On Sat, 28 Oct 2006 06:10:21 +0100, wrote:

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:20:20 +1000, "Trevor Wilson"
wrote:

* Ignore magazine reviews (you have no idea what their agenda may be)

Another conspiracy theorist ! Some reviewers may be deaf but reviews
are a very useful starting point for drawing up a short list.

Talking to hifi dealers and research their suggestions in magazines is
a good plan.

And one should always try several dealers as they'd only recommend the best of their
selection, and they will not cover everything. Also if you think one set might be of
interest but the dealer will not let you demo it at home. Go to another store in the
same chain and ask again. I suggested this to a friend last summer and he went to two
more stores before he found one who would let him. He came down and paid in cash
after 6 days.

Speakers and amps work out differently for me. I buy them second hand and I am a
collector and do not choose based on sound or looks as I buy by brand only.
Ocasionally I pair up for listening. I got 7 pairs of Jamo speakers as in 2003 I felt
I needed some others so I would not have to drag the one set that stayed with me 28
years around the floor all the time to connect to any setup I wanted. I now have 6
sets in my one-room apartment and one old set in my room at my old parents. And I
have 3 amps for the ones at my parents and 9 in my apartment. I also have a larger
headphone collection which is always fun to too hook up to different amps.

I think I will buy my first tube amp for headphone use rather than actually driving
any of the regular speakers I have. I rarely use speakers actually so buying a tube
amp for that would be sad as I probably would not use it much.

Living in an apartment next to older people I tend not to play loud by any stretch of
the word loud. In fact the oldest neighbour thought my apartment was empty because
the blinds are always down and she never heard anything.
I did not tell her that she might be slightly deaf, would probably mind the mess in
my kitchen - where the blinds are always down, and probably I was letting her off
easy by being so quiet. I saw no reaosn to puncture her first impression

I suppose that will change if I bought a tube amp for the speakers. No doubt I can
find a set of speakers that will 'speak up'.

-Mikkel, so many things to collect.