Strategies for
Upgrading Your Stereo System
Looking at the stereo ads, you don't have to be very
perceptive to realize that hundreds of new hi-fi products are introduced every year. In a
lot of cases, the new models are simply dressed-up versions of their predecessors, but
many do contain technological or functional improvements as well. Sometimes these are
fairly subtle from year to year, but over time they do add up.
Eventually, you may come to the realization that your
trusty stereo, which has served you well for all these years, has become outdated --
technology has passed you by. One response to this feeling, of course, is to ignore it
completely and stick with what you know. Another is to trash the whole works and start
again from scratch.
There is, however, a middle ground. Much of the equipment
you already own will stand up well beside today's versions, so by focusing on those areas
where real improvements have been made, you can bring your system up to date for a
relatively small outlay of cash. What you choose to replace will largely be dictated by
whether you want your system to sound better or to do more. Ideally you will be able to
achieve both.
By far the most important components in any system, as far
as sound quality is concerned, are the speakers. They give a stereo setup its sonic
character, so any change in speakers can have a dramatic effect on the overall performance
of your system. Unlike the other pieces in a hi-fi system, speakers are often designed
"by ear" -- their manufacturers have to rely on the subjective notion that one
speaker sounds "better" than another because there is very little agreement on
just how a perfect speaker should sound, and even less of a consensus as to the tests that
would confirm a speaker's "perfectness."
Because of this, no two speakers sound exactly alike, so
buyers can only be guided by their ears. As a general rule, though, today's speakers are
better performers than those produced even five years ago, and good quality -- however it
might be defined -- can be had at lower prices than ever before.
On the other hand, you might like the character of the
speakers you now own, but still want to upgrade their performance. One way is to increase
the amplifier power available to drive them. All speakers are powered by an amplifier,
sometimes a separate component, but more often part of a receiver. Most speakers will
operate adequately with 40 or 50 watts per channel, but this level rarely offers much
"headroom" -- the ability to handle momentary musical peaks, which sometimes
require many times the normal power.
Such peaks are usually so brief that we're often not really
aware of the strain they put on the amplifier, called "clipping." But the
increased smoothness obtainable with a higher-powered amplifier is immediately audible.
The power demands of digital audio -- or even a preference for listening at high levels --
make the desirability of high power that much greater.
Another way to enhance your speakers is to add a subwoofer,
even if you're sticking with two-channel audio. The hardest part of the musical spectrum
for any speaker to reproduce is the extreme bass, so many systems now include auxiliary
speakers to handle the lowest octaves. These have the additional advantage of allowing the
normal speakers to be quite unobtrusive, while the subwoofer can be hidden away virtually
anywhere in the listening room; many people use them as end tables or plant stands, for
instance.
Similar sonic gains may be achieved by upgrading the sort
of signal that is fed into the system, as no amplifier or speaker can perform optimally if
it has a flawed signal to work with. One obvious improvement is to limit your listening to
compact discs or one of the newer DVD-based discs, if they ever materialize in any
quantity. CD players can be had for very little money these days and can be added to any
system simply by plugging them into a receiver's auxiliary inputs.
While compact discs are definitely today's premier music
storage system, few of us are willing to ditch our older playback systems entirely if we
have sizable libraries of LPs or cassettes. Even if you do listen mostly to compact discs,
some thought should be given to upgrading your turntable or cassette deck.
The best favor you can do for your vinyl is to invest in a
new phono cartridge -- the "business end" of the record playing process. For one
thing, there may have been significant advances in the performance of even modestly priced
cartridges since you bought your system; for another, a fresh stylus will protect your
records in the future, an important consideration now that LPs have disappeared from the
shelves.
Cassette decks don't admit of such an easy fix, but the
sound of your existing tapes can often be improved dramatically simply by a good cleaning
of the heads and tape guides. Cleaning kits are inexpensive and should be an essential
part of any hi-fi system. For future taping, it might be advisable to have a service
facility recalibrate your machine for one of the latest-generation tapes (which won't
affect your deck's ability to play existing tapes), although it's often simpler just to
buy a new recorder.
Even if you are content with the sound you have now, your
system's lack of flexibility may be a problem, particularly if you plan to add DVD, Dolby
Digital or DTS decoders and the like -- most older receivers and amplifiers simply don't
have enough inputs to accommodate the amount of equipment that can be used with today's
systems. Virtually all electronics manufacturers make A/V receivers that mostly solve this
problem, and they are a good bet even if you are not yet ready to take advantage of
everything they can do. Such a component will bring the electronic part of your stereo
system up to date, while allowing lots of room for future expansion.
...Ian G. Masters
ian@mastersonaudio.com
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