exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) (04/08/91)
In article <10441@uwm.edu> tmajni%sequent.uucp@RELAY.CS.NET (Tim Majni) writes: >The British say you should spend 1/3 on source, 1/3 on >amplification, and 1/3 on speakers. Should note that this is 'New British' thinking, and has been gaining ground in maybe the past year. The previous British rule of thumb was to build from source down: maybe 1/2 on source, and 1/4 each on amp and speakers; a lot of people still go by this, including me. There's also the rule of thumb I remember being used in the States before I moved over here, of loading the output end: 1/2 on speakers, 1/4 each on amp and source. I know there are some people who still firmly believe that, because I've had savage arguments with a few of them. Worse yet, it's possible to come up with totally sound and rational arguments for any of these rules of thumb. It's also possible to find people who will support whichever one you like based on their experiences of what sounds better. The saving grace is that there's one place where everyone I've talked to agrees -- these are ONLY rough rules of thumb to help you narrow down the range of what you've got to look at. You've GOT to make the final decision by listening to various combinations of stuff yourself, to decide what YOU prefer. -- Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!ukc!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132