Psychobabble: Slumming it

Heading down the other side

By John Groom

December 2003

Psychobabble is a column to explore the twilight zone of hi-fi. That strange place where the improbable meets the impossible, the fussy meets the obsessional, and the physical meets the psychological.

After the dizzy heights of a good hi-fi system, where do we go if we want or need to downgrade our system? It is an important question as the logical alternatives are either a plateau stage or a perpetual search for the 'holy grail'.

After I sold off my Naim gear I still held on to the Royd Albion speakers as they seem to me to be a good compromise as a 'bookshelf' monitor with all of the detail that goes with that, but they have enough forgiveness that I can live with them.

I found a well-designed 'lifestyle' equipment rack at Eastern Hi-fi. It is called modestly a Serious Rack and, apart from its lovely rimu finish, imparts a grounded and slightly warm quality to less than perfect electronics. I kept the Naim speaker cable as I had gone to a lot of trouble to install it around the outside of the house and under a deck, it is not bad value for money and does give some of the direct forward sound that I like.

As mentioned in a previous column the system was still benefiting from considerable work done on the power supply and earthing.

The question became what modestly priced electronics to install in the above setting to adequately drive a 6x5m lounge with a concrete floor. As luck would have it a friend had some second hand gear for sale that had been used in a café. We tried the Harmon Kardon amplifier first and I was immediately taken by its ballsy outgoing sound. When coupled that with the elderly Pioneer CD player the sound became open, detailed but with a slightly splashy quality that is easy to live with. So far, for a mere $500, we were doing very well.

I was missing the sheer testicular weight of a high-end system and turning up the bass didn't quite do it for me. Fortunately, at that time I got to listen to a Rel subwoofer and the whole system fell into place. I no longer needed any added bass boost. The whole system breathed easier and it gave an impressive expensive feel to the electronics. The Rel normally retails around the $1300 mark and even with a $200 Chord interconnect I had replaced my entire electronics for $2000.

The emphasis on price is probably a reaction to the fact that I had been getting used to upgrade steps of around the $6000 mark! I do think that knowing what equipment costs affects the way that we listen to it.

My original expectations were certainly high I know, but now I approach the system with a more accepting attitude. I am not listening for its imperfections, I am not listening particularly even for 'how' it does the sound. I have rediscovered my enjoyment of music.

One simple criteria is that Juliet and I can comfortably hold a conversation that drifts in out over and under the music. I no longer have to choose between talking and listening to hi-fi. The music is not demanding but is detailed enough to listen to but soft enough to ignore. Another practical criteria is that we both put music on. It is no longer just 'my' sound it is something that we share.

This is not something to be approached with such simplistic logic that a couple of thousand dollars worth of equipment is in anyway 'better' than $40,000+ worth of gear, nor is their anything inherently wrong with the brilliant Naim sound. As I keep saying it is mostly about how we have been conditioned to listen.

It also says something about who we are. When I was building up the Naim gear I was at a somewhat 'driven' phase of my life: Working a little too hard and coping with a lot of drama. Nowadays my life is slower and less pressured and my listening reflects that change.

Psychobabble is a column about both the psychological and the physical so I wouldn't like to leave you with the impression that the above process is purely 'in the mind'. The observant reader will have noticed that in the above changes, the power supply, earthing speakers and speaker cables have remained the same. Though the replacement equipment and stand are significantly cheaper products, they have been chosen carefully to interface well with this particular room and listening requirements.

I would not underestimate the importance of the things that I have kept stable or the importance of that magical element of synergy which at the end of the day produces a system that is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. That, my friends, is part of the mystery of our hobby.

Other Psychobabble columns

John Groom is a psychologist working in private practice on Auckland's North Shore. John has over three decades experience in both hi-fi and psychology.

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