What are the most important things in audio reproduction?

[Bodhi]

Always start with knowing what eventually you want to achieve. From there....

Room size and construction including furnishing, lighting, power and mechanicals

Jack, I agree your first point above should really be everyone's first priority. And best of all, it's free!

Picking up on your comment about considering furnishings, lighting etc. I agree that is an important consideration to one's overall enjoyment of sitting down to listen to music, along with the color the walls, rugs/carpet & things to personalize your room like a guitar or violin on display, memorabilia etc which all contribute to what my Audio Engineer describes as a "havingness" .

 

[Hipper]

1. I would have thought room, speakers (type, active, or passive/active crossovers) room treatment (which can be dependant on speakers as well as room), positioning, ambient noise reduction, and DSP/EQ are all mixed in the first set of decisions. I don't see how they can be separated. Also included in this could be consideration for neighbours and domestic compromises that may be needed - e.g. WAF, air conditioning, seating (for one or more).

2. Amp (s) to suit speakers, room size and perhaps taste. Included here would be passive or active crossovers.

3. Sources. This depends again on taste but more importantly, the availability of the music you like.

4. Anti vibration/isolation kit.

5. Electrics - source of electricity, conditioners/regenerators etc., all cabling, grounding perhaps.

Someone mentioned budgeting. I would if I couldn't invest in everything at once, spend most heavily in the order I've listed. 4 and 5 deliver the least bang for your buck, 1 the most.

 

[NorthStar]

Let's pretend for a moment that I'm a teenager and I'm putting my first hi-fi stereo system together. I remember very well, as if it was just yesterday, the first thing I did.
I went to the bank and withdraw money.
I went to a hi-fi stereo store and talk to the salesman.
I bought my first turntable, stereo receiver and speakers.
I went back home and install everything on my own in my room.
I turn everything on and spun my first LP in that room.
I was in heaven, no question asked, the music's playing (Opera).

Today I would build a room first, then choose the speakers to match the room acoustically, then the audio components to match those speakers acoustically, then all the wiring to match the audio components acoustically.
Building a dedicated music listening room automatically implies an adequate electric grid, pure without contamination...of course.

But, I also want to have another room where beauty and decor and music playing are all dancing equally in harmony, including the wife, the children, the grandchildren, ...all the family and friends, including the dogs and cats.

Music is good to be shared, beautiful music...classical Opera and piano chamber and solo.
The sweetest and peacefulness the music is the better our surrounding world, including all the children and families from all colors and provenance. Promote peaceful sweet music and our planet gets all the rewards, including all wildlife and humanity and overall climate? Sure, just go solar powered cars.

 

[JackD201]

No completely missed the point. I am talking about budget for better recordings. To continue the AC outlet analogy, it is like first figuring out which is the best AC power strategy, before proceeding ahead... Not just having an AC outlet

I was pulling your leg man. Looks like my attempt at Brit style humour bombed LOL

I imagine most people hoping to take on a ground up build must have an existing collection of some sort to begin with. Perhaps if they were to add another format your point would be more, well, on point. Than there is the ever growing popularity of streaming services. I was rather shocked at the way IMO QoBuz slaughtered Tidal in terms of sound quality at a friend's house last weekend. We may have entrants in the future with no intention of seriously collecting physical media at all.

 

[JackD201]

Jack, I agree your first point above should really be everyone's first priority. And best of all, it's free!

Picking up on your comment about considering furnishings, lighting etc. I agree that is an important consideration to one's overall enjoyment of sitting down to listen to music, along with the color the walls, rugs/carpet & things to personalize your room like a guitar or violin on display, memorabilia etc which all contribute to what my Audio Engineer describes as a "havingness" .

Those considerations are as important to sound as it is comfort. Some lighting introduce a lot of electrical noise. Acoustic treatment must take into account not just the surfaces but also items in the room, what their shapes are, what they are made of and how they are oriented AND how many people are expected to be in the room on average. Placement of convenience outlets must be convenient and noise level of the HVAC makes a HUGE difference. Power may just be the easiest thing to upgrade provided you already spec'd quality copper wire. Nothing fancy, just good copper. From changing out to better outlets, replacing and upgrading one's panel board to going to Battery via something like the Stromtanks, these are all very straightforward.

The acoustician in me would love it if more people assessed their rooms more closely with these said considerations. To me this is all just part and parcel of trying to do it right thee first time. I think this iis why I seriously recommend bringing in the acoustician as early as the architectural design stage. It's not their first rodeo and they help spec out all these little, oft ignored elements of the space. Savings can be huge.

 

[JackD201]

Today I would build a room first, then choose the speakers to match the room acoustically, then the audio components to match those speakers acoustically, then all the wiring to match the audio components acoustically.
Building a dedicated music listening room automatically implies an adequate electric grid, pure without contamination...of course.

But, I also want to have another room where beauty and decor and music playing are all dancing equally in harmony, including the wife, the children, the grandchildren, ...all the family and friends, including the dogs and cats.

You can have both in one room. That's what I'm getting at Bob. . It's only a matter of thoughtful planning.

 

[microstrip]

1. Absence of neighbors ...

But yes, all else is welcome!

 

[NorthStar]

You can have both in one room. That's what I'm getting at Bob. . It's only a matter of thoughtful planning.

Jack, you have a dedicated music listening room in your home, very well designed, acoustically sound, a nice room.

Are there French windows with wide open views on the ocean, nice trees and greeneries, the mountains across, stainglass windows with beautiful art design, wood cabinetry from Italian Renaissance, high ceilings with Crystal chandeliers, paintings from Dali, Picasso and Gauiguin?

Yes I agree that you can marry dedication to best music reproduction with best environment.
If you can listen to great acoustically reproduced music in a room where all the family is happy while watching the whales bathing in the ocean and the eagles feeding their babies on high treetops, that's a pursuit worth living.

My ideal is probably different than other's ideal. It's most likely not the best but the best to me and my close entourage. We accommodate our living styles with our surroundings and the people in them. A solo music listening room with all close walls and ceilings, specifically build for best acoustics, like the world's best opera halls, or cathedrals with the most magnificent stainglass windows, tall marble columns, best choirs and organ player, etc. ... is a travelling adventure not only for the ears but for the eyes on the music soul as well...with views beyond the boundaries of rooms, venues.

Our imagination is our eyes in enclosed music listening rooms.
In open rooms with windows, we live that imagination with our eyes.

Two music listening rooms or one? I'll take the later, it suits my lifestyle more.

 

[NorthStar]

This is not my room, not my home, but another member here (I forgot his name).
This only an example of one of my ideal music listening rooms ... (there are many more, with wide large windows and views on the forests, mountains, jungles, ocean, lake, etc., with windows on the ceiling where you can see the sky, and the stars @ night, the light of the sun and of the moon, the jet planes and the birds flying, ...) ...

 

[RogerD]

I have had the same speakers in 4 different rooms and never used a lick of room correction. All the rooms were incomplete as they emptied into much larger spaces. After some 40 years...the quality of the power in the signal path to me makes the most profound difference. I guess I'm just lucky.

 

[assessor43]

I think it starts with the source, then the room, room treatment, speakers and speaker placement, type of amplification.

 

[Hipper]

Our imagination is our eyes in enclosed music listening rooms.
In open rooms with windows, we live that imagination with our eyes.

Two music listening rooms or one? I'll take the later, it suits my lifestyle more.

Are you one of these people that have a television with an image of a fireplace with a roaring fire?

 

[SuperDave]

Are you one of these people that have a television with an image of a fireplace with a roaring fire?

With Bob's knowledge of video quality, I doubt we could tell if it was real or fake.

 

[Blackmorec]

With Bob's knowledge of video quality, I doubt we could tell if it was real or fake.

He’s found a way for video fires to give off heat! That’s coo...err hot.

 

[NorthStar]

Are you one of these people that have a television with an image of a fireplace with a roaring fire?

With Bob's knowledge of video quality, I doubt we could tell if it was real or fake.

He’s found a way for video fires to give off heat! That’s coo...err hot.

In post #29 the photo example of a room for audio reproduction has no TV screen, zero.

 

[LenWhite]

A friend posed the above question on FB and posted his list of priorities in building a high end system which I thought would make a good topic for a thread. His approach is quite different from mine. Whenever i'm asked by a newbie what approach they should take building a system, I always advise them in a nutshell to "build your system around your speakers and room".

Here is my friend's list...

1. The Room
2. The Room Treatment
3. The Speaker Positioning
4. The Speakers
5. Room Correction
6. Phono Cartridge (where applicable)
7. Phono Preamp (where applicable)
8. Preamp (where applicable)
9. DAC
10. The Amplifier

"Not the CD transport, not the cables, not the power cords.
Obviously, everything has to be of decent quality-using an Optimus receiver to drive Wilson WAMMs is a recipe for disaster, but that's my hierarchy. Improving each step can reap major sonic rewards, especially if all the items above have been optimized."

And here is mine...

1. The room (incl: room treatments)
2. Speakers (which have the biggest influence on the sound of your system imho)
3. Speaker positioning
4. Amplification
5. Front end (closely behind amplification)
6. Cables
7. AC power (eg: dedicated 20a lines, regen, conditioner, balanced isolation transformer, audiophile wpo's)
8. Isolation (eg: racks, isolation footers, cable risers, NCF Boosters)
9. Physical media (vinyl, cd, analogue tape)

What are your thoughts? What would be your list of priorities in terms of expenditure, and how you believe they influence the ultimate sound of a system?

I think your list is more accurate than your friends list. I realize many people can't have a dedicated room. But building an acoustically designed dedicated listening room made the biggest difference in sound in my audio system. The only change I'd make to your list is to specifically prioritize power cables in that category. Turns out in my case cabling is very expensive.

The percentages by list price in my system:
33.72% - Speakers
25.71% - Cabling
14.64% - Amplification
11.09% - Source Component
10.44% - Room Acoustics
2.44% - Resonance Control
1.96% - Power Conditioning

 

[SuperDave]

In post #29 the photo example of a room for audio reproduction has no TV screen, zero.

Bob,
I believe Hipper was making a comment based on your perceived warm nature. I followed up having read a lot of your video posts and assumed if anyone was going to have a virtual fireplace that looked real, it'd be you. If I did have Rudolf's room posted above, I probably wouldn't have a tv.

Dave

 

[NorthStar]

It's all good Dave; it was a pleasure to respond with a simple clarification.

 

[Empirical Audio]

Given the goal of liveness with live recordings (not studio mixed) which means precise imaging, good dynamics, width, depth and height, I'm going to differ based on my experience:

1) Speakers
2) Source (Cartridge, turntable and phono preamp for analog or for digital, jitter of digital feed at the point of D/A conversion and quality of the conversion (S/PDIF, USB, Ethernet, I2S)
3) cables - for analog, the IC's, for digital the IC's and the digital cables
4) room acoustics and speaker position
5) preamp distortion, linearity and drive
6) amplifier(s)
7) Playback software for digital

I don't put room acoustics as high because with forgiving speakers, the room is less of an issue. I would almost argue that speakers and source are equally important.

 

[Al M.]

I think your list is more accurate than your friends list. I realize many people can't have a dedicated room. But building an acoustically designed dedicated listening room made the biggest difference in sound in my audio system. The only change I'd make to your list is to specifically prioritize power cables in that category. Turns out in my case cabling is very expensive.

The percentages by list price in my system:
33.72% - Speakers
25.71% - Cabling
14.64% - Amplification
11.09% - Source Component
10.44% - Room Acoustics
2.44% - Resonance Control
1.96% - Power Conditioning

Interesting. Mine is approximately:

36 % amplification
24 % speakers/subwoofers
14 % room treatment
12 % analog signal cables
10 % source (incl. digital cable)
3 % resonance control
0.5 % power conditioning (power cables are approx. 0.05 %, as they are basically Tripp Lite stock cables)