All -
I'm a very reluctant audiophile, someone who quite contentedly has listened to thousands of cds on a boombox until the last few months.
Somehow - and I didn't set out to do this - I started hearing what I was missing/what didn't sound right and...once it happened, there was no way to 'unhear' the problems.
So I did what many of you have done, reading extensively - particularly at the lowest of low-end equipment.
I love Stereophile's budget column, but even there the balance is - for good reason, no doubt - on equipment in the $1000 range.
So my question is: what's the best source of information for people like me, who are interested entirely in the low-end of stereo and home theater, but still want good advice about what to purchase and what to avoid?
For example; thanks to Stereophile and a few other publication/web sites, I've pieced together a small system for my family room - a Trends Micro amp, a pair of V3 Atoms and an Oppo 980.
But I really would like to know more about some of the choices at my local Best Buy: can you get good sound of the low end SONY universal player? Is the house brand Insignia receiver any good?
And though I've already purchased Infinitys and an NAD receiver for my office - (the NAD used for $100 and the Infinitys from HK's ebay store for about $120) - I have them hooked up to a Philips universal player that represents some kind of extreme low end for video play (if the Philips can't play the file, chances are nothing else will).
So within the realm of cheap, what would be an improvement?
My path is, I think, the opposite of self-divider's, who started with some of the same sorts of low end inquiries and quickly discovered he needed much better to be satisfied at all.
best,
Scott Atkinson
Watertown NY
All -
I'm a very reluctant audiophile, someone who quite contentedly has listened to thousands of cds on a boombox until the last few months.
Somehow - and I didn't set out to do this - I started hearing what I was missing/what didn't sound right and...once it happened, there was no way to 'unhear' the problems.
So I did what many of you have done, reading extensively - particularly at the lowest of low-end equipment.
I love Stereophile's budget column, but even there the balance is - for good reason, no doubt - on equipment in the $1000 range.
So my question is: what's the best source of information for people like me, who are interested entirely in the low-end of stereo and home theater, but still want good advice about what to purchase and what to avoid?
For example; thanks to Stereophile and a few other publication/web sites, I've pieced together a small system for my family room - a Trends Micro amp, a pair of V3 Atoms and an Oppo 980.
But I really would like to know more about some of the choices at my local Best Buy: can you get good sound of the low end SONY universal player? Is the house brand Insignia receiver any good?
And though I've already purchased Infinitys and an NAD receiver for my office - (the NAD used for $100 and the Infinitys from HK's ebay store for about $120) - I have them hooked up to a Philips universal player that represents some kind of extreme low end for video play (if the Philips can't play the file, chances are nothing else will).
So within the realm of cheap, what would be an improvement?
My path is, I think, the opposite of self-divider's, who started with some of the same sorts of low end inquiries and quickly discovered he needed much better to be satisfied at all.
best,
Scott Atkinson
Watertown NY