The bottom line here is simple. The starter systems that are getting sold are all too often the wrong systems, with the wrong priorities and the wrong budget allocation: too little attention paid to musical performance, too much money devoted to the boxes, not enough to the infrastructure. It’s still – actually increasingly – possible to sell a decent starter system. Even one based on a streamed source. The problem is that so few retailers are doing so, instead relying on features and style to sell products, rather than performance. Sadly, a hi-fi system that doesn’t deliver music is about as useful as a car that doesn’t start. Pretty soon it risks relegation to ‘hen coop’ status – forgotten and covered in shit…
It’s something to bear in mind, next time someone asks you for advice on getting a hi-fi system, or on improving the one they’ve got. Meanwhile, I’m going to start looking at some of the available turntable options that sit a rung (or two) above entry level…
