Have your say & ask the experts

A few selected hi-fi highlights to whet your appetite: we’ll have all-new reviews of CD players like the Audioresearch CD7 and Meridian 808.2i Signature Reference, amps including the Naim NAC252/Supercap/NAP250 combo, the Plinius Tautoro/SA Reference pre/power and Krell’s gigantic FBI, plus speakers such as the Martin Logan Vantages, Wilson Audio Duettes and KEF Reference 207/2s. We’ll also cover other high-end components, from £20,000 SIM2 projectors to Denon’s latest £10,000 two-box home cinema giants, and we’ll even be reviewing in-car audio, with top-spec systems from Audi, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and, with luck, Bentley.

And of course, we’ll also have our regular feature in the front of the magazine where you all get to have your say. So tell us: what’s so special about high-end hi-fi? If you’re fortunate enough to be an owner, how happy are you with your system, and how do you justify spending the cash to yourself? And how much difference do you think buying high-end kit makes to your listening pleasure?

As ever, I’m looking for quotes that try to describe the experience of listening to high-end kit, or try to convey the thrill of owning it. I’m going to put this same post up on the home cinema forum (modified to suit, of course!) but if any of you want to post comments on your home cinema kit on this thread too, fire away. The most interesting contributions will be published in our regular feature in the front section of the magazine.

By the way, I'm off on holiday for a fortnight after today, so I won't be able to join in much on this one. I've no doubt my colleagues will more than make up for my absence!

All the best, Andy

I don't think you need to justify what you spend your money on to anyone, we all have hobbies and ours is audio, as long as we have paid our needs i.e food, mortgage, and don't get into debt over it then lets enjoy our hobby!!

I quite agree. Some people spend inordinate sums on fashion, for example, and as anyone who knows me will attest, I just don't see the point in that. However, to be clear, I wasn't looking for moral justifications, so much as technical or emotional ones. For example, with my Meridian kit, I found the overwhelming cleverness of the system – its design, its ease of use, its adaptability, its resistance to obsolescence – to be almost as attractive (and therefore almost as much of a justification of its high cost) as the fantastic sounds and pictures it could generate.

You'll note I said 'almost'.

One other point, guys. We've all covered the 'What Is High-End?' point before, and in some depth. Can we try not to get too deep into that one again, please? I'd rather hear about the kit you've got and what you think about it than get bogged down in semantics.

How I would describe Highend? (in a broken English way as always!)

High end companys normally don't make a budget range . The components used are generally a lot higher quality that usually found in the mass market produced brand.

The main differnt normally will be pin point imaging, Natural bass (if you ever play the intrument, you will know what I mean) and Details.

The sound of them? I can only descripe as "glorious", once you own them...there is no turning back. It is the case of "finding downgrading from highend is harder than Upgrading from Budget - midrange eqipments.

because High end HiFi give you the sense that being there! all is there between you and the bands is just fresh air.

[quote user="Andy H"]Point taken, but do you not think it would be better to let the car mags take care of that and stick to home hifi.[/quote]

We have quite enough car mags in this building able to do the 'how it goes round corners' and 'luggage capacity rear seats up/down' stuff - we'll just concentrate on how the in-car systems sound.

And when you get the likes of Bang & Olufsen, B&W, Dynaudio and Naim taking car audio seriously, we reckon it's time we did, too.

Mind you, it's nothing new - when I first started on these magazines we used to review in-car radiocassettes every month, and have an in-car special at least once a year. 

LOL. Wish the theory classes were supported with some practicals with these babies!