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I've always felt totally alone falling somewhere between hardcore audiophiles To me, the "hardcore" audiophiles are the ones who understand a bit of actua

I've always felt totally alone falling somewhere between hardcore audiophiles To me, the "hardcore" audiophiles are the ones who understand a bit of actual science & engineering and don't go chasing ridiculous crap like audiophile USB cables. The lunatic fringe gets all the attention, because they're comically delusional, but they are not hardcore to me. or whatever audiophiles spend Bought new, the modern equivalent of that $100 Craigslist system is (vast simplification and approximation) about $500. A well-researched $500-$2500 (new) stereo system is in my experience and opinion the range where you get appreciably better and better sound. At $500 you are already getting a system that is not doing a whole lot wrong. But not massive output or deep deep bass. By $2500 you're getting something that's doing very close to the full 17hz-20khz at output levels that will more than exceed just about any reasonable residential situation. And in fact your listening room is the bottleneck now. Above that price you're paying for very boutiquey exotic stuff that can pull off certain tricks, very high levels of output, etc. Those prices are very approximate and assume a well researched and set up system.

SomeoneOnTheWeb 4y ago
You certainly aren't getting any speaker going correctly to 17 Hz even for ten times this price. Stereo speakers are not made to go very low, that's what a subwoofer is for. Not all subwoofers even go that low! Above $2500 for a good stereo system will get you a better sound, but as always, the more you pay, the less you'll be able to hear the difference. Also, the better the sound is, the more you'll have to be careful about amp pairing and room acoustic.
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  Right. I was including subwoofers in the cost of those systems approaching $2500. It's a broad topic, of course, and I'd already typed a zillion words. It's always a challenge what to type and what to leave out, huh? A stereo system with subwoofers is still a stereo to me. My main system is 2.2 and I call it a stereo. But I see the confusion. Some people don't call it a "stereo" unless it's strictly 2.0!
- aforwardslash 4y ago
  Define "correctly". Frequency correct or audible correct? While 17hz is the floor for audible frequencies, even if you can hear it, you won't be able to perceive that much detail. In fact, I'd argue that a $2500 system with a subwoofer will sound the same as a $250 subwoofer, assuming the same sensitivity. Thing is, human ears are crap (imagine low-res gif pictures and thinking of it as 8k frames), and very very bad below 100Hz. What better/more expensive systems have (besides better quality components) is often better sensitivity, so a passing its not audible on your $100 system becames audible - not because frequency - but because sensititity (the cone is actually able to reproduce the faint sound)

SomeoneOnTheWeb 4y ago

You certainly aren't getting any speaker going correctly to 17 Hz even for ten times this price. Stereo speakers are not made to go very low, that's what a subwoofer is for. Not all subwoofers even go that low! Above $2500 for a good stereo system will get you a better sound, but as always, the more you pay, the less you'll be able to hear the difference. Also, the better the sound is, the more you'll have to be careful about amp pairing and room acoustic.

JohnBooty 4y ago
Right. I was including subwoofers in the cost of those systems approaching $2500. It's a broad topic, of course, and I'd already typed a zillion words. It's always a challenge what to type and what to leave out, huh? A stereo system with subwoofers is still a stereo to me. My main system is 2.2 and I call it a stereo. But I see the confusion. Some people don't call it a "stereo" unless it's strictly 2.0!
aforwardslash 4y ago
Define "correctly". Frequency correct or audible correct? While 17hz is the floor for audible frequencies, even if you can hear it, you won't be able to perceive that much detail. In fact, I'd argue that a $2500 system with a subwoofer will sound the same as a $250 subwoofer, assuming the same sensitivity. Thing is, human ears are crap (imagine low-res gif pictures and thinking of it as 8k frames), and very very bad below 100Hz. What better/more expensive systems have (besides better quality components) is often better sensitivity, so a passing its not audible on your $100 system becames audible - not because frequency - but because sensititity (the cone is actually able to reproduce the faint sound)