Norm said:
I have trouble being able to tell the difference between a £100 and a £1000 set of speakers. Which, in a way, is a blessing because we don't need to blow much but a long time ago, a friend who is a hi-fi freak convinced me that I was wrong and I would be able to hear the difference. He took me to Richer Sounds in, I think, Kingston where he and one of the assistants laughed at how I said I couldn't tell the difference.
So we went into a test room and listened to a couple of sets, and I was proved right. The ones I thought sounded best were the cheapest set they had in the store.
The moral of that being that you should wrap your ears around as many as you can, preferably your own music connected to the components you have already, to make your own decision. Independent tests and reviews are very good for objective comparisons but listening to music is not objective.
Norm - Brilliant! Do you recall the Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch where a punter Mel Smith goes into a hi-fi shop to buy ...... a gramophone and is met with smug arrogance and ridicule from salesmen Atkinson and Rhys Jones?
Atkinson : "What did you say?"
Mel Smith ; "Nothing, nothing."
Atkinson : "You said - '
What about my old 78s?' grandad!"
.
.
.
Atkinson : "What sort of output are you looking for?"
Mel Smith : "About medium???"
Atkinson : "How many watts exactly?"
Mel Smith : "Whoo, I should say about 3 ????" (Atkinson and Jones fall about laughing)
Atkinson : "You won't hear anything Grandad!"
Mel Smith : "No no no, 2000! 500! 30????"
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Mel Smith "No I don't want stupid things like woofers and tweeters!"
Atkinson : "Too bad Grandad, you got 'em whether you like them or not, they're in your speakers."
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco
Absolutely priceless.
