Humble pieces of advice regarding building a proper stereo audio system.

If more people had the chance to listen to a truly good but down to earth stereo system, I bet that more people would get involved in Hi-Fi. Unfortunately, this generation will have as a reference the sound of compressed music reproduced from headphones so why bother for more?

Listening to music from a proper Hi-Fi system can be a spark for a new hobby.

Of course, there are many out there that will consciously go for a sound system for easy background listening. In this case, an all-in-one hi-fi or home cinema system is OK. Even a single wireless speaker design like a Sonos will do the job.


Sonos Play 5 hides incredible technology and can play impressive, however not everybody will be satisfied with just an impressive sound.



But this hides a plague: Chances are that your experience will also be limited to such systems. You might also listen to a ridicules, plastic, toy-like turntable and wonder what’s all the fuzz regarding vinyl comeback. If you never had the chance to listen to a proper (and not necessarily expensive) Hi-Fi stereo system, how are you supposed to love the music and the wonderful machines that take care of its reproduction?

If you are really into music, you should consider a proper components stereo Hi-Fi system. Not a home cinema that also happens to play music, but a proper stereo set up – you can read a little more about it in this post.

Now, I don’t want to tell you to get the A brand amp and the B brand speakers. As I mention at my other post “What is Hi-Fi”, even though a good system is the one with accurate sound reproduction, you can get equal amounts of pleasure from various systems that sound different. Sound can be a personal preference issue. Some like it warm and mellow, some like it dynamic and detailed.

Still, there are some guidelines and advices that you can follow:

- There will always be the functionality Vs. performance battle. Small components, easy and discreet in placement with fancy apps Vs. bigger components with stronger performance for instance. I go for performance, but hey, this is just me.

- If your funds are limited, you will have to consider your music type preferences. A good system is a system that will happily reproduce all types of music but not everyone is willing to spend the money that such a system requires. If for example you like rock music, it is more economical to build a system that will be tuned towards reproducing rock than build a system that it can successfully deal both with rock and jazz without any compromise.

- Again, if your funds are limited you will have to choose your one primary source to start with: CD, computer audio or vinyl? For the reasons I mention at my other post “How and Why of Computer Audio” I would go for computer audio.

- Never ever forget that your room and your speakers placement play a great part of the perceived sound. This means that the speakers you listened at a store will not behave in the same way when they will be placed at your home. Also, this means that when you are listening at a system, you are listening at a sound that is the outcome of a particular source, amp, speakers and room. So, be a little realistic. Don’t invest much if you can not place your speakers at a reasonable position like the one at the picture below.

A basic stereo speaker placement. Some space between the speaker and the back & side walls is required in order for the speaker to sound better without a boomy bass.

Keep in mind that speakers designed to be a monitor for example, will require a room with the acoustic behavior of a studio to play well. Also, nationality of the speaker design might play some part at its behavior: if for example at the country that the speaker was designed the houses are small and made of bricks, then most probably this speaker is designed to play well at small rooms that are made of bricks.

- I find Hi-Fi exhibitions a good chance to get some knowledge regarding which components give me the thrills. But I often get an argument against this. In my country the Hi-Fi exhibition is taking place at a hotel, so some say that I can not judge a system that is playing at a hotel room since a hotel room is not the best environment for music listening. Please gentlemen, allow me to disagree:

• A hotel room is not such a bad environment for music listening; it has thick carpet, curtains and usually wall paper.
• A hotel room is closer in acoustic behavior to a home room than what the average Hi-Fi dealer’s studio with its room acoustic treatment and careful speaker placement is.
• Even if a hotel room is not the perfect listening environment, this stands for everyone. You have the chance to compare a lot of systems in one day that play to more or less the same kind of acoustic environment. You can drive some safe conclusions, I mean if system A plays better than system B at a same kind of rooms then yes, it is because system A is better than system B, not because of the room.

For all these reasons I find Hi-Fi exhibitions a good tool to choose a system. I also have a lot of fun: I have repeatedly demystified brands that were supposed to be Hi-End, I have enjoyed listening to systems costing 4K and I have laughed listening to systems costing 40K. Yes yes I know, it is the f room…

- So, if you repeatedly have found out that even though the “X” brand is supposed to be a good one but whenever you happened to listen to its products they sound awful, don’t be afraid of your opinion and trust your ears. I also thought that I was crazy regarding a well known and respected American cartridge manufacturer or a French speaker designer, but as it proved out I was right and I was not the only one that was thinking “hey dude, what the heck?”.

- It is important to visualize where you see your system standing in a few years. If for example at some time you see yourself getting also a turntable, your amp should have a good phono stage or at least a free line input so you can add an external phono stage. The same stands for all the components. Think one step ahead. If for example you go for a CD player, think if soon you will want to upgrade its sound with a DAC. If so, you have to get a CD player with a digital out.

- Regarding digital amplification (or class D or ICE), my opinion is that it is not the best amplification for music listening. Car use maybe, PA use yes, home cinema use yes, music use no. Every time I listen to music through a digital amp I am missing something. Just go for a good old analogue amplifier.

- Regarding tube amps Vs. solid state, it depends. Yes, tubes seem to offer a softer sound but you don’t want that for dance music or heavy metal for example. To be honest, ideally I would include a tube at my system but only at one component: the preamp. I would leave the power amplification to the transistors. This way I would have the benefit of tube warmth and the power & accuracy of transistor for a system that will be capable to play all kinds of music.

- Regarding adding a subwoofer to a system for music use, I would suggest you to avoid it if you can. Get bigger floorstanding speakers if possible. It is hard to build a system and match the speakers with the subwoofer in a way that it will sound like one harmonized thing; it usually turns out to sound like two different things are playing its own tunes. But as I said it is difficult, not imposible.

- Regarding the new trend to build a system with active speakers, my opinion is to avoid it if you do not have problems with limited space. In theory, an active speaker is a perfect match because the same manufacturer has designed an amp (usually class D) specifically for this particular speaker. In practice I have found out that a good amp with a good pair of speakers can play much better, plus whenever you want to upgrade the amp or the speakers you simply go ahead and do it. For the shake of the argument, let me say that I also have heard active speakers sounding amazingly good - so it is not that it can't be done.

- Regarding getting a pre/power amp combo instead of an integrated amp, this can be a good idea but it does not necessary mean that it performs better. There are good and bad designs in both categories. The theoretical benefits of the pre/power amp cobo are:

• Separate boxes with separate power supplies – but there are also integrated amps with two separate power supplies inside.
• You can future upgrade just the power amp or the control amp.



Yes, it is the inside of an integrated stereo amplifier and yes, it is a 90's design. Things can not get much better even today than this Pioneer A-09 amp.

- Regarding cables, don’t spend a fortune. I have come to this conclusion after a lot of blind testing. Yes, a bad cable can mess up your sound but a proper cable does not cost a fortune. A cable is good enough when it simply provides a good and secure connection. Keep the cable lengths as short as possible. Use thick cables for speakers. Use decent interconnects with proper shielding. A proper designed component will not be affected from a cable as long as this cable is just properly designed – and properly designed cables have no reason to be expensive. Only exception I have met to this rule are a few components with special designs where the designer specified that we should use unshielded cables only.

- Generally speaking, a good stereo amp and a good speaker is a safe investment. Technology is more or less steady here, even if marketing tries to give the opposite impression.

- Don't be fooled, people used to have true Hi-Fi equipment in the past also. Regarding used equipment, yes, go for it. I have and I have never regretted it. I got equipment that brand new would be simply impossible for me to afford. Of course there is always a risk, used equipments can potentially mean trouble. But if you limit yourself to a well respected store or an eBay seller with good reputation, chances are that you will buy something much more better than what you would buy with the same money as brand new. Knowing a good technician also is an important source of self confidence, he can provide you with good advice or be there and fix something that did not turned out to be what it seemed. Now, let me just say that speakers are the things that I consider the most risky to buy as used: age can affect the performance of speaker’s driver suspension and a burned out driver can be repaired in order to play, but it will never sound the same…

Something very important in a Hi-Fi system is system matching; that is, building a Hi-Fi system that its total is greater than the sum of its components. This often includes some try and error, but you can read this post for a more secure approach. Target is to fall in love with the sound of your system as soon as possible and not after a lot of wrong choices. If you have a friend that he knows about Hi-Fi get some advice, but keep in mind that 8 out of 10 people when asked what the best car is, they will answer that it is the car they drive.

Happy listening as always!

Christos