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Comment by rodgerd | Hacker News Reader

Their version of "low end" is amusing to me. But this is hardly surprising. Hifi suffers from a taxic interaction of diminishing returns and snake oil, and I say that as someone who has spent more than a few dollars myself.

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After spending a few bucks myself, I second this. The only thing i'd add is, invest in a good pair of speakers, that's where you'd get the best ROI.

Or alternatively, invest in a good pair of headphones--also good ROI.

Much cheaper in absolute terms as well. You can get very good headphones in the $100-200 range (even some under $100), while speaker systems in that range tend to be mediocre.

Ah, but if you are 10 people listening, that's suddenly $10 000 (actually more, as you'd probably need a little more expensive amp to drive 10 good headphones. Nowhere near 10x though).

Er, $1000 for ten people - although this isn't still a small amount it is close to an average mid-range home audio setup. The $10K you mention would be for 100 people, and then you would be looking at audio equipment for small performances and clubs, which can easily cost that much or more.

So, interestingly, the 100 x N formula for cost of audio equipment for N people to listen to, seems to hold. I am curious about N=1000 and above, certainly stadium systems cost over $100K and for 10K listeners I guess $1M is pretty small. Maybe there should be a scaling factor in there, or it might be better modeled by a power-law relationship?

Hah, lol. Yes ofc. But really, what you need for 10 people is ~1000$ worth of stereo equipment, not 10 sets of head phones... Maybe when we get dac's operated into our ears...

http://www.wyldeside.com/rpgs/cp2020/cw-cyberaudio.html

I'm amazed at the quality of older speakers when it comes to value for money. I'm using a pair of Chadwick executive 12 cabinets in my living room and they're simply the best sounding speakers I've owned and they cost next to nothing. The only expense so far is cleaning and light refurb to remove rot.

    > Chadwick executive 12

That term has no Google footprint

Raudio chadwick speakers returns some relevant results.

http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/40792-austr...

> The Executive Monitor from Chadwick Audio Furnishings(NSW) was the top model in the Chadwick range and used a modified Etone245(300mm) unit in a rear vented transmission line enclosure with the Audax 160mm mid/range,25mm dome and an aluminium cone super tweeter. I have no idea how it compared to the imports,in the early 80,s,but many Australian designed speakers outshone the competition in performance and value at the top end of the market;unfortunately there was a cheap product area that supplied bulk stores and these inferior items still surface from time to time.A bit like the white van stuff .

That sounds quite familiar. I got them from my parents many years ago, and they got them new in an audio store in Sydney. I have the original brochure and manual somewhere, I'll see if I can dig them out.

I have some JBL L100s wired to a PartsExpress-sourced Dayton sonic T amp (read: amazingly competent $30 plastic external hdd-sized box). Sounds amazing for all reasonable volume levels living in an apartment. The speakers are pretty big, but they can be found pretty cheap at garage sales, Craigslist, flea markets, goodwill, etc. Wire it up to an Airport Express and you have a pretty much unbeatable home AirPlay set-up for a few hundred bucks.

Good speakers up to 20 years old are often still good. It even seems like old capacitors in the crossovers doesn't really have much of an impact. Amplifiers have gotten more convenient, being lighter, cheaper, with better remote control and standby features, while the sound is still good. That has had the effect of making active speakers increasingly attractive.

Do you mean passive? Active speakers are full kits like KRK Rokits, passive speakers are the "old" speakers you're talking about.

I do mean active. I'm saying old, passive, speakers are very good, but active speakers are becoming more attractive for other reasons.

Another good value company is PSB, they are made right here in Canada.

Agreed, I'd much rather see a $200 vs a $500 system (vs a $1000 system, vs a $10000 system...).

I'm not sure why anyone would invest something on the order of magnitude of the "expensive" system, and not get full-height electrostatic speakers or something (Not that I think it would be worth it then either...).

It would have been interesting to see what the result where if they'd simply given the testers blindfolds, and had two whole (or preferably three) set-ups -- where all the components where "matched" (eg: $100 system: integrated "boom box"/ speaker with integrated amp & ipod, $1000 system: speakers ~ $500/pair, amp $300, dac $200 etc).

    > "low end"

No commentary here, but I was interested what it cost, so:

Behringer A500: $200

Sony DVP-NS355: ~$50

ATC SCM 12: $1,500-$2,500

Since the speakers are used in both systems and have the most significant impact on the sound, it had to be something good and not necessarily cheap. The source and amp of the budget system are very affordable on the other hand, I don't see any problem with that setup.

> Behringer A500: $200

Interesting, because locally I can only find the A500 for much more than that.

Paying huge amounts for a CD player is unutterable wankery in this day and age.

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