I am one of those people who hates the way high end has given way to $100,000 turntables hooked up by wires that cost as much as a Honda. My current stereo is probably worth about $10,000, anchored by the VPI turntable I bought as a demo in 1984 with a Rega arm for $1000. Its been updated a lot, but at the time it was one of the best one could buy.
Recently, some friends asked me to help them buy a cheap stereo. One of them is battling a debilitating disease, so rather than confuse them with a lot of choices, my wife agreed to let me just buy them something. Thanks to Stereophile's review of a $129 pair of Andrew Jones designed Pioneer speakers, I bought them a pair of floorstanders in the same line for $89 each on Amazon with free shipping. I bought an Onkyo Networked reciever for $220 and a $50 sony dvd player. From Monoprice, I bought some cheap oxygen free speaker wire and interconnects. With the optional wireless plug and a dock to connect their iPhones, I was out the door for under $500-about what I paid for the stands under Class A rated my Usher Tiny Dancers.
WOW! I am completely blown away by what $500 can do, if spent intelligently, and so are they. CD's sound great, they can control their iphone playlists with the remote and hopefully I'll figure out how to get the internet radio working as well.
My friends have 2 college aged kids. One will soon be a doctor-the other a lawyer. Until now, the best sound they have had in their home was a Bose iPod dock. I feel like I have influenced 2 future high end customers, along with making my friends illness a bit easier to bear.
One review of a pair of $129 speakers made all the difference. In the lives of real people, Its worth a lot more than the next review of a $20,000 DAC.
I am one of those people who hates the way high end has given way to $100,000 turntables hooked up by wires that cost as much as a Honda. My current stereo is probably worth about $10,000, anchored by the VPI turntable I bought as a demo in 1984 with a Rega arm for $1000. Its been updated a lot, but at the time it was one of the best one could buy.
Recently, some friends asked me to help them buy a cheap stereo. One of them is battling a debilitating disease, so rather than confuse them with a lot of choices, my wife agreed to let me just buy them something. Thanks to Stereophile's review of a $129 pair of Andrew Jones designed Pioneer speakers, I bought them a pair of floorstanders in the same line for $89 each on Amazon with free shipping. I bought an Onkyo Networked reciever for $220 and a $50 sony dvd player. From Monoprice, I bought some cheap oxygen free speaker wire and interconnects. With the optional wireless plug and a dock to connect their iPhones, I was out the door for under $500-about what I paid for the stands under Class A rated my Usher Tiny Dancers.
WOW! I am completely blown away by what $500 can do, if spent intelligently, and so are they. CD's sound great, they can control their iphone playlists with the remote and hopefully I'll figure out how to get the internet radio working as well.
My friends have 2 college aged kids. One will soon be a doctor-the other a lawyer. Until now, the best sound they have had in their home was a Bose iPod dock. I feel like I have influenced 2 future high end customers, along with making my friends illness a bit easier to bear.
One review of a pair of $129 speakers made all the difference. In the lives of real people, Its worth a lot more than the next review of a $20,000 DAC.