I agree, single brand to the extent possible is a good starting point. Then you need a lot of experience to learn what you like, what you don't, what you're going after in the sound of your system, and what's going to get you there. And that's all subject to change, which makes for a lifelong hobby!
Perfect answer, Paul. The last time I was "wowed" by a system was the last time I listened....my friends and I share the same hobby. Listening to good music on great systems
Thank you for answering my question, much appreciated. I think I agree with your suggestion and I am leaning towards one brand for now for both the pre-amp and monoblocks, cheers and see you in the next one. Bye 👋
Interesting thoughts Paul, however, it has been my experience that, while people do have preferred manufactures, and matching them is prob easier, but most of us have components from various manufactures.
I also stuck to one company ( Yamaha) till I bought Klipsch speakers ( R-P6000F). Then I realized that there is very limited bass in that system ( before I was using graphic equalizer and JBL LX-60 and I liked the sound and didn't miss anything ) , I went to the shop who convinced me to buy that new Yamaha and complained that there is no bass and they suggested E-motiva PT-100 and A-300 ( fortunately that preamp has tone control) and now I have system which produces sound I really like. Then I bought external DAC ( Topping), Dectet from PS Audio and cable recommended by PS Audio -- each of these improved sound even further . Seeing ( rather hearing) what improvements Dectet and cable PerfectWave AC-5 made I started now saving for Power Plant 12. In summary -- approach to buy everything from one manufacturer is probably safe but not necessarily brings desired results
Ask a company that makes the whole kit, they will say you must have the same brand for synergy. Ask a speaker (for example) company, and they will say 'we are the specialist - why go to to that amp/fridge manufacturer for speakers!' Good answer as usual from Paul.
As a seller of component audio, most of my customers and my own experience in sound differences were found in speaker manufacturers. The point at which the ear is most attuned a specific sound. I have found speakers built in the Far East have a different sound to those built in say, England. But not so much in the “electronics” themselves. My opinion of course.
I found out after I set it all up that my Elac debuts were designed by the same guy who helped designed my pioneer VSX-D1S. The synergy is a thing I was not expecting. I have amps I like, none of them sound as good as the pioneer with these speakers.
You have to know your gear first. Know what you like about and know what is lacking. You want to keep what you like and improve what is lacking. Then go look for components that can help you improve your sound without compromising what is already good. Sometimes improving one thing means deteriorating another. Different kinds of music can demand different characteristics. So you could get two of everything speakers, (pre)-amp, cd-player etc that do one thing really well and use them for that. Use the other to do other thing really well.
It's just like cooking where we treat each ingredient like a component where each one has their own taste and sound signature. A good chef will be able to combine components into a sound that is award winning (most preferable) to you. Another thing to recognize is their is no beat...only different 😀
I really don't agree with Paul on this one. Asians crave for well-defined, accentuated highs. Nice example: Some Japanes piano brands sell technically identical piano's worldwide, but with a different voicing for their domestic market. They tend to be marked with a suffix behind the type-name. Those piano's tend to sound harsh to non-Asians. Or in sound reproduction: British brands are the master of 'flat' (google 'flat earth society'), Americans crave 'expressive'. Just switch between a pair of B&W and a pair of Klipsch. Now I write it down, I realise: It has a bit of 'stiff upperlip' boring vs 'obnoxiously loud' theatrical about it, doesn't it? What PS Audio calls 'musical' would be considered 'coloured' or 'unbalanced' by others. Just as when PS Audio calls Spectral 'sterile', others would call that 'accurate' The home-size you mention certainly has an influence, though. American room large and wood. European houses brick or concrete. Asian houses small, and different construction materials. I suppose these facts partly explain the American love for subwoofers, the European love for floorstanders and the Asian fascination for monitors. I like my speakers British (with concentric drivers), my electronics Asian, and I am a bit ambivalent about amps. Maybe Asian class D for speed, detail and clarity, European class A/B for smoothness and 'likability'.
I couldn't agree more from a piano perspective. Yamaha's are bright with a fair amount of attack to the notes. Bosendorfer (German) tend to be rich and warm ( if a little muffled to my taste). Whereas Stienway's split the middle. But I wonder if it is fair to impose a blanket assumption about a entire music listening culture based upon a single instrument.
Things are a tad more complicated. A Japanese car feels different than a German car. S class & a Lexus, two wholly different driving experiences. A pure American made amp should sound different than a Japanese made amp or British made. Issue now is that no amp is now 100% one country’s components based. Primaluna or pass lab products use parts from all over the globe. So, do they sound American now? Major components used in First watt or pass lab are Japanese. So these sound Japanese. Mr Pass must be a huge fan of Japanese components. A certain part of the world like Middle East and South Asia was and still is dominated by Japanese audio-video products
@@richardcomerford1828 that's why I have a Schimmel. And no, I don't judge on the piano. I illustrate the hifi tendencies with an example from a similar industry. Is just as true for singers, record labels etc.
@@faludabutt8253 of course they are. This is a yt reaction. The component-thing though is just as true for cars. Still a Cadillac, Lexus, Jaguar and BMW are pretty distinguishable. Same with pass lab, Naim and Nakamichi
very informant as usual Paul.i lived in canada for 28 years .back in scotland the last couple of years and they certainly don't regard subwoofers as much as in north America .but that might be changing . . miss my trips to the states when i lived in canada . many thanks for all the tips Paul over the years .best Archie 😊😊😊
Yeah you’re pretty much stuck with those things for the most part haha, getting them to work with each other to make a good sound stage is where the rabbit hole is for me. I don’t have money for upgrades, but I have some time to adjust things. I can’t always rearrange the living room on the fly because my bookshelves are so massively heavy haha and of course I am married.
Spend most there - speakers. There's a bigger quality and performance gap in the speaker arena than in any other component area. The speaker, often, then determines your options for amp.
I try to hone in on the rhythm and bass guitar as well as have a quiet a background as possible. My system must have good boogie factor and be very easy on the ear. No harsh treble. So I chase a tone that I like rather than detail. For years My system was a Thorens TD165 with Empire 2000 mm cart. Consonance phono. Consonance Cyber 10USB amp.(8/12W) IMF compact speakers. The speakers are transmission line and from the 70s. They are very warm and good bass oomph. The amplifiers are very neutral and very quiet. The Empire cart is a little light on bass. That seems to balance out the speakers oomphiness. This system has such a good tonal balance. I've plugged in a Linn LP12 with Grace arm and Stanton 681 but it only lasted a day. Too bass heavy. The system lost all it's detail to overwhelming bass. It took me a long time to get this together but then I listened to this system for hours every day for a good decade and only retired it two years ago. I retired simply because I wanted to try something new. The hunt has been on for two years now. Good fun.
Oh yeah, we love bass but it's the practicality of having full range speakers 20Hz - 20KHz in an average UK living room. The bass ends up overwhelming everything with the room reflections then your neaighbour, who's on average 15ft away from your couch on his couch, starts thumping the wall in time with the music. :D
Reviewers (either magazine based or online YT) and dealers with hopefully preferrences - musical and hearing wise - that closely matches yours given that some shortcomings of pricey audio-gear made after 9/11 only show up or noticeable 40 days after purchase.
So Technics would then be a nice place to start (and Elac as well for that matter) because where else can you find today a turntable, amplifier and speakers under one roof that are all audiophile?
I’m from the UK and can’t get enough bass! What I don’t like is boosting bass to falsely compensate for inadequate loudspeakers. All this does is destroy the upper bass/lower mid clarity. In this situation I prefer a subwoofer to extend the lower bass that the main speakers can’t manage. Unfortunately there are a group of self appointed audiophile ‘elites’ that feel that bass is vulgar and should be left out of the audio spectrum! Enjoying music played on a great system should be pleasurable enough but some feel it has to resemble the pretentious levels of wine tasting to be valid. Each to their own.
Manufacturers consider that when designing things. They make 230V for UK and Europe and 110V for the USA. Most of the world uses 220V-240V 50Hz and equipment is designed to handle about 10% +/- because of fluctuations in power supply. I don't know if they factor that into components or not. But there's very few countries using 110V, mostly banana republics and small island nations and the USA. www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plug-voltage-by-country/ China and India alone using 230V (same as Europe) and you've got over half the worlds population right there. Probably less than 10% of the worlds population is on less than 220V.
British Don't like Bass? Well I sure do. But - yes - sound travels and UK houses in general are smaller and more densely packed than the US. You will almost certainly be able to hear your neighbours music at anything other than minimal levels. That is perhaps even more apparent in Japan with apartments with thin walls. This is partly why I have ended up - sadly - going down the headphone route to enjoy my music.
That's a factor of the room size more than the speaker (assuming it's a quality speaker). Bass in a small room can multiply the sound and make it seem lopsided but the same speakers in a bigger room might work better. It also matters what the walls and floor are made of. Concrete or bricks reflect the sound more than wood or plasterboard/hollow walls.
I think we all know that if you build something yourself there's a sense of satisfaction, pride & joy Merely buying lends itself to the never ending cycle of buy, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade etc etc. Hmmmm...why didn't I think of this before. Clearly I need to learn to build. 😂😂😂 (Actually, I've been out of the upgrade cycle with all my equipment for a few years now...first time).
I do not agree entirely, I'm from the Netherlands, and in comparison to sound systems from other companies American sound systems definitely are base heavy, but base is also important for giving a fuller sound, and that's something (at least in my budget class) European and Japanese companies do better.
I found out that you buy stuff you love and don’t chase your tail forever. Tail chasing cost lots of money you will never get it PERFECT NEVER you will die first.
Shouldn't they all be compatible? Isn't there some sort of standard in the output section of, say pre-amps or CD players or record player output stage? It would be a weird and chaotic hifi world if everything was engineered so radically differently that you couldn't use them in mix and match. This isn't Apple where only their stuff works in their universe.
Those audio designers who in the 1990s talked about experimenting with transistors salvaged from a Vietnam War era B-52 G Stratofortress seem went inexplicably silent after 9/11.🤔
You really need to match your virus masks with your hearing aids. If there's too much high end roll off, you won't hear the harmonics that give depth and space to the latest Miley Cyrus albums.
don’t know about others, but ... crickets sound the same regardless of ones ethnic origins, don’t they? ... waterfalls sound? ... crackling sound of burning wood? ... sounds of a riot mob? ... thats why the only criteria measurable is the hearing frequency range of 20hz to 20,000 hz ... give or take ... the rest is ... advertisement$$$ ... 🎶🎵🎼🙏
@@ThinkingBetter The sound of God's voice makes Dolby surround seem like a low bit MP3. The sound of God's voice •literally• brings things into existence. Like a Transformer changing into a new shape. This description is more real than you can understand, until you have witnessed it.
Sorry Paul but I do have to disagree with you on this point different countries products do have different tonal sounds over the years I have had American Japanese Chinese British German you name it I have probably had a component from just about evert country they are all sound different on the same pair of speakers fact 🎶🤔
Half the fun (and most of the expense) of this hobby is moving different brand components in and out of your stack!
I agree, single brand to the extent possible is a good starting point. Then you need a lot of experience to learn what you like, what you don't, what you're going after in the sound of your system, and what's going to get you there. And that's all subject to change, which makes for a lifelong hobby!
Perfect answer, Paul. The last time I was "wowed" by a system was the last time I listened....my friends and I share the same hobby. Listening to good music on great systems
Thank you for answering my question, much appreciated. I think I agree with your suggestion and I am leaning towards one brand for now for both the pre-amp and monoblocks, cheers and see you in the next one. Bye 👋
Interesting thoughts Paul, however, it has been my experience that, while people do have preferred manufactures, and matching them is prob easier, but most of us have components from various manufactures.
I also stuck to one company ( Yamaha) till I bought Klipsch speakers ( R-P6000F). Then I realized that there is very limited bass in that system ( before I was using graphic equalizer and JBL LX-60 and I liked the sound and didn't miss anything ) , I went to the shop who convinced me to buy that new Yamaha and complained that there is no bass and they suggested E-motiva PT-100 and A-300 ( fortunately that preamp has tone control) and now I have system which produces sound I really like. Then I bought external DAC ( Topping), Dectet from PS Audio and cable recommended by PS Audio -- each of these improved sound even further . Seeing ( rather hearing) what improvements Dectet and cable PerfectWave AC-5 made I started now saving for Power Plant 12. In summary -- approach to buy everything from one manufacturer is probably safe but not necessarily brings desired results
Finding a dealer is a good starting point who lets you try stuff out at home I know it's hard these days
And once you do don't pick his brain and then order online to save a few dollars. Pay him for his time and expertise.
Ask a company that makes the whole kit, they will say you must have the same brand for synergy. Ask a speaker (for example) company, and they will say 'we are the specialist - why go to to that amp/fridge manufacturer for speakers!' Good answer as usual from Paul.
As a seller of component audio, most of my customers and my own experience in sound differences were found in speaker manufacturers. The point at which the ear is most attuned a specific sound. I have found speakers built in the Far East have a different sound to those built in say, England. But not so much in the “electronics” themselves. My opinion of course.
every manufacturer have their "house" sound but that can change as the market preference changes and technology improves.
I live in the UK! My RS5’s have heavy bass in my tent! Although the zip is broken at present, so have bass leakage!
You are lucky to live in a tent. We live in a brown paper bag in the middle of the road.
@@geoff37s38 wow,, you have a paper bag,, and a road,, we live under a cow pat in a field....😲
@@paulwibb.8944 your own cow pat? Sheer luxury.
@@geoff37s38 no,, we rent it..😃
I found out after I set it all up that my Elac debuts were designed by the same guy who helped designed my pioneer VSX-D1S. The synergy is a thing I was not expecting. I have amps I like, none of them sound as good as the pioneer with these speakers.
You have to know your gear first. Know what you like about and know what is lacking. You want to keep what you like and improve what is lacking. Then go look for components that can help you improve your sound without compromising what is already good. Sometimes improving one thing means deteriorating another. Different kinds of music can demand different characteristics. So you could get two of everything speakers, (pre)-amp, cd-player etc that do one thing really well and use them for that. Use the other to do other thing really well.
It's just like cooking where we treat each ingredient like a component where each one has their own taste and sound signature. A good chef will be able to combine components into a sound that is award winning (most preferable) to you. Another thing to recognize is their is no beat...only different 😀
I really don't agree with Paul on this one. Asians crave for well-defined, accentuated highs. Nice example: Some Japanes piano brands sell technically identical piano's worldwide, but with a different voicing for their domestic market. They tend to be marked with a suffix behind the type-name. Those piano's tend to sound harsh to non-Asians.
Or in sound reproduction: British brands are the master of 'flat' (google 'flat earth society'), Americans crave 'expressive'. Just switch between a pair of B&W and a pair of Klipsch. Now I write it down, I realise: It has a bit of 'stiff upperlip' boring vs 'obnoxiously loud' theatrical about it, doesn't it?
What PS Audio calls 'musical' would be considered 'coloured' or 'unbalanced' by others. Just as when PS Audio calls Spectral 'sterile', others would call that 'accurate'
The home-size you mention certainly has an influence, though. American room large and wood. European houses brick or concrete. Asian houses small, and different construction materials. I suppose these facts partly explain the American love for subwoofers, the European love for floorstanders and the Asian fascination for monitors.
I like my speakers British (with concentric drivers), my electronics Asian, and I am a bit ambivalent about amps. Maybe Asian class D for speed, detail and clarity, European class A/B for smoothness and 'likability'.
What are you talking about hahaha
I couldn't agree more from a piano perspective. Yamaha's are bright with a fair amount of attack to the notes. Bosendorfer (German) tend to be rich and warm ( if a little muffled to my taste). Whereas Stienway's split the middle. But I wonder if it is fair to impose a blanket assumption about a entire music listening culture based upon a single instrument.
Things are a tad more complicated. A Japanese car feels different than a German car. S class & a Lexus, two wholly different driving experiences. A pure American made amp should sound different than a Japanese made amp or British made. Issue now is that no amp is now 100% one country’s components based. Primaluna or pass lab products use parts from all over the globe. So, do they sound American now? Major components used in First watt or pass lab are Japanese. So these sound Japanese. Mr Pass must be a huge fan of Japanese components. A certain part of the world like Middle East and South Asia was and still is dominated by Japanese audio-video products
@@richardcomerford1828 that's why I have a Schimmel. And no, I don't judge on the piano. I illustrate the hifi tendencies with an example from a similar industry. Is just as true for singers, record labels etc.
@@faludabutt8253 of course they are. This is a yt reaction.
The component-thing though is just as true for cars. Still a Cadillac, Lexus, Jaguar and BMW are pretty distinguishable. Same with pass lab, Naim and Nakamichi
very informant as usual Paul.i lived in canada for 28 years .back in scotland the last couple of years and they certainly don't regard subwoofers as much as in north America .but that might be changing . . miss my trips to the states when i lived in canada . many thanks for all the tips Paul over the years .best Archie 😊😊😊
Biggest matching challenge is between your ears, room and speakers.
Yeah you’re pretty much stuck with those things for the most part haha, getting them to work with each other to make a good sound stage is where the rabbit hole is for me. I don’t have money for upgrades, but I have some time to adjust things. I can’t always rearrange the living room on the fly because my bookshelves are so massively heavy haha and of course I am married.
Yep, get appropriately sized speakers for your room and focus on placement. The rest is almost irrelevant, until you get that right.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Right, it’s silly to worry about the DAC quality when your setup is an acoustical mess...
Well said!
Hey a paradigm shift, before the advice was to start with the speaker! ?
Spend most there - speakers. There's a bigger quality and performance gap in the speaker arena than in any other component area. The speaker, often, then determines your options for amp.
I try to hone in on the rhythm and bass guitar as well as have a quiet a background as possible. My system must have good boogie factor and be very easy on the ear. No harsh treble. So I chase a tone that I like rather than detail. For years My system was a Thorens TD165 with Empire 2000 mm cart. Consonance phono. Consonance Cyber 10USB amp.(8/12W) IMF compact speakers. The speakers are transmission line and from the 70s. They are very warm and good bass oomph. The amplifiers are very neutral and very quiet. The Empire cart is a little light on bass. That seems to balance out the speakers oomphiness. This system has such a good tonal balance. I've plugged in a Linn LP12 with Grace arm and Stanton 681 but it only lasted a day. Too bass heavy. The system lost all it's detail to overwhelming bass.
It took me a long time to get this together but then I listened to this system for hours every day for a good decade and only retired it two years ago. I retired simply because I wanted to try something new. The hunt has been on for two years now. Good fun.
Brit here, love my bass, love my reggae 😀
Oh yeah, we love bass but it's the practicality of having full range speakers 20Hz - 20KHz in an average UK living room. The bass ends up overwhelming everything with the room reflections then your neaighbour, who's on average 15ft away from your couch on his couch, starts thumping the wall in time with the music. :D
@@captainwin6333
Train your neighbor to do that with the kick drum for added musical synergy. XD
@@captainwin6333 As long as he can keep time what's the problem?
I seem to recall a video by Marantz where they sat and switched out components, bragging about creating a sound specifically for Europe.
Reviewers (either magazine based or online YT) and dealers with hopefully preferrences - musical and hearing wise - that closely matches yours given that some shortcomings of pricey audio-gear made after 9/11 only show up or noticeable 40 days after purchase.
Buy every thing from PS Audio , right Paul
Buy everything from Bose and see how that'll do 😜
Or Apple 😂
Great post.
you get your amp from a comp that specialises in amps, speakers likewise; no company can be great in all components
What about east coast sound versus the west coast sound in the U.S.? That’s different sound within the same country.
So Technics would then be a nice place to start (and Elac as well for that matter) because where else can you find today a turntable, amplifier and speakers under one roof that are all audiophile?
Let's take a trip to the Flee Market .. we might find some matching components there ..
I doubt you'll be there long, though.
I from the title, I thought this was going to be about matching up parts like capacitors and transistors.
I’m from the UK and can’t get enough bass! What I don’t like is boosting bass to falsely compensate for inadequate loudspeakers. All this does is destroy the upper bass/lower mid clarity. In this situation I prefer a subwoofer to extend the lower bass that the main speakers can’t manage. Unfortunately there are a group of self appointed audiophile ‘elites’ that feel that bass is vulgar and should be left out of the audio spectrum! Enjoying music played on a great system should be pleasurable enough but some feel it has to resemble the pretentious levels of wine tasting to be valid. Each to their own.
well different countries use different voltages so i could imagine that introducing a slight variable
Manufacturers consider that when designing things. They make 230V for UK and Europe and 110V for the USA.
Most of the world uses 220V-240V 50Hz and equipment is designed to handle about 10% +/- because of fluctuations in power supply.
I don't know if they factor that into components or not. But there's very few countries using 110V, mostly banana republics and small island nations and the USA.
www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plug-voltage-by-country/
China and India alone using 230V (same as Europe) and you've got over half the worlds population right there. Probably less than 10% of the worlds population is on less than 220V.
British Don't like Bass? Well I sure do. But - yes - sound travels and UK houses in general are smaller and more densely packed than the US. You will almost certainly be able to hear your neighbours music at anything other than minimal levels. That is perhaps even more apparent in Japan with apartments with thin walls. This is partly why I have ended up - sadly - going down the headphone route to enjoy my music.
you could be right about the bass thing in the uk. i dont like bass drowning sounds..
That's a factor of the room size more than the speaker (assuming it's a quality speaker). Bass in a small room can multiply the sound and make it seem lopsided but the same speakers in a bigger room might work better. It also matters what the walls and floor are made of. Concrete or bricks reflect the sound more than wood or plasterboard/hollow walls.
The only way to end up with the right speaker is to build it yourself !! As long as you know all the ins and outs of the drivers you choose !!
I think we all know that if you build something yourself there's a sense of satisfaction, pride & joy Merely buying lends itself to the never ending cycle of buy, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade etc etc.
Hmmmm...why didn't I think of this before. Clearly I need to learn to build.
😂😂😂
(Actually, I've been out of the upgrade cycle with all my equipment for a few years now...first time).
Audes Made in Estonia.Good speaker company.
I have been always told that the most important items to match are the speakers.
Yes, left and right channels should be similar to each other. The closer, the better.
Matched to the room and your taste in music.
I do not agree entirely, I'm from the Netherlands, and in comparison to sound systems from other companies American sound systems definitely are base heavy, but base is also important for giving a fuller sound, and that's something (at least in my budget class) European and Japanese companies do better.
Small pause in reading ... very good comment by its own 😀
I found out that you buy stuff you love and don’t chase your tail forever. Tail chasing cost lots of money you will never get it PERFECT NEVER you will die first.
That's sound advice. Mr p.s. audio......
Trial and error.
my answer: just use EQ. You done.
Totally agree.
I always thought that the more speakers you have an different your speakers are the better itl sound
Shouldn't they all be compatible? Isn't there some sort of standard in the output section of, say pre-amps or CD players or record player output stage? It would be a weird and chaotic hifi world if everything was engineered so radically differently that you couldn't use them in mix and match.
This isn't Apple where only their stuff works in their universe.
Am I the only one who thought he was going to talk about matching transistors, capacitors etc
Those audio designers who in the 1990s talked about experimenting with transistors salvaged from a Vietnam War era B-52 G Stratofortress seem went inexplicably silent after 9/11.🤔
You really need to match your virus masks with your hearing aids. If there's too much high end roll off, you won't hear the harmonics that give depth and space to the latest Miley Cyrus albums.
don’t know about others, but ... crickets sound the same regardless of ones ethnic origins, don’t they? ... waterfalls sound? ... crackling sound of burning wood? ... sounds of a riot mob? ... thats why the only criteria measurable is the hearing frequency range of 20hz to 20,000 hz ... give or take ... the rest is ... advertisement$$$ ... 🎶🎵🎼🙏
*John 3:3*
Paul 2.0
Iron Maiden's reading of Revelations chapter 13 verse 18 - it rocks!!! 🤘
@@laurentzduba1298 O God of earth and altar, bow down and hear our cry...
Dolby 5.1
@@ThinkingBetter
The sound of God's voice makes Dolby surround seem like a low bit MP3.
The sound of God's voice •literally• brings things into existence. Like a Transformer changing into a new shape. This description is more real than you can understand, until you have witnessed it.
Sorry Paul but I do have to disagree with you on this point different countries products do have different tonal sounds over the years I have had American Japanese Chinese British German you name it I have probably had a component from just about evert country they are all sound different on the same pair of speakers fact 🎶🤔
8 views 66 likes... wut
Mine says no views and 37 likes including mine.
Update one minute later. 90 views, 79 likes.
@@swinde that’s more reasonable
A view takes 5 minutes to complete, a like is done in a second. That could make more likes than completed views when the video is just published.