At a time when home theaters were all the rage, many people were very worried about the future of pure audio. However, the traditional two-channel Hi-Fi audio has not died out in the heat wave of home theaters. In recent years, it has slightly warmed up. It is a good example of the fact that a genuine CD with a price of more than one hundred yuan is very popular, and hardware manufacturers at home and abroad have also launched many Hi-Fi equipment for enthusiasts to buy. Most manufacturers and visitors paid more attention to Hi-Fi equipment at the "Fifth Domestic Audio and Video Equipment Exhibition" held in Shanghai not long ago, and home theaters do not seem as lively as they used to be.
How to explain this phenomenon? Mr. Liu Hansheng, a celebrity in Taiwan's audio industry, pointed out in a sharp way: Today's AV family will inevitably become a large proportion of the audio family. No one can watch movies every day without getting bored, but many people can listen to music every day without getting tired. Music is easy for people, relieves pressure, and can be appreciated while doing things, and these characteristics are the basic needs of human beings. As long as the AV is tired, it will naturally turn to music, this is the business opportunity.
At present, there are many varieties of Hi-Fi equipment on the market, and the prices vary greatly. How can we get the best results with a relatively small price when facing so many Hi-Fi equipment, especially imported products? Is there a worthy combination for fun? I believe this is a problem that many people are concerned about. The author believes that the following aspects of combined audio are worth paying attention to anyway:
One is to buy genuine equipment at a reasonable price;
The second is the reasonable matching of equipment;
The third is the reasonable adjustment of the system.
Buy genuine equipment at a reasonable price
The author remembers that Mr. Shi Youlin mentioned this issue when he was talking about the purchase of professional audio. In fact, this is also applicable to home audio. Generally speaking, when preparing to buy audio equipment, audiophiles should have a clear idea, what grade of audio equipment is chosen? It is popular, mid-range, high-end, and even super-high-end. You must be aware of it. Only after the grade is set can you choose the brand. At present, there are many beginners. It is not appropriate to start investigating products without even fixing such important issues. It is likely to be confused for the salesperson of the audio store. I do n’t know which one to listen to, or I bought equipment that was not applicable in a confused way. The following introduces the readers to the imported audio equipment brand and product related information on the market situation. After understanding these, it is possible to avoid buying products that do not match the price and quality (not referring to quality problems).
Super high-end Hi-Fi audio products: Usually, people call this type of home audio Hi-End or best equipment, whether it is a speaker, power amplifier or CD player, there are Hi-End products.
Hi-End speakers are very expensive, and their prices generally range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan. Even a pair of entry-level Hi-End bookshelf speakers cost about 20,000 yuan, such as the recently popular B & WNauTIlus (Nautilus) 805 speaker is a typical representative.
There are four main types of Hi-End speakers: The first type is a product produced by Hi-End speaker manufacturers. This type of manufacturer is generally not large in scale, with most American manufacturers and low output. They only produce high-priced premium products. Speakers, such as Avalon, Genesis, Hales, Thiel, MarTInLogan, WilsonAudio; SonusFaber of Italy; WilsonBenesch and other manufacturers ’products. The second type is the flagship products and special products (commemorative products) produced by the speaker manufacturers that represent the company's image and strength, such as British B & W's NauTIlus (Nautilus), SilverSignature25 (25th Anniversary Jubilee Signature Edition); Tannoy (day (Lang) Kingdom (Empire); France JM-Lab (Grand Wave) GrandeUtopia (Supreme Utopia); American JBL K2, CenturaGold (50th Anniversary Edition); Denmark Jamo (Jumbo) Orile, Avance (Crown) Century, Evidence of Dynaudio, etc. The third type is the speaker originally designed and used for studio monitoring. Due to its excellent effect, it is used by senior enthusiasts in the family, such as the old Matrix801S3 of the British B & W and the new Nautilus801, ATC's SCM50, Tannoy System215; American JBL 4344MKⅡ and so on. There is also a type of high-priced main products produced by speaker manufacturers, such as the British B & W Nautilus 800 series including the above Nautilus801, Tannoy PrestigeHE series, KEF Reference (reference) series, AE AE2 and AE5; French JM -Lab Utopia (Utopia), MiniUtopia (Mini Utopia) and Electra series; Denmark Dynaudio Contour3.0 and 3.3 and other products.
Hi-End transistor amplifiers have extremely high fidelity and are very expensive. They are also dominated by American products, such as Ayre, Cello, Jeff Rowland, Krell, Mark Levinson, and McIntosh. Picture), Threshold, PassLabs are famous Hi-End amplifier brands in the United States. In addition, Denmark Gryphon (Guifeng), France YBA, the Netherlands Sphinx (ghost), the United Kingdom Chord (Qiaite), Canada Classe, Japan Accuphase (golden voice), Luxman (Lux) and other companies also produce Hi-End amplifiers. Under normal circumstances, the vast majority of Hi-End transistor amplifiers are made of front and rear splits, but due to the high price, it is often tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan to match a set of front and rear stages, so sales are very limited. End transistor power amplifier manufacturers have launched mergers with an output power of 100 to 250W per channel, and the price is relatively low. For example, KrellKAV300i (priced at about 20,000 yuan) is a typical product.
Hi-End tube amplifiers (tube amplifiers) have not died out in the international market, because there are many enthusiasts who like the sound of tube amplifiers. They are typically represented by French Jadis products. In addition, such as American AudioResearch, CaryAudioDesign, Canadian SonicFrontiers, Italy UnisonResearch is also a famous Hi-End amplifier brand. Like Hi-End transistor power amplifiers, Hi-End amplifiers are mostly split-type before and after.
In order to improve the sound quality of Hi-EndCD player, some products are designed as a turntable and D / A converter are split. The integrated best-in-class CD player is typically represented by American Wadia products, while the split type is represented by American Theta products. Most of the above Hi-End amplifier manufacturers also have the same grade of integrated and split CDs Machines are available. In addition, some of the best CD players are designed for recording studios or broadcast grades. They are also bought back by enthusiasts for their perfect effect, such as the products of two sister companies, Studer and Revox in Switzerland. In addition, the inventors of the CD player Philips (Philips), Sony (Sony) company also produces Hi-EndCD player.
Some Hi-End manufacturers produce a series of products including power amplifiers and speakers, such as German MBL, Swiss Goldmund, and the above-mentioned American Cello and McIntosh.
High-end Hi-Fi audio products: This class of audio equipment refers to those products whose price is relatively cheaper than Hi-End, but still relatively expensive and has good sound effects.
The price band of high-end speakers: General bookshelf speakers are between 5,000 yuan and 15,000 yuan, and floor-standing speakers are between 10,000 yuan and 25,000 yuan. It has the following types: The first type is a speaker with a certain scale The products produced by the factory, such as CDM1-SE series of British B & W, Definition series of Tannoy; Cobalt series of JM-Lab of France; Concert series of Denmark Jamo, Contour1.1 of Dynaudio, 1.3MKâ…¡ and 1.8MKâ…¡, etc. The other type is a product developed by a smaller speaker manufacturer. It is predominantly a British brand, such as Harbeth, ProAc, and Spendor. Their common It is characterized by fewer varieties and stronger personality. There are no low-priced products and few products with a price of more than 100,000 yuan. Sometimes it is difficult to classify them as Hi-End or high-end speakers. Specific models to determine.
The unit price of high-end power amplifiers and CD players is usually less than 8,000 yuan and less than 20,000 yuan. It is the most popular product in the United Kingdom and Northern Europe. A series of A-type power amplifiers such as British MusicFidelity (music fax) are typical products. In addition, the United Kingdom Alchemist, Meridian, British BOW, Dansen, Prince, and Primare; Copland, Sweden; Restek, Germany is also a good high-end power amplifier or CD Machine brand. Major Japanese audio companies, such as Denon, Marantz, and Sony all produce high-end CD players and amplifiers.
Some manufacturers produce a full range of high-end or ultra-high-end audio equipment including speakers, power amplifiers and CD players for users to support, and exclude the mixing of products from other manufacturers, such as the British Linn (Lian), Danish B & O company is like this.
Mid-range and popular Hi-Fi audio products: These two grades of products are the most sold in the market, so each manufacturer attaches great importance to the development and promotion of this grade of products.
At present, well-known speaker manufacturers in Europe and America all have mid-range and universal speaker production. Due to the large output, this reduces the cost, and the price also decreases. In other words, the price of performance is relatively high. At the same time, these two grades of speakers are often compatible with AV applications. Its main products are: 600S2 and 300 series of British B & W, Rrvolution and Mercury series of Tannoy, Coda and Q series of KEF, 200 and 100 series of AE, 770 and 700 series of Mission, and JM- of France Lab's Opal and Tantal series; Denmark's Jamo's Classic and X3M series, Avance's Sigma and Omega series, Dynaudio's Audience series, and Dali's AXS series Yashi) series; CL and SLR series of Elac (Germany) of Germany; L series of European version of JBL of the United States, etc.
Due to the fierce competition in the mid-range and popular-range speakers, many good-quality products have been created. For example, B & W ’s latest 600S2 series speakers are based on the original 600 old series and transplanted the Hi-End class Nautilus 800 series. Some advanced technologies are technical improvements and innovations, so the sound quality has been significantly improved. The 600S2 series uses a nautilus duct tweeter, a Kevlar bulletproof cloth mid-bass unit with a bullet-proof dust cover, a Kevlar bulletproof cloth / pulp hybrid woofer, and a fever-level crossover. The price is maintained at an affordable level, so there are High performance-price ratio. The original 600 series has won many awards, and the market is quite booming. Now it seems that B & W is going to take advantage of the wind and blow up the "Nautilus" whirlwind in cheap speakers.
Introducing popular bookshelf-type British speakers of about 2,000 yuan, such as KEF's Coda7, AE's Aegis1 (Crystal One), Tannoy's Mercury2 (Mercury 2), B & W's DM302, are the first choice for shy enthusiasts in many pockets. Used to match domestic power amplifiers. Also due to fierce competition, these products have good sound quality. They have generally won awards in the UK. DM302 has also been included in the C-level list by the American "Stereophile".
When buying mid-to-low-priced speakers, do n’t buy brands that you have n’t heard before, so as to avoid buying speakers that are actually produced in China and registered overseas. This type of speaker may have a large advertisement, the brand packaging has also been done well, and even thieves have called for thieves to declare that someone has faked their products. If you find that there are very few articles in domestic regular audio publications that introduce their products, especially in the "fever clinic" and other speaker brands that have never mentioned the reader's question, it is best not to buy them.
However, you ca n’t be too superstitious about brand-name speakers. Recently, some of the above-mentioned brand-name speaker manufacturers have popular speakers specially developed for the Chinese market. Although the price is cheap, the size is large, and there are several speaker units, the sound quality is really bad. Don't buy it. How to judge? It is recommended to check its international Internet address. If a series of popular speakers are sold in the domestic market, but you cannot find it in the product range of its website, you should be careful. Usually these products should be agents Produced by the manufacturer ’s request.
Mid-range power amplifiers are mostly combined, usually priced at around 5,000 yuan, with British products most acclaimed, such as Arcam (Audio), Audiolab, Aura (Elegant), CambridgeAudio (Cambridge), Creek (Langquan), Myryad (Mei'an), MusicFidelity (Music Fax), Rega (Gentleman) and other companies' products, and these companies often also produce mid-range CD players, such as Rega's Plance (Planet) CD player is a highly praised product, even being "Stereophile" is included in the B-level list. In addition, Denmark ThuleAudio (pole), the United States MAX (Max) also produces mid-range amplifiers.
The popular amplifiers and CD players are more popular with Rotal and NAD products. These two companies are somewhat similar. For example, Rotal is located in Japan, the design and development center is in the United Kingdom, and the factory is in Taiwan. What kind of country is really unclear.
Major audio companies in Japan also produce mid-range and popular-grade amplifiers and CD players. Among them, CD players are most popular with Denon, Marantz and Sony products; amplifiers are most popular with Marantz, Denon and Onkyo products.
Wire: Today, I believe that all audiophiles know the role of speaker cables and signal cables in a set of audio. At present, there are a variety of wire materials on the market, and the design concepts are also different. The prices vary widely. The price of a cheap pair of speaker wires or signal wires is about hundreds of yuan, and the expensive ones range from tens of thousands of yuan. However, expensive cables are not necessarily beautiful, and cheap ones may not have poor sound quality. You ca n’t help but believe it, but you ca n’t believe it completely. When you play with the wire, you actually have a great psychological effect. Usually, many people think that the sound effect has improved after changing the expensive wire. But if he was blindly listened to a pair of thousand yuan and ten thousand yuan wire, he might come to the opposite conclusion. It is interesting that if the wire is not replaced during blind hearing, some people will say that the effect has changed. Therefore, from this point of view, there is no distinction between high and low wires. Even authoritative books such as "Stereophile" in the United States say that wires are not graded. You must "try before you buy" to buy wires.
Fever-grade wire is mainly based on American products. The more famous brands are AudioNote, AudioQuest (Line Saint), Cardas, Kimber, MIT, MosterCable (Monster), NBS, TARALabs (Macro), Transparent (Tianxian), WireWorld (Wire World) Universal), XLO (Supreme) and so on.
There are relatively few wires produced in Europe. The more famous ones are the Dutch VDH (Van Deng Hao) and the Danish Ortofon (high wind), in addition to the British Shark (shark), Ixos (Ixos); German WBT, Monitor (****); Supa of Sweden is also famous.
There are not many manufacturers producing wires in Japan. The most famous one is Furutech (Furukawa). In addition, the audio wires of Hitich and Denko are also famous.
Reasonable collocation of equipment
Because there are too many brands and varieties of imported audio, the above is just a list of common brands and series. There are still many not mentioned, but I think there are actually enough.
So, how to match equipment reasonably among many equipments? In fact, we have discussed from the perspective of price. Generally speaking, we should determine what grade of sound system to match according to the total budget. It is best to use the same grade of equipment to match. As for the brand and timbre, it should be decided according to your own requirements, aesthetics, and audition. The introduction of the magazine and others can only be used as a reference, and you must hear it.
In the past, when many domestic audio review articles talked about the combination of speakers and amplifiers, they often said that the budget should invest a large proportion of speakers, because speakers are the most important part. It should be said that this is for mid-range and popular equipment. It is basically applicable, but it is not suitable for high-end or super-high-end Hi-End equipment. High-end Hi-End speakers often have a strong personality, some are very difficult to push, and some bass are not easy to control. Speakers like the British ATC are famously difficult to push, but if they are pushed well, the elegance of their sound is another realm. At this time, it is necessary to drive the front and rear power amplifiers that are several times more expensive than the speakers. Another example is B & W's latest Nautilus802 monitor speaker, which has a retail price of nearly 80,000 yuan. Although the sensitivity is as high as 91dB, the sound is neutral, and it can be pushed with a 100W power amplifier per channel, but if you want to introduce a noble tone, at least not use JeffRowland The Model8Ti-HC rear stage plus the corresponding front stage is not possible, at this time the price of a set of front and rear power amplifiers will reach twice that of the speaker. Therefore, when paired with high-end audio, senior audiophiles generally invest 2 to 3 times more in amplifiers than speakers, while models who do not understand audio often spend money on speakers, but it is not uncommon for amplifiers to refuse to invest more. .
You must understand the personality of the audio equipment when you actually match it. If the tone is strong, the sound personality of the equipment should be complementary. If it is a neutral equipment, it is relatively easy to match. For inexperienced people, it is safer to buy neutral equipment to match.
Pay attention to what grade, brand and model of equipment and wire are used when listening in the audio store. When purchasing audio, speakers are usually listed as the first target. If you are a younger brother, you will usually buy mid-range or popular speakers. Then the audio shop owner will talk to you and find that you do n’t know how to do it. The unremarkable but sound quality British or Nordic amplifier and CD player are connected for a test sound. At this time, the sound of the speaker is very good. At this time, the audio store owner will tell you that the output power of my amplifier is only 50W. If you use a more powerful power amplifier to match the effect will be better, then the boss will help you click the "menu", according to your budget and add power amplifier and CD player to let you bury (buy) the list, audio shop Your business is done, but it might not be the same thing when you go home and listen to the connection. Therefore, the buyer must be opinionated and use the equipment they want to buy for the audition.
If you ca n’t get started with many brands and models of speakers, it is best to choose the world-famous products with a good brand image. For example, the Taiwan media "Audio Forum" No. 129 revealed that the best speakers in Taiwan are British B & W and France. The two brands of JM-Lab, the reason is very simple, they have a pretty good brand image, and the product price is wide enough, they almost have any price band products you want. Besides, brand-name speakers with good image are relatively easy to get rid of in the future.
Reasonable adjustment of the system
After buying a set of home audio, sometimes the effect is unsatisfactory. In the case of reasonable equipment matching, it is often caused by the system without reasonable adjustment.
The reasonable adjustment of the system includes the treatment of the room, the positioning of the speakers, and the configuration of the wire.
Requirements for the room: Too many smooth surfaces will cause sound reflections, resulting in poor sound quality or ambiguity. Laying carpets and curtains helps reduce sound reflections. It is best to have some wooden cabinets in the room, which can absorb the bass properly, and it is best to lay wooden floors in the conditional room, which will make the bass sound good. It is best to use leather sofas for the seats in the listening room, not framed seats or sofas made of mahogany, for example.
Positioning of the speakers: First of all, you should check the instructions of the speakers. The more formal speaker manufacturers usually give the pointing characteristics of the speakers in the product instructions and tell the general principles of the positioning. If the speaker is closer to the intersection of the plane of the room, such as the corner of the wall, the intersection of the wall and the floor, etc., the bass will be enhanced a lot, sometimes causing the bass to be muddy.
For bookshelf speakers, a pair of high-quality brackets are inevitable if you want to make a sound. Generally, high-end bookshelf speakers have original brackets. It is best to buy them together with the speakers. Don't be stingy. If you don't have the original brackets, you should also buy a pair of high-end speaker brackets like Italian Solidsteel. Mid-range and popular-grade bookshelf speakers are generally not supplied with original brackets, but you need to purchase better-quality brackets, even if they are domestic products, so as to ensure the effect.
Floor-standing speakers are generally equipped with foot nails, which must be installed when using, otherwise the bass replay effect will be greatly reduced. There are individual models of floor speakers that are also supplied with special tripods. For example, the old B & W Martix800 series, it is best to buy them together with the tripods.
When adjusting the position of the speaker, you should place it on the stand or attach the foot nail until the effect is satisfactory. There are many ways to position the speakers. Interested readers can check the relevant websites online or find articles on audio publications in this regard.
Wire configuration: When buying audio equipment, you can first buy the wire. It is best to wait for the sound system Run-in (commonly known as the pot machine) to stabilize before considering the wire configuration.
Audiophiles who have played audio all have this experience. The sound of newly unpacked equipment is generally harder, there are more trebles, and the bass sounds more boring, it seems that it can't come out. But when the sound characteristics of the system stabilize after a few months of Run-in, it will become nice, the treble is transparent and delicate, and the bass is flexible. If you are in a hurry to configure the wire when the system is not in a stable state, it may become unpleasant later. Therefore, after the sound system Run-in is stabilized, it should be wired according to the characteristics of the sound at this time. Ordinary wires can be used for Run-in.
The sound characteristics of fever wires are different, some are fast, some are slow, some bass is well received, and some have excellent treble resolution. Therefore, it is best to pay a deposit to the audio store when you try out the wire, and then buy it after hearing it. In general, high-end and Hi-End equipment have more wires than Cardas, Kimber, MIT, NBS, Transparent, XLO, VDH. Low-end equipment uses AudioQuest, MonsterCable, TARALabs, Shark, Ixos, Monitor, Supa, Denko more wire, of course, this is not absolute. When buying expensive wire, if you have the conditions, you can consider buying second-hand wire, because the loss of wire is mainly in appearance, and the internal quality does not change much, so it is most practical to buy second-hand wire.
Author's postscript: This manuscript was written under the contract of "AV Audio World". When writing this manuscript, a dealer of domestic audio asked me why I wanted to write imported audio equipment, as if writing imported equipment could not promote the "Chinese Voice". I replied that the reason is actually very simple. Since music art does not know national boundaries, why should it be necessary to classify audio equipment. I think that no one who buys domestic audio equipment is specifically used to listen to folk music, and domestic audio equipment manufacturers and distributors may not use folk music for audition. I remember that every domestic audio exhibition manufacturer Most of them are tested with western classical music and imported audiophile discs, so why should they use foreign music to audition? Is it "Chinese voice" to replay foreign music with domestic equipment?
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