mae@aplvax.UUCP (09/20/83)
I have never owned a stereo system (most of what I've seen in this newsgroup reads like a foreign language) but now that I am planning to move into my own house I am interested in getting one. Do any of you experienced people out there have recommendations of what I should look at in a medium price range? Where do I even start to decide what I want/can afford? Mail any suggestions or advice to me at: ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!mae Thank you, Mary Anne Espenshade
mat@hou5d.UUCP (09/22/83)
Buying your first stereo system? The best advice I can give is this: EXPECT TO BECOME DISSATISFIED WITH IT VERY QUICKLY! You will very likely find, no matter how much you spend or how many hours you spend shopping, after about 8-16 months, that you don't like something or other about it. Especially the speakers. Common advice is to spend about half your dollars on speakers. If you have $800, spend 400 on the speakers and $400 on the rest. I disagree. For your first system, spend $300 on the speakers, $300 on the rest, and expect to spend about $500 on new speakers in 12 months or so when you have learned how your hearing (ear-brain combo) reacts to various kinds of speaker response. If you find that you don't become dissatisfied, then there was no need to spend $400 on the speakers. If you become dissatisfied with the $300 speakers then you would probably have become dissatisfied with the $400 speakers. Mark Terribile hou5d!mat
smb@achilles.UUCP (09/22/83)
I have a somewhat different opinion. I favor spending enough money on a turntable to get one that won't destroy your records. Also, my experience is that almost anyone can hear the difference between a good and a bad system -- those who think they can't have in general not listened to anything decent.
faiman@uiuccsb.UUCP (09/23/83)
#R:aplvax:-33200:uiuccsb:5700008:000:644 uiuccsb!faiman Sep 22 11:38:00 1983 The only sober, unbiassed and informative source of information on stereo systems that I know of is Consumer Reports. They test equip- ment a few times each year and each time they also summarize the meaning and usage of various terms - so you need not be intimidated by the jargon. Their annual Buyer's Guide comes out in December and usually carries summaries of the most recent tests in each category. Thus, they may include in it their most recent cassette deck tests, for example, even if the tests are from an earlier year. They also give advice on how to evaluate equipment, buying options and how to deal with salesmen. Good luck!
harold@hp-pcd.UUCP (09/23/83)
#R:aplvax:-33200:hp-pcd:2300007:000:1 hp-pcd!harold Sep 22 09:38:00 1983
wjm@whuxk.UUCP (09/26/83)
One caveat about using Consumer Reports for audio equipment selection. While
their test procedures work very well for washing machines, automobiles, and
televison sets, I have many problems with their speaker judging. Their
evaluation of electronics tend not to be quite so prone to this problem, and
are more valid.
Consumer Reports tries to distill speaker performance down to a single number
called an "accuracy score". This is a noble goal, unfortunately it doesn't
work in the real world - since two speakers that both receive a grade of 90
(which is considered to be an excellent score by CU) may sound quite different
since they lost their 10 points in different places. You might want to start
with the CU ratings and go to a cooperative neighborhood dealer and listen
to several of their highly rated speakers in your price range (CU tends to
rate speakers of the same general price class together, as one should - you
cannot - as many of us have mentioned earlier on the net - expect a $100
speaker to sound the same as a $1000 model.).
The key to getting a pair of speakers you'll be happy with is to listen to them
Bring several of your favorite records and spend the better part of a morning
or afternoon at a local dealer A/B'ing speakers. Be sure to use an amplifier
of similar power to what you are considering and make sure that the volume
is set the same when comparing speakers. Psychological testing has shown
that the louder of two speakers in an A/B test where the levels aren't match
ed almost always sounds "better".
In defense of Consumers Union (CU) and Consumer Reports - they do not accept
advertising and are very strict about refusing to allow their test results to
be used by manufacturers, so they will give you (as much as is humanly posssible)
an unbiased report.
They are also one of the few publications that will say something BAD about a
product. Most of the reputable stereo publications (Stereo Review, High
Fidelity, and Audio, to name three) will not print a review that makes a bad
product look good but they won't print the bad review either. So if a product
isn't mentioned it could mean its a dog or it could mean they didn't have the
space to review it.
Bill Mitchell
Bell Laboratories
Whippany, NJ 07981 (whuxk!wjm)seifert@ihuxl.UUCP (09/27/83)
Consumer Reports may be unbiased as far as brand goes, but they are definately biased when it comes to price. They have no conception of high performance, and thus will not recommend an item which costs more, but performs better. They do a good job for items with no entheusist market, like toasters or window fans, where all you care about is does it work?, is it safe? how long 'till it breaks? For products with an entheusist/hobbist market, such as audio, cars, cameras,etc, check out the specialist magazines. They do a much better job, and yes, they usually do cover the lower price products as well as the high end. Dave Seifert ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert