Iāve said it before, but as an older guy I started with scratchy 78ās and remind myself often of the amazing quality and accessibility we have now. Wonder Full.
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I was āstress fidgetyā last night and not relaxing so I decided to download a few of those free apps used to measure sound decibels and I learned something.
My living room, when itās noisy, is around 34 db; HVAC, washer, dryer and dishwasher all operating nearby.
When I listen to music in the main room Iām only pushing about 55db or so sometimes even less when the hour is late and the house is at its quietest, Maybe 45 db on average. If these numbers are anywhere near accurate that really surprised me, I know I do low volume listening but that is really low volume and it surprises me how full and rich the sound is at such low levels. Made me pretty happy and cheered me up.
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Continuing that thought, low-volume listening feels very info rich the more you bring that noise floor down. Every night I go to bed with headphones on and by the time Iām still and quiet, even the lowest setting is too loud for me.
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Yeah, some nights when the house is extra quiet I barely get the volume knob past the lowest settings and Iām talking 2 channel, speakers in wide open space.
In my small closed off room I can use my LTA MZ3 pushing a single watt and enjoy an evening 2 channel session no problem, that room is stupidly quiet and well damped though.
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Thatās one of the marks of a really good system, it should be able to perform very well at lower volumes. Typically less high quality systems arenāt that satisfactory unless you push them hard, but with a nice one thatās not an issue
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Iām often surprised at how much louder modern recording are when compared to CDs Iād purchased in the 80s.
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That was the āfixā for CD Quality.
All the early CD releases that came of analog recordings were just direct copies off tape, and they all sounded terrible in comparison to good vinyl pressings at the time, the dynamic range of the recordings meant that you got all the tape hiss, and very few actual bits to represent most of the audible range.
The solution was to dynamically compress the recordings before transferring, so yes almost all modern CDās are MUCH louder on average, which if itās not over done does sound better on CD.
I still think itās one of the advantages of Vinyl a lot of recording made for vinyl exhibit better use of dynamic range, which if you read the CD hype should not be the case.
A few of my ālessonsā or random thoughts:
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Itās always about the musicā¦ enjoy the music first and foremost ahead of gearā¦ the gear is only as valuable as it helps you to enjoy the music more.
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There is no ābestā only various flavors of good to great that depend upon your preferences.
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The law of diminishing marginal returns is indeed real in fact very real. The curve of marginal $ spend to marginal % increase becomes log very quickly in the spend department.
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When in doubt buy used from ideally known sites and users that have feedback or post quite a bit. I always check their post history if on headfi to see what kind of person they are. You usually can spot skiddish posters quickly.
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Know the market on used prices used headfi, audiogon, usaudiomart, hp dot come community forums, super besties, etcā¦ hifishark has a good engine to find existing adds and hifizero is pretty good and finding recent completed ads.
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When you see the component/hp/speaker that you want and it fits your budget then make a solid offer asap. Donāt richard around low balling people when itās competitive. When an item sits for quite awhile and nobody is offering then shoot a low ball offer.
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Most measurements to me are nearly uselessā¦ THD , SINAD, etcā¦ typically have very little to do with what has been enjoyable. Frequency response curves are slightly useful but also missing so much. Preference curves like Harman are fine as a reference but my own preferences are that Harman sounds tend to be boring and EQāing to a target also is somewhat boring. I prefer the variation of the stock tuning and then tweaking each to accentuate the strengths.
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You sir are a gentleman and the years have filled you with wisdomā¦ at least when buying audio gear. 
could not agree with you more. Thereās insulting offers and there are lowball offers. Thereās a time and place for the latter, never a time and place for the former.
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Iāve got a learning experience story from when I was 18 years old and buying my first, err, mixed and matched non-hifi with hifi components. 
Had some $$ to spend because of a couple savings bonds left to me by a deceased family member. First thing I bought was a stylish rubber (yeah rubber) jacket and some oxblood doc martens. Next, I went to Circuit City and bought the best Aiwa boombox (wood box speakers!!!) I could find. You know, the one with the 5 CD turntable and 5.1 āsurround soundā that simulated surround?
Yeah that bad boy had 330 watts!!! Yeah. What!!!
So then I decidedā¦ I needed a sub. I went to a home theater store, whose name I canāt even remember, and asked the sales repā¦ about a serious subwoofer for my system. He offered a smaller sub, but I took one look at it (6 inch? Pshhh I needed something bigger) and rejected it. He smiled knowingly at my 18 year old baby face and said āthatās too small for you eh, hehe. Well, take a look at thisā and brought me over to Definitive Technologies. āYeah, this one is $600 and we will need to make a custom stereo / mono cable for you so your sub out will work properly.ā Me āokay! That seems about right.ā
(I still hadnāt even listened to the sub at this point.)
Sold!
So I take it home and connect it all, and turn the gain to about 50%, x-over is at like 90. 120. 40. Who knows. What is an x-over? Lmao so the Aiwa is playing loud (in my second story apartment with thin, shitty walls and bad insulation), but I notice the sub isnāt bassing as hard as I expected. What do you do? Turn up the gain of course. So the sub is now at like 80% gain, and I can hear the sub a little.
The Aiwa is on the carpeted floor, in the middle of a bedroom, and the sub is right next to it. In the middle of a room.
Next, someone is banging on my front door. I open the door and itās the neighbor. āCan you turn that down??? I know itās only 3pm but whatever you are doing is rocking the whole building.ā
Iām like āwtf? How?ā And then I walk out into the hallway, and find the bass focal point / sweet spot, which wasnāt in my room at all, but was outside. The neighbors were enjoying my Def Tech much more than I was.
Soā¦ I bought something RIDICULOUSLY over-powered for my current use, my current housing situation, and really even my budget, but I wanted BASS!!! Once I learned how to configure the sub (prosub 100), I had the gain down at like 10, x-over at like 50, and of course I learned how to place the sub in a room.
The guy at the home theater store is probably still grinning at that sale. I couldnāt even grow a beard back then, and he saw my fresh, naive face for the mark that it was, and up-sold the hell out of me. On the bright side, that Def Tech sub still rocks hard 30 years later (Iām 46) and is a solid piece of furniture.
Lesson learned - when you are young and inexperienced and also find some $$, SLOW DOWN and learn, read, talk to other hifi consumers, learn SOMETHING before dropping the $$.
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Aiwa was secretly one of the best electronics brands imho. And my Aiwa boombox and speakers only had 1 issue that was solved woth a soldering iron. They were all good until Sony realized they may be too good and eatting into the main brand.
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JVC was my Aiwa. Bought from the bodega I worked in, the owner had taken it from a customer who owed money and I bought it from him $25. Paid $5 bucks a week for five weeks out of my $15 dollar a week paycheck.
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Reminder lesson on HiFi this beautiful Sunday morning 
. I was brushing my teeth when i heard the lovely voices of Whitney Houston and Celine Dion floating up through the house. Despite the fact that there is tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment set up in meticulously thought out locations and set-ups elsewhere in the house my simple and extremely cheap kitchen system continues to be the #1 favorite and most used all day long.
Girlfriend was up and prepping breakfast, patio door was cracked open to allow fresh air in, overhead range fan was kicking strong, breakfast num-nums were sizzling and guess what, she was smiling and moving her booty to the music while cooking as happy as could be, cranking tunes out of what is technically, the absolute worst sounding set-up in the house.
Youtube via BT > SMSL AD18 > poorly located JBL B15/120ās using homemade inexpensive cables throughout. Seriously, the only things cheaper in the house are the bluetooth speakers i use in the shower and workshopsā¦ 
The lesson in this long winded post, the JOY music brings to each individual need not be measured in $$$$ spent. I forget this sometimes in my fits of upgraditisā¦
Attached is a bad pic of ābest/most usedā system in the houseā¦.
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Lol super true! Itās like my cheap car speakers are super fun, still love and miss my 18 dollar earbuds and LOVE the jbl charge
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There really is something to just listening to music you love and to do it while cooking. My hope is to find a spot with a kitchen and connected living room. Set up the music for the living room but can still enjoy it while cooking. Music and food, doesnt get much better.
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The diagram is audiophile!
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I have multiple Apple HomePods setup around the house. They too are not the best quality but the convenience of streaming music to them all and doing chores in various rooms while enjoying music is great.
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Integrated amps today arenāt your grandpaās integrated amps. It hit me as to how high the bar has been set with so many really good examples out there.
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You are correct in that they are much more refined.
I still would like to see some of these in seperate parts as so many offer very nice front ends and streamer interfaces. But you cant just get that, you need to go all out or nothing.