Recommendation process for newbies

[Prabhu.ME]

Dear experts, seniors & audiophiles,

We find many threads requesting to recommend certain gadgets according to their needs.
But many times it will not serve the actual purpose. Reason could be many; like, the requestor may not provide complete details, requestor may not be clear about his requirement......etc

So my request to all experts is to create a check list in which the requestor has to fill up & submit his request.
The check list should contain all details like list of required gadgets, budget(minimum & Maximum), room dimension, expected type (for eg: for speakers whether Floorstanders, bookshelf etc), usage (Movies, music, type of music etc). These are very few, but I hope experts in this forum can make a ideal check list which will reveal the clear picture of the requirement of the requestor.

Also one more request for experts is, whenever recomending some thing, for eg: speaker, please recommend the exact brand, model, type according to the requirement of the requestor in terms of priority. There could be N number of speakers available for the mentioned budget of the requestor, but please recommend according to the priority.
For eg: Dali model XXXX first recomendation, KEF model XXXX 2nd recomendation, .................... Jamo model XXXX 5th recomendation

But I have seen many times in the forum saying "Trust your ears".
I want to clarify 1 thing that every on one who are not dumb (& even animals) can here the music, but music is not hearing, its listening & the listening skill can be developed gradually & not instantly. So most of the newbies will have very poor listening skill & if we say "Trust your ears & buy what you like", they may endup buying worst product in the market.
For eg: I have friends who cannot differentiate the stereo & mono music in a normal music player. Its not that they can't hear, but its the listening skill which makes the difference. This you can try yourself with your friends, relatives....etc, but please use a normal music system(like playing mp3 songs in multimedia speakers or even a mobile phone having stereo speakers) for testing; because, your audiophile equipements can reveal the difference in stereo & mono even for a dumb!

I appologise if I have mentioned any thing wrong in this thread & expecting some change in the process of recomendation of gadgets to the newbies.

 

[navin advani]

There could be N number of speakers available for the mentioned budget of the requestor, but please recommend according to the priority.
For eg: Dali model XXXX first recomendation, KEF model XXXX 2nd recomendation, .................... Jamo model XXXX 5th recomendation

Prabhu,

While I wont call or consider my self an expert or guru or even an audiophile (the meaning itself of which escapes me) I do sympathise the position many of our senior members are in.

Audio like food, movies, etc.. is a subjective discipline. What sounds good to you might sound average to another. In addition to this the components that make up an audio system are only a small part of the story, the software (music quality), the room and location of the components in the said room, etc.. also play a significant role in determining the sound of the overall system.

A speaker that for example sounds nice when it is 3 m from walls will have ovr lown bass when it places close to room boundaries, then there might be those you actually prefer the over blown bass.

The best our esteemed experts can do is to offer us advice on what what brands generally do a good job and which dont. Dali, KEF, Focal, B&W, Monitor Audio etc do (in my view) do an acceptable job in the $1000-5000/pr range. A few of them do a good job in their premium lines (B&W's 800 series, Focal Utopia series, Tannoy's Kingdom, etc..) along with some other models/brands like Vandersteen's 3A and 4A, Sonus Faber Amati, Cremona, Stradivari or Guarneri, Wilson's Sasha and Sophia, Von Schweikert's VR4 and VR5, Joseph Audio's Pearl, and Bhagwan's favourite brands Marten and Tidal produce good speakers.

Sadly good speakers are rarely cheap (most are over $5,000/pr, many over $10,000/pr). Now you see the predicament the gurus are in? Additionally if they recommend a Dali Ikon 6 Mk2 or KEF Q900 there will be 10 others who will contest that recomendation and claim that B&W 683 or Monitors Silver RX8 are better.

Can you, while sitting at your desk, tell me if the PSB Imagine T is better than the Paradigm Studio 100 for my system? I dont think the experts can either. They can't assure you that that the Focal Electra 1028 they heard with the Denon 4311 AVR and Oppo 95 in a room that was 35 x 13 x 9 will sound just as good if the same components were installed in your room. Why, just moving the same components around in the same room can make a huge difference to the sound.

In the end you have to listen. So why not listen in the first place?

 

[Eddierockks]

I second navin here even though I'm not an expert. I've been asking a lot of questions about my setup in this forum and never got a recommendation without the model number. Rather the seniors and gurus have been pretty helpful and have been guiding me step by step (with the model names and makes) with their patience intact.

Prabhu,

While I wont call or consider my self an expert or guru or even an audiophile (the meaning itself of which escapes me) I do sympathise the position many of our senior members are in.

Audio like food, movies, etc.. is a subjective discipline. What sounds good to you might sound average to another. In addition to this the components that make up an audio system are only a small part of the story, the software (music quality), the room and location of the components in the said room, etc.. also play a significant role in determining the sound of the overall system.

A speaker that for example sounds nice when it is 3 m from walls will have ovr lown bass when it places close to room boundaries, then there might be those you actually prefer the over blown bass.

The best our esteemed experts can do is to offer us advice on what what brands generally do a good job and which dont. Dali, KEF, Focal, B&W, Monitor Audio etc do (in my view) do an acceptable job in the $1000-5000/pr range. A few of them do a good job in their premium lines (B&W's 800 series, Focal Utopia series, Tannoy's Kingdom, etc..) along with some other models/brands like Vandersteen's 3A and 4A, Sonus Faber Amati, Cremona, Stradivari or Guarneri, Wilson's Sasha and Sophia, Von Schweikert's VR4 and VR5, Joseph Audio's Pearl, and Bhagwan's favourite brands Marten and Tidal produce good speakers.

Sadly good speakers are rarely cheap (most are over $5,000/pr, many over $10,000/pr). Now you see the predicament the gurus are in? Additionally if they recommend a Dali Ikon 6 Mk2 or KEF Q900 there will be 10 others who will contest that recomendation and claim that B&W 683 or Monitors Silver RX8 are better.

Can you, while sitting at your desk, tell me if the PSB Imagine T is better than the Paradigm Studio 100 for my system? I dont think the experts can either. They can't assure you that that the Focal Electra 1028 they heard with the Denon 4311 AVR and Oppo 95 in a room that was 35 x 13 x 9 will sound just as good if the same components were installed in your room. Why, just moving the same components around in the same room can make a huge difference to the sound.

In the end you have to listen. So why not listen in the first place?