rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (08/23/84)
[Audiophile Systems Ltd. of Indianapolis, distributors of Linn (turntables,
speakers) and Naim (electronics) have run an advertising series expounding
what they call the "Great Lies of Hi Fi".]
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The first lie, as they state it, is:
Spend most of your money on speakers.
They explain that it is a common misconception that the speaker is the most
important component, while in fact the performance of the speaker "...is
limited by the performance of every component that comes before it in the
reproduction chain..."
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In fact, most people attach a great deal of importance to speakers because
the speakers do have a difficult job. They are transducers, for one thing.
For another, they have to cope somehow with wide variations in environment
(i.e., room acoustics), which other components don't.
Consider the Linn claim about limitation of performance by the rest of the
chain. Sounds reasonable? Think again. Consider frequency response - the
meanest of systems can produce a signal down to 20 Hz or so, but few
speakers can produce reasonable bass below 50 Hz. Consider distortion -
the distortion of signals in a system has contributions from all
components after the one which generates the signal, and if one component
in the system has noticeably higher distortion than the others, it will
effectively determine the amount of distortion present, REGARDLESS of
where in the chain it occurs.
In fact, if you just want to get the best system for your money, spend the
money so as to balance the performance you get from the components. You'll
end up spending more money on the components that are harder to make well.
Doesn't that make more sense?
If you don't think that Linn is taking an extreme position, consider one
system which they suggest. (Turntable/arm/cart and speakers are by Linn;
electronics are by Naim, a separate but closely-allied company.) It
illustrates their idea of pushing the money toward the front end of the
system:
turntable $1000 \
tonearm 650 +---total $2150 front end
cartridge 500 /
preamp 550
amp 1350
speakers 625
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total 4675
Now, a system that costs that much ought to sound pretty damn good, don't
you think? Well, think again - let me tell you more about the speakers.
They are the Linn "K.A.N." - two-way acoustic suspension. The woofer is
110 mm - that's about 4.5" - and is absolutely incapable of anything
approaching bass. I don't know how anything that small can be called a
woofer. (You can do amazing things with small speakers, but you're still
stuck with physical laws - for a given sound level at a given frequency,
the distance the speaker cone has to move is inversely proportional to the
SQUARE of the diameter of the speaker. Translating, that means that a
12" woofer has something like a six-fold advantage over this little thing.)
In listening to the system above, on one particular jazz record, we were
surprised that when we changed from the KAN's to larger speakers, a bass
player suddenly appeared. The bass output had been so low with the KAN's
that we hadn't even heard him! Fine stuff for almost five grand.
I don't recall the explanation of what "KAN" stands for. If we were
talking capability, it should be a KAN'T...but if we were talking about
what it sounds like, maybe the name is appropriate...
--
Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086
...Are you making this up as you go along?ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (08/28/84)
But, if you don't have too much money, spend it on a stylus. When you are able to afford a better system, it won't be worth much if all your records have been ground to death by the Moving Nail Close-n-play (turn over for 78) stylus. -Ron After all, who do you think is going to win in the war of Vinyl vs. Diamond.
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (08/29/84)
>But, if you don't have too much money, spend it on a stylus. When >you are able to afford a better system, it won't be worth much if >all your records have been ground to death by the Moving Nail Close-n-play >(turn over for 78) stylus. Ron's right, of course. Moreover, you need a tonearm and turntable that can allow a good stylus to track correctly. However, Linn is playing in a different ballpark. You can get a pretty good turntable/tonearm and stylus for, say, $250 or probably less. Linn is talking about TEN TIMES that much money. -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...I'm not cynical - just experienced.