Never do THESE FIVE THINGS with your HiFi! #1 Can instantly IMPROVE your sound.
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- čas přidán 16. 05. 2024
- #audiophile #hifi #hifitips
My Website: www.stevehuffphoto.com
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Today I talk about FIVE things you should NEVER do with HiFi! I've learned over the years about many things such as perfection, cables, speaker placement, room size and mid priced vs high priced gear. I lost money at times learning these simple common sense lessons. Hope you enjoy!
Steve
Media Contact/Review Contact: stevehuff1@icloud.com - Jak na to + styl
I've been into hi-fi for 42 years and I've found the quest for perfection is a total waste of time in fact slight fault's in the sound can sound better than an overly detailed and Analytical sound witch can get tiring overtime you know when you've found your sound because it'll make you smile and not just that you'll stay with those components and won't continually change out there's no perfection in the real world so just build a system that sounds fun and entertaining.
in short buy the gear you like in your budget and don't care what audiophiles or reviewers say don't go on the hype train cause this train Never stops
Rule number one.
“Don’t let others rule your personal life”
Thanks for this advice, some years ago I moved my speakers out of the corners and the difference in the sound was incredible. The bass become tight Speaker positioning is everything
5. Never look for perfection.
4. Never assume that the more expensive audio pieces are going to be better than the less expensive ones.
3. Never buy prices cables without an audition as they may sound worse.
2. Never buy speakers that are too large for your room and vice versa.
1. Make sure you set up your speakers the right way (positioning).
Thx 😌
I like that you emphasized speaker placement several times. Speaker placement and room dynamics are HUGE factors in any system.
Solid, pragmatic advice. I appreciate the info about cables and especially the company that lets you audition cables like Warby Parker. Tip #1 is key!
About big speakers in small rooms, it can work quite well if you use a DSP to tailor the bass response to your room. That way you will get an extended response and great dynamics without overloading the room.
I bought speaker cable from amazon not dear sounds fantastic. I've had dear speaker cable never heard the difference.
This is great advice. I can particularly relate to number 5 as even after upgrading a component that has lead to a significant improvement, it’s not been long before I have been looking to upgrade another part of my system. Thankfully, I have now reached a point where I am happy with my set up, with the last major upgrade being in April 2021.
Thank you. Excellent practical advice. 👍
The first rule he mentioned is the most important. Really worth listening to. A friend of mine once said "audiophiles are never happy." I'm trying not to have that problem.
Great recommendations. A caveat: The wall behind your speakers is the front wall--it's in front of you. Dimension recommendations for speaker placement are silly unless you know the type of speaker, esp porting, you're dealing with. Speaker placement is hugely important and more complicated than described here. Audio Notes (for instance) are designed to be placed against the walls and in the corners. Rear ports vs front, no ports, etc.... It's not rocket surgery, and it's hugely important, but it's not a one-size-fits-all fix.
And #2 is fantastic. Subscribed. Also, if you could give some kind of quantitative assessment coming from experience, or even some examples based on room dimensions and examples of speakers that actually fit it ....
Spot on advice !! Booming bass !...bad !! Finding the right balance of course is key where it does not effect the the upper frequencies, and allowing you to hear deeper into the music!
After being into audio for the better part of 36 years, I've finally come to a place where I'm largely happy to just collect more music. I still make small changes, but when I sit down and listen I am often just really happy with how the music comes to me. I've had more expensive systems, but this is the most satisfying I've ever had. Rega P3 (Neo PSU), AT-VM95SH cart, Schiit Mani, PS Audio Sprout 100, GR Research XLS Encore (with all the upgrades). I also use an Audiolab CDT6000 transport and the internal DAC of the Sprout. I like it so much I also go through all my existing records and re-discover them. It's a great place to be, finally. It took a bit of work to find the correct speaker positioning to get the best imaging the system is capable of, but it paid off a lot in terms of being able to hear the impact small changes have, since a lot of it lies in the imaging (and the lack of smearing thereof).
Why do you have the Sprout and the Mani together?
Arrived at a system in the mid 90's after going through quite a few components. Decided to go back to adding a turntable. It was necessary to get a new pre amp to make this work. This initiated a high angst, wallet draining domino effect in component juggling that has lasted for about two years. Some recordings sound fantastic, quite a few don't. Can't wait for it to be over...it's starting look like having two or three systems is the only way to cover all or most of the bases.
I have Sonus faber olympica 1s in a 10X12. Granted I have 2 12" Rythmik subs in there too---and the level knobs on those are barely an eighth of the way up. Def agree for small rooms to keep the speakers small....
I love your advice and review brilliant
Re speaker positioning, it also depends on whether the speakers have back or front ports (or bottom firing ports!).
The distance from the back wall is less critical for front ported speakers, but you also lose some control on the bass.
It makes a bigger difference for back-ported speakers. Speakers often come with foam plugs you can use to tune the bass (but YMMV).
The toe angle and the distance between the speakers and the chair makes a difference. Experiment, try different placements and see which one you like most!
Considering the size of his room and putting speakers a few feet away from the walls. Okay, so you are pretty much sitting in the exact middle on a chair no bigger than a side chair, of the room 4 feet away from a possible TV with no other furniture. That's just not practical (unless you want to live in a Maxell commercial). I always went by the distance from the wall has to be at least the diameter of the port if round back firing, or the length or width (which ever is longest) if rectangle and back firing. Twice the distance of the port if there is room to spare.
Regarding your comments on big speakers in a small room. According to your review you loved the big Cornwall IV in your small room. You were so impressed that they ranked in the five best speakers. A quote from your review:
“If you have a smaller room like me, well these are also amazing in that scenario and can even rattle your bones if you are daring enough to raise the volume a bit. No, they are not “too much” for a smaller room as long as you have quality amplification.”
I always buy high fidelity pieces by the piece. Sometimes one piece is better than the other pieces. Once in a while a piece is just a piece. If you have pieces that don't work well together, you wind up with just a bunch of pieces. If my lexicon was larger, I wouldn't have to use the word piece so often.
Breathing room around the speakers changes things dramatically. Not just behind them but in every dimension. I personally don’t use floorstanders anymore because I think the cabinets going all the way to the floor (with drivers or ports near the floor) is a big compromise and I don’t like the effect it has. For large speakers I prefer something with vintage style cabinet dimensions, up on a stand, with breathing room between the cabinet and floor.
#3 would be also be best advice from me. Different cables just make different sound. Maybe better maybe worse but not always better with more expensive. My favorite cables aren’t even the most expensive I owned, luckily borrow it from the shop and love it so much that I just have to buy it.
Speakercables only need to be >99% copper in superfine threads, and the right mm2 for the power it needs to transport in the given length.
Everything else is hocus-pocus to drain audiophile wallets. This is from my decades of experience in audio. You can thank me later.
I've learned not to audition anything at home, because I will end up buying it for slight improvements. I tried some replacement mains leads (Titan STYX) for a week, went back to the standard Naim ones, and ended up buying the Titan. Kudos KS speaker cable was also an improvement over the Naim NACA5 cable, after a week of listening, I put the Naim cable back onto my system, and I was sold on the Kudos. The HiFi bargain of the year has to be March DAC1, which I use as a Roon endpoint. Your point about speakers and room size, I have to agree with.
My primary audio rule- Gear doesn't mean a thing until you sort out the acoustics in your listening space . Not an easy task (until you actually know how to accomplish it), but audio simply -can not- sound correct until it is done. It's physics, and no amount of fancy expensive gear can beat physics, not even $10,000 speaker cables. Sub pro tip #1- Room modes, untreated, distort the sound throughout the entire hearable audio range, as in, a primary room mode in the low bass region effects sound all the way up through the audible range. So, solving the room mode and threating it is essential to audio success.
Great advice as always!
On speaker size in small room- would love to hear your thoughts on Ojas
Opinions, please: Minimum size room for Klipsch RP-600Ms? (If the room gets 7/10 score on extent of carpets, upholstery/drapery, cushioning, books.) Thanks
exactly---the Rose line up looks great---but----the MytekDAC + has been perfect for me.
Search for a state of contentment. Then try to optimise your room and experiment with listening and speaker positions. That will be revealing.
Are those Fleetwood Devilles still killing it for you??? I'm listening to some Harbeths this weekend. Hoping to pull the trigger on them and Luxman 509. Let me know what you think so far of the Devilles. Might be the next ones. Love the content. And yes the Leica is all about the feel and look. My xt3 and Nikon F6 are my go to for shooting film and digital. My m6 is for my soul only.
I have found over 30 years of listening and purchasing hi fi gear that speakers are what make the greatest sonic difference. If possible have an A/B comparison with same source before making a choice.
Great advice!
Excellent as usual!!!
I agree, the Leica M10R is the best camera for me, but definitely not for everyone. It’s not very easy for a costumer to find the personal perfect system. The market is so big, maybe to big to test every turntable, loudspeaker, … .
I dont know i plug my fender tele into my dual rectifier Mesa Eng 100 watt tube Amp and it sounds perfect every time
Don't spend thousands (or even hundreds) on mains power filtering. They mostly just replicate what went in...
Small room + small speakers + 1 or 2 subs works fine. Placement of the subs is key.
Some audiophiles endlessly chase upgrades because most of what they're buying just doesn't impact sound. Their impressions are based on perception and perceptions change.
Facts
Actually it's borderline boredom...lmfao
Perfection doesn't exist.
The missus said to me "let me get this straight, you spend over £1,000 on speaker cables because you can 'hear the difference' but you can't hear me calling you from the kitchen" 😁
Great. As always.
Do you think the La Scalas are appropriate for your listening room size? I'm thinking about getting some and my room is about the same size. Thanks
They worked fine in this room. It wasn't a size issue as to why I moved them, I just acquired a speaker that sounded even better for my tastes. The LaScala's are amazing but because they do not have a big booming low end, they can be placed in smaller spaces. They may look funny, but they sound gorgeous in the mids and highs. I may move them back in this week as its been a while. Who knows, I may love them even more after not hearing them in here for a while! Maybe I will do an update video on them, and a Side by side with the Fleetwoods!
You can even buy quality vintage hi-fi like amps, reel to reel tapes, cassette decks, turntables , preamps , loudspeakers in charity stores, online, and thrift stores for peanuts. Like I do. With a little tender love and care, they sound like magic. And they have looks and personality built in the US, UK, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. Not built cheaply for local companies in China.
Perfection does exist, but it's clearly 100% subjective. Sound system dissatisfaction usually emanates from solely listening to the equipment, as opposed to the recordings, which surely at the end of day, should be the ultimate aspiration.
thanks!
What do you guys know of putting some diffusers on the ceiling 🤔 Do they help ?
Do they comply with fire safety regulations?
Regarding the chasing perfection suggestion, I would have quit the upgrade game after the Klipsch Lascala acquisition.
Having to build large home subs for car audiophiles and most prefer 2.1 stereo
Speaker cable guys crack me up. 50 bucks for a roll of 12awg speaker wire works fine.
$50, how big of a roll are you getting???
I bought 10 meters of Kabledirect 2 x 2.5 OFC speaker cable for €17 a few weeks ago. Replacing old non ofc cables that cost twice as much 18 years ago and it made a big difference. The new speaker cable makes my speakers sound so much better.
i love your table for turntable, what is it?
For people who like boomy bass. Just add a subwoofer or two. Pull your full range out in your room and do the sub craw for your subwoofer. Simple as that lol
Im more into HT but listen to music often aswell. I bought paradigm founder 120h speakers. The cables are long runs about 15m left speaker is connected with a nice cable all insulated but its small gauge. The right is connected with a 10 gauge cable but just the cheap cables you buy on ebay. I noticed the right speaker plays much louder with the bigger gauge cable but in rare frequencies in some movies (never music ) the tweeter seems harsh.
Im not sure which cable i should match the same. I would get more expensive cables but you can imagine on 15m runs its not cheap. Any thoughts ?
15" inch woofer's and big power amp sound's great.
Excellent
What about ghoust communications? )))))))
Great tips, but tend to partially disagree with the last one, 3d scene is still possible if speakers located near the back wall, but back wall has to be covered with acoustic panels.
Depends on the speaker design.
@@peterw2714 yeah, you are absolutely right. Some speakers i.e. Audio Note are designed to be placed near the wall or even in the corners.
You do realize that 3D is a term for visual material, in audio it's called spatial effect
@@JoeOrber Spatial Audio has dipole open baffle speakers that do the “3d” thing.
Agree with number one. Speaker placement is very important and so is recognizing how the speakers interact with the listening space and treating that listening space acoustically
Can I get decent, stereo sound with a pair of bluetooth speakers?? If so, which ones???
And what you reccomend for a home receiver like 50 watts or so. Ty
I think you can read more info (or better listen to) about Bowers & Wilkins Formation Duo, KEF LS50 Wireless II, KEF LS60 Wireless and see if it's in your budget, taste ...
Also, listen to live music to get your ears used to the real sound of instruments.
And, untreated rooms have more affect on the sound than cables and interconnects beyond £500
Nr2 , if a small speaker play a flat curve, and you switch to a big speaker, and it play a flat curve, how can it be more bass? My belive was what a big speaker could play louder, and maby with a bigger pounch in the bass region, but should it matter in the same volume if both speakers have a flat curve 20-20000Hz ? How can that be?
It's called dropoff. A small speaker can be flat within it's range but it cannot produce 20hz convincingly. It's still considered flat.
I learned about "Looking for Perfection" the hard way. I have an Old School Sony receiver, I bought in 1998 in Calgary. I have been using it ever since, it does music perfectly. Has 650 Watts and 5.1, but it has old school connectors. So I thought I would get better, spent way too much and bought a Denon. The Denon is gutless, under powered crap. After 6 months the overpriced and under powered Denon is sitting in a box in my garage and I am using my Sony. Someone is going to get a great deal for themselves at Goodwill.
You can borrow several sets of cables for free from The Cable Company - that saved me tons.
As an audio nut for decades, I think cables are the biggest hype in audio world. My modest system is about $20k.
My cables are entry level cables, but quality manufacturers such as Kimber, Wireworld, and Pangea.
I rather spend $ on components.
I buy high-quality wire with high-quality copper (Mogami), high-quality connectors, and have it terminated by a guy who is an artist with a soldering iron. I've heard plenty of expensive cables and none of them have been an improvement. If I found some that were, I'd buy them in a second.
20k.. 'modest'.
I disagree only with the speaker cable section; any copper cable with the correct diameter for the power rating will sound the same. All the connections must be clean, though. A 20 watt speaker system will do very well with lamp cord. A high-power amp and speaker system will need larger gauge wire to handle the higher voltages.
Done well with very thin single wire cables even for 200+Watt amps. Only increase OHM load slightly but almost only resistive load so easy for the amp. Cost was few bucks for all wires.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
As price goes up, so do your expectations go up , too.
Thx.
One of the five things should be never review audio equipment in an untreated room...
And for an audiophile he has do much reverb in the room I hope it's not his audio room.
Ok danny
Maybe it's better to try new music than new equipment
top comment and so true !!
Finally, so honest to goodness stuff :P
I like sound - even when it’s not perfect it’s fun.
that is so true
IMHO, the #1 DO in audio is:
DO have as few as possible components in the signal path.
I agree I have tannoy canterburys in a 12 by 17 ft room firing down the room 3 ft from back wall but 2 ins from side wall I have iso ones under spks took me a wail to get it right I am very happy with the sound ps I have top amps cables and turntable is sme 30 with audio tec art 100 cartridges I enjoy my music and happy with my set up took me 50 years to get where I am 👌
I must disagree to Your #2!
The size of a speaker has nothing to do with overloading a small room, as I had the chance to learn recently.
What makes a smaller room overloaded, is the excursion/deflection of small bassmembranes, when they try to move big masses of air in very low frequencies, but they lack of area, and so try to compensate by displacement.
If You replace the wobbely let´s say 8" bass with a stiff 15" bass of a horn loaded speaker, it will blow You away with minimum deflection and no standing waves / problems in a small room, and be more dynamic besides.
The rule is: the smaller the room, the bigger the bass membrane to go! (For instance a speaker that comes to my mind in this regard: Ø Audio)
@@Carl-bd1rf You are missing my point. Sure 6x12" will be too much in a small room.
The very point is, how does the bass driver produce sound.
Nowadays the drivers are very soft hinged and the surface is divided into many small drivers. Due to this fact, the membranes need a lot of pump (way to move) to produce the same energy as one big membrane.
The pumping air creates all the problems with standing waves etc. that get really critical in a small room.
One stiff mounted 15" bassdriver can produce real hard kick bass without the need of big displacements and pumping, ergo it makes no standing waves (etc..) even in a small room.
Something I’d add. Just because a speaker is bigger and or has more drivers doesn’t mean they will sound bigger, better or have better bass output.
My room is 12 by 15. Running JBL 100T3s. Don’t believe in overload. Clearly 🤕
The best does not exist! 100% true.
Oh yes it does.
The best does not exist is simply false. He couldn’t even convince me after the first “tip” that he knows anything about audio
@@garfieldblessesyouwithadri3944 there is no best because everyone’s ears are different. Some prefer warm sounds, others cold. Some like colored sound, others neutral, analytical or even boring. Tubes vs SS. How would you describe perfect, it’s subjective.
@@mikeg2491 read audio literature. e.g by harman; They show that both trained and untrained listeres prefer the exact same frequency response with maximum of maybe 0.5 db deviations. Audio is a completely scientific subject and this whole "warm" "colored" "dark" bs that everyone boasts about is comparable to girls that think they know everything about people based on their astrology sign
@@garfieldblessesyouwithadri3944 Science proves the color blue is the most preferred color by most humans, does that mean a blue t-shirt is the ultimate end all “best” t-shirt? Bonus points if it costs $10k. Just curious though do you have any headphone recommendations that fit this exact scientific preferred sound frequency?
In the words of the Dalai Lama…
“True perfection seems imperfect, yet it is perfectly itself“.
Excellent golfer the Lama...
Heard he was a ELAC guy too
@@erics.4113 I guess you play regularly with his holiness
@@stimpy1226 gunga gungalah gungalah
@@erics.4113 ha ha ha ha ha. So who did you play with Rodney Dangerfield or Bill Murray with the Dalai Lama is the fourth. That must’ve been some hell of a round of golf.
@@stimpy1226 haha yes!!!
The reason is marketing and addiction to "fill the gap" with something "new" and "better".
Great perception of audio is not that much about perfection in components. It is about creating variables in illusion. Some tailor their system and room all the way just to create the best illusion of a piano or singer in a room. I once experimented with two sets of speakers to beam audio forward and backwards as performers on stage are 3d and sound goes either way. However, this illusion might do well with some recordings (guitars +++) , it doesn't apply to all. Synthesizer concerts like kraftwerk are hardly going two ways in reality as amplification is key there and speakers faced forward to an audience.
Same goes for open baffle speakers. Great for vocals in an intimitate performance, not for the illusion of being at a rock concert (buy Magnat or sth). And that quest for an illusion as an element of fun is to me what seperates studios with monitors to people in the real world. Since there are many illusions possible, there is also a neverending story to the quest about what is best, but coloration is not bad for an enthusiastic consumer. Most speakers add a little illusion, and that is fine.
$30,000 DAC? $100,000 CABLES? HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
Dont change tubes when your amp or preamp is still turned on or be prepared to smell smoke.
That would be for a future video.. 5 things to never do when you own a tube amp :)
Don't plug a DAC or component without volume control direct to your 1000w bridged mono blocs?
Or... Do it!!
9:55 These 500 bucks-cable may where the best cables you ever connected to your system. They probably just showed the real sound of the other components [just kidding. Or could they?]. When it comes to cables you should start at the power-plug or even better at the line voltage. A clean and stable AC voltage can improve your system more than a 'high-end' speker cable.
nonsense
Face it, it’s more of an addiction than achieving perfection.
Somekind agree. Your statement is somehow close to that feeling about audio passion
I think the 3 big things that hold you from getting a great stereo are: 1st you have no clue what you want. 2nd as long as you don't build hifi stuff yourself you will never find out what you want. 3rd The industry wants you to stay in this condition.
Omg, that is so true !
On top of having no clue what I actually want, what I enjoy changes through the day XD
I sure would like to look for perfection. However my wallet is not big enough lol
Also agree with #1. I would add: keep the volume down! No,, I am not your neighbor :-)) I say keep he volume down enough not to saturate the available dynamic range. There is a trade-off there, because your ears get easily accustomed to higher sound pressure, and they want more. In no time you end up there where it is hard to discern the low passages and small details, and at the same time you have no dynamic headroom. It's like flying too high in an airplane: the air gets thinner, you need more speed, so more power from the engines, and you can't maneuver at all. I prefer to keep the volume softer and enjoy both the details and the incredible dynamics of well recorded music (not much you can do with badly recorded music unfortunately).
In my opinion, loss of headroom may either come from an undersized amplifier or playing speakers out of their comfort zone.
Banana speaker cable improve,s my sound :)
That is so true
None of the recordings that are listened to were ever mixed or mastered on hifi speakers. This market exists to allow for dentists and anesthesiologists to brag to each other.
There is more to it than just that
Unless you are trained experienced tech, turn off before fiddling with components
Never give up your gear because your wife doesn't like it.
Easier to change the wife 😁
1) spend time setting up your speakers in the correct position, if you can’t get it quite right, buy an amplifier with tone controls 2) don’t buy expensive cable at any time. It’s a load of bollocks. Just buy anything made from Canare or Mogami- resists RFI, well built and studios use it to make music. So it’s fine for you.
yup there's a place out in cali or vegas that caters to studios---will make a custom cable for 150, or usually much less (say 75$ or so)....is really same cable other companies try to charge 350 and up for.
Hi sir.
A lifetime of experimenting with expensive hifi equipment might lead you closer to basic facts of acoustics that you could have learned in the school.
Just like you held on to those La Scala’s lol
Can you hear the cables can the cables be heard
they usually don't produce much of sound so no, you cannot hear the cables ;-)
Never let reflected sound reach your ears before the direct sound.
It never will because the path is longer.
@@peterw2714 that's what I was thinking, Aussie you play around and get the reflection to your ears first. We'll be waiting for ya, haha. Never take a picture of yourself from the future. Same thing.
Why is it High-End Audio seems to be two channel stereo rather than multi channel stereo,after all we hear all live music and sounds with 360 degree ears ,after all two channel stereophonic sound was and is more realistic than single channel Hi Fi and it makes sense that more channels are more like hearing the music live !
can't believe that i'm replying, as i feel somewhat under-qualified to do so! but here i go.....i (as many do, i'm sure) have a multi speaker set-up for films, and that's great fun, but there's something magical about a decent stereo sound-stage, where voices and instruments place themselves magically in front of you, in varying positions. my gear is all second-hand, all what-would-be-classed-as budget - but still decent. there's a quality and definition i don't get with my av amp. i haven't even got the space to bring the speakers in to the room, where they should be, but they still please me. for full 360 degree experience, try some binaural stuff, on youtube, with headphones, NOT speakers.
U donot put speakers against the wall.... also not facing U too...so the sound will bounce off the wall.... people think facing the speakers at them is the right way!!!
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