Hello all,

As a long-term (around 50 years) hi-fi guy,  general classical music fan 
and owner of a quite large apropos LP/CD collection I'm obligated to add 
my take on Ray's equipment question.   There is a ton of gear out there, 
in all price ranges, which is good but this makes decisions a bit 
complicated.  And like harpsichords, a given instrument may not be 
everybody's right choice.  I could tell you the gear I have, but that 
may not fit for you (but I will if you ask me!).

I would suggest starting with the hi-fi magazines (Stereophile, Absolute 
Sound and several UK publications).  Stereophile in particular has a 
"Recommended Components " list that is published twice a year & has 
several categories, where equipment is ranked according to cost & 
general quality level.  This makes it easy to create your own list of 
equipment to evaluate.

And evaluate you should - find that listed gear in some hi-fi emporia 
(provided you live near or in a big city), take some recordings you know 
well (or just like) and listen to them on your selections, first on gear 
in your price range and then on the expensive stuff (see if you can hear 
any difference!).  If no difference, then eureka, otherwise you may want 
to go up a notch or 2.  Dealers are often quite helpful in this regard.  
Another idea is to find a friend or 2 that may have a good system (but 
watch it, people are often rather opinionated about their stuff). What's 
important to realize is, there is no ultra design approach, be it tubes, 
solid-state, dynamic or electrostatic, ad infinitum.

But it's important to note that speakers aren't the only thing - you 
will also need at minimum a CD player (and/or turntable) & amplifier 
(either integrated or separates).   The power rating & quality of the 
latter should be well matched to the speakers you want to use (the above 
rankings make this easier).  But don't get more amp power than you 
really need.

I hope this is helpful, but I would not recommend building your own 
speakers (that's like trying to build a harpsichord from scratch) - that 
takes a design engineer level.

Peter Yingling

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