a dealer in your area that can bring sample gear to your room for testing, listening, and dialing in. Their sample gear is often already burned in with lots of listening hours so you can test and try it in your space. Dealers won't do this just for anyone they want to know you can afford the gear and are trustworthy (If it's a small purchase like 1,000 to 2,000 likely not worth dealers time as with paying employees to go out to your place no profit in it for them). You can have systems from 1,000 to over 1 million. There is the spectacle part of audio (look) and then the performance. It's great for gear to look nice but you do not want a majority of the cost of purchase into that over the internals and the performance. The best manufacturers make product look nice on the outside but really focus on the internal for sound quality and build sustainability long term.
Are you sure you own a REF 6se? I think if I spent roughly $13,000 to 17,000 dollars, I'd know what the brand name was.
@@Mark-lq3sb yes audio research. I used to do car audio way back in the day so put audio control by mistake. I used to have a custom system in my car with an audio control dual 31 band third octave eq. That was before all the digital stuff in the late 90's
I spent the last 10 years buying vintage stereos from thrift and garage sales and Craigslist etc. So if I had bought a $4000 system 10 years ago I might get $1800 for it now....likely under $1000. But since I spent $2000 on 100 things at thrift stores, I have my 1970's stereos/speakers/components valued at $6000...and I've already sold $2000...And I have a system I will never part with.
Now it's no SECRET anymore !!!
It’s been a 40 yr journey
First system fisher tube system
Dynaco tubes
Dynaco ss
Phase linear ss
Then I started mixing matching
Currently
Paragon 10 preamp tubes
McIntosh mr 71 tubes tuner
Audio research ec-4 crossover tubes
Lows crown d-50 ss
Mids hk citation ii tubes
Highs dynaco st-35 tubes
Why?
Because after years of swapping these currently sound best to me
Use what sounds best to you
Guess it’s like the chair your sitting on. the furniture in that room is a hodge podge of hobo chic but it works. Your smiling your happy so there you talk to you next time bye
There's no objective correct answer to that question, just subjective to each person's preferences. If you like symmetry and uniformity, you'll probably go with the same brand/line of gear (or if you like the 'sound' of the company). If you like specific functionality, you may choose difference brands for their respective pieces of hardware and their features, and if you want to fine tune, you'll try mixing and matching. But that's speaking the blooming obvious, so ignore me. :^D
If your spending 40k on a home stereo, then mix and buy the best… I run Magico speakers with tube pre. And Belles class A power amp…
Nothing special about belles, accept overpriced for what you get.
@@ianjohnhorwood2605 wow, I don’t think you have ever heard 100 watt belles class A…. Just as good as my Clayton’s but I doubt you have ever heard of them either….
The whole reason behind the creation of component stereo is so that the owner can upgrade one item or another as time and budget allows. It grows with you.
I'm using the same Marantz 1090 integrated amp that I bought new in 1979. Picked up my Akai 2450 Tuner a couple of years later. But I'm on my fifth or sixth turntable, my fifth CD player, my fourth tapedeck, etc ...
Along with the Mirage satellite speakers I bought around 1993, I added a Polk subwoofer around 2011. There's a pair of Shure SR 106 Crossovers separating things, and it all works very well because it sounds great and works harmoniously.
The idea of buying everything from the same company just because it looks nice and might impress the neighbours is not where it's at.
old pass amp in bottom left hehe
Mostly you strat out with something affordable, then seek out the dislikes and modify or upgrade gear as needed like if your speakers are bright you may want a warmer amp or vis versa. And so on.
Buy an integrated amp that you like 👍
And save money, sweat and headaches 😊
"Mixing and matching" is a popular idiom, yet it is wrong. Can't do both. Of course, such vagueness and fluff is the stock in trade of audiophools.
As a new audiophile. I find myself searching for different components with good reviews. But when the rubber meets the road I’m also looking for something with awesome “sex appeal”. Aka Meters, lights, shiny metal ect. Some of the high end stuff that I probably could afford; I decide not to buy it it because I don’t care for the way it looks.
Buying “Bling” 😀🤗👍😎 Is tempting.
My idea of “Bling” 😀🤗
th-cam.com/video/A6uYgtO-NBI/w-d-xo.html
I don’t like mixing and matching. Why..??
I don’t trust ME..😀🤪😜🙄
I want an Innuos Mini
FIRST Yes yes yes I get 🥇🏆🍾🥂👏🇳🇱 and everlasting fame! I was so fast to click!
I wonder who is the first one who did not have to edit the comment.
Wow the Stellar line has a massive price reduction!! The margins in your stuff must be off the charts!!!!! Like cable margin off the charts. Just sickening.
Love your videos .
But I think the opportunity is lost to go a bit deeper on this topic.