An integrated amplifier, two speakers on stands, a streamer or a turntable and the right positions in the room. Real music in a real room, for the price of a good watch.
A generation of men has grown up hearing music through earbuds and a soundbar and assumes that is what music sounds like. It is not. A pair of speakers placed properly in a room, driven by a competent amplifier, reproduces a performance rather than a recording of one; you hear where the instruments are, feel the drum, notice the room the record was made in. A system that does this costs less than most men spend on a watch and lasts three times as long.
The four parts
- The integrated amplifier, which combines preamplifier and power amplifier in one box. Rega, Naim, Cambridge Audio, Arcam, Rotel, Yamaha, from €700 to €3,000. Buy one with a built-in phono stage if you will play records and a digital input if you will stream.
- The speakers. Standmounts on proper stands for rooms under 25 square metres; floorstanders for larger rooms. KEF, Bowers and Wilkins, Dynaudio, ProAc, Harbeth, Spendor, from €800 to €5,000 a pair. This is where the character of the system lives, and where to spend the largest share.
- The source. A network streamer from Bluesound, Cambridge or WiiM for a lossless service, €300 to €1,500. Or a turntable, Rega Planar 3 or Pro-Ject Debut, €500 to €1,200, with a cartridge you will replace every few years. Many men end up with both.
- Cable and stands. Decent speaker cable at €5 a metre, not €500. Stands at the right height so the tweeters are at ear level when seated. Spikes or pads to decouple them from the floor.
Headphones are for trains. Music at home is a physical event in a room, and a room with good speakers is a better room.
Three budgets
At €2,000: a Rega io or Cambridge CXA61, a pair of KEF Q Concerto Meta or Wharfedale Linton on stands, a WiiM streamer. At €5,000: a Naim Nait XS or Rega Elex, ProAc Tablette or Harbeth P3ESR, a Bluesound Node and a Rega Planar 3. At €10,000: Naim Supernait, Harbeth Compact 7 or Dynaudio Contour, a Naim streamer, a Rega Planar 6. Beyond that the improvements are real and smaller with every euro, and the room matters more than the equipment.
Placement, which is free and matters most
Speakers at least half a metre from the wall behind them and further from the side walls. The two speakers and the listening chair forming an equilateral triangle, roughly two to three metres a side. Tweeters at ear height, speakers toed in slightly towards the chair. A rug between the speakers and the chair, curtains or a bookshelf on the wall behind you. An afternoon spent moving the speakers a few centimetres at a time does more than a €2,000 upgrade.
Streaming or vinyl
Streaming for everything you might want to hear; a lossless service through a good streamer sounds excellent and costs €12 a month. Vinyl for the records you love, the ritual of choosing one and sitting down for a side, and the sound, which is different rather than better. A man who owns a hundred records he plays has a better relationship with music than one with a hundred thousand tracks he skips through.
Try the tool
Home BarWhat can you make tonight?Questions we get asked
What about a soundbar or wireless speakers?
Fine for the kitchen and the television. For music in the room you sit in, two separate speakers and an amplifier are in a different category and always will be.
Do cables matter?
To the extent that they should be of adequate gauge and properly connected. Beyond that, the difference between €5 a metre and €500 a metre is faith.
New or second-hand?
Amplifiers and speakers from good makers last thirty years and are cheap second-hand from enthusiasts who upgrade too often. A ten-year-old Naim or a pair of old Harbeths is a bargain. Turntables and streamers, buy new.
