Hello to all purist and die-hard audiophiles, music lovers, home cinema buffs - and anyone who is interested to learn more about ‘high fidelity sound reproduction in the home’! We are a bunch of school friends, teenagers of the 80s, who were always fascinated about good equipment and good music during our school days (Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Supertramp, Barclay James Harvest, to mention mostly Progressive Rock). As opposed to doing our homework. Though we nevertheless turned out pretty good, only God knows how or why…

The order (equipment first, and then music!) may be controversial but it is important and on purpose, not at all fortuitous! Of course, we love good music and music should be the end with hi-fi being the means. But we are frank to admit that we do love reading about, buying, unboxing, owning, touching, adjusting, using - and just looking at - beautiful and well performing hi-fi equipment. We believe that good music is much more enjoyable with great, audiophile sound. Just as both the artist and recording engineer wanted it to sound.

The hi-fi journey is a very exciting one as it involves not only music but also Physics (the Acoustics, Electrical and Electronic sciences) as well as, increasingly now, Home Design – and even Lifestyle and Philosophy. It is the Science as well as the Art.

We have decided to import and distribute ‘hi-fi’ (as opposed to ‘lo-fi’!) so that a good range of audiophile equipment is readily available in Mauritius. Above all, we provide demonstrations in dedicated listening rooms - as well as advice to suit your personal requirement, taste and budget. These are very crucial steps (but often missed) before you decide to buy. This is our raison d’être.

We therefore have a good range in stock, so that you do not have the hassle, high cost, and especially the high risk of personal imports. If you like something, it will most probably be available immediately or within a few weeks. Make an appointment and let us listen to good sound together, with unlimited free coffee. You do not even have to buy anything! It is not a business, it is our hobby. The private listening sessions are by appointment only so that we spend time (ie. hours!) with only one audiophile at a time. We all have different tastes and needs – and ears.

Tip – when you visit us, do bring your favourite CDs or vinyl albums, the ones you listen to the most. Since you know very well how they sound, you will be in a better position to detect any change with the new equipment. Warning – be prepared to re-discover your own CDs and vinyl, new sounds you never heard before! Last, but by no means least, we provide home installation, free of charge. This is critical as very good equipment can have sub-optimal sound if not properly installed, especially the positioning of speakers. We can hence also give you some essential tips on room treatment.

We are living our passion and would love to discuss and share it with you. We are supported by a network of school friends who equally share this contagious passion. By the way, you may have guessed it, the name of our adventure was inspired by the group ‘Art of Noise’. Obviously, we had to make it ‘Art of Sound’. We never said we were creative…

Here you will find some practical (and even philosophical) ‘Advice for the Young at Heart’. As you may know, this is a great song by Tears for Fears… As Voltaire said: ‘Gentlemen, if you want to converse with me, first define your terms’.

Hi-fi is short for ‘High-Fidelity’, ie. the fidelity in reproducing natural sound. Let us first and foremost make it clear that total, perfect fidelity does not exist. You will never be able to have a completely natural, live sound as played by musicians in your living room. But that is NOT as bad as it looks. Even if you had a million-watts (and a million-dollar) system to reproduce the sound of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in full flight (Ode to Joy) as played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, your living room will not have the same size, let alone the same sophisticated acoustics, as those hallowed places - and your expensive system will sound very bad (because of your room limitations).

The worst sound I ever heard came from the KEF Muon, a 2-metre high, 4-way flagship speaker with 9 drivers costing Rs.8,000,000 per pair in 2005 and weighing 115kg. The problem was not the speaker, it was the tiny hotel room used for the demo. So, home hi-fi has to be ‘tuned’ to play well in a domestic environment.

However, we strongly recommend that you listen at least to some live music to train your ears to recognise natural sound. This has to be acoustic music as large rock venues need amplification and, of course, have large and very noisy crowds. Jazz gigs and chamber music are probably the easiest to find, even in Mauritius. Look at it this way: whilst it is nice and especially extremely convenient to drink orange juice from a carton every day, it would be sad if you had never actually seen and tasted a real orange… Similarly, the woody, rounded and tuneful notes of a clarinet, mixed with the breath of the musician, have to be experienced from up close to really understand the beauty of this instrument.

Here is a related anecdote for those who want to show off their ‘culture’. The Romanian grand maestro Sergiu Celibidache (1912-96) did not accept to record any albums. He maintained that music could be ONLY LIVE, in the moment it is performed (like in the old days). Luckily for us, after his death, it was revealed that some of his live radio performances had been secretly taped! And he did finally agree to some recordings. No worries, we will not say that you read it her.

It does not have to be. Our smallest speaker, the Mission LX-1, costs only the price of a gourmet dinner for four at a good restaurant – without wine. The beauty of h-fi is that Clarinet is much cheaper (and safer, healthier) than Claret… Choose your poison! But do not be fooled by its diminutive, almost bijou size. Each LX-1 packs 4.1kg of dense and solid engineering. A system with the iconic Audiolab 6000 series matched to any Mission speakers may even qualify as mid-level (as opposed to entry level) as the Audiolab 6000 series are that good. Yet they are their ‘basic’ offering. It may be all the hi-fi you ever need to be happy for the rest of your life… The relatively higher end 8000 series with the very refined Mission ZX speakers (both sonically and visually) are a match made in heaven.

Our aim is to be NOT more expensive than Europe even though we do not benefit from large volume discounts from suppliers, whilst also suffering from much higher shipping costs. But we try to keep our internal/management costs low and pass on the savings to you. Luckily, today, even affordable equipment have great design to blend with - and even enhance - your home interior. The Mission ZX speakers are admittedly top of the range but really look much more expensive than what they are! An added bonus, as spouse acceptance is often taken for granted. A very big mistake.

However, please do not make the (very local) mistake of just checking the price of an item. Music (and even types of sound) are very personal and tastes differ widely. It is not just about buying a box. Come in for a listen and judge for yourself. I once went to a shop and ultimately spent four times my planned budget – by going second hand too! - as the high end sound was in a totally different league. It was more expensive but… better value. I also once spent four times less for an excellent pair of headphones. So, you could also be perfectly happy by spending less than your budget… but only once you listen.

We are here to give you genuine advice to suit your budget, taste, music and room. Do not buy an expensive, 2-metre high speaker if your room is too small to display the lowest bass frequencies. This will mess your listening experience as the sound will suffer from an acoustic phenomenon known as ‘standing wave’ – among other things. The bass will be muddy or boomy, as opposed to a satisfying and clear, strong ‘thud’. And this will also prevent you from hearing the mid and high frequencies clearly. This is where you may also need room treatment. We do not sell these items but would be happy to advise.

Loudspeaker wattage (apparently to indicate the ‘power’ of a speaker) is a very common mistake, especially in Mauritius. Many people very expertly ask about your… ‘speaker Watts’. Speakers are not measured in Watts. Obviously, ‘active’ speakers do have Watts as they have a… built-in amplifier, just like subwoofers. However, for guidance (or maybe for legal reasons in some countries) speaker manufacturers may rate a speaker as being able to handle, say, 30-100Watts, hence the confusion. This INPUT guide to the speakers is, in fact, a recommendation for your amplifier which, unlike speakers, consumes electricity. This speaker ‘rating’ in Watts is even a misleading recommendation as the more Watts (from your amplifier) you feed to speakers, even above the speaker ‘max’ rating, to some extent, the less work the speakers have to do - and hence the better they will sound! It is low power (again, from your amplifier) which can damage a speaker, not powerful amplifiers (again, within limits).

Imagine the amplifier is a car engine and the speaker the car body. The more powerful the engine, the more effortlessly you can move… Conversely, a very low-powered amplifier is like having the engine of a scooter in your car. Instead of the irrelevant Watts question about speakers, it is far more useful to look at EFFICIENCY, expressed in decibels (dB). The more efficient a speaker, the less power (again, from the amplifier!) it needs to achieve a given Sound Pressure Level (SPL). To continue with the car analogy, let us say that the efficiency of a speaker is how light a car chassis/body is.

A speaker is roughly deemed normally efficient when its efficiency rating is around 87-88dB. This is why some people choose to have a great system with a valve amplifier of only 2 x 10W but matched with very high efficiency speakers. Do not take dB ratings lightly. They are expressed in a logarithmic scale (see below). Hence, every increase of only 3 dB represents a… doubling of sound level! The other criterion for a speaker is, believe it or not, mere weight! Do not be fooled by size, you can have an impressive big box, which is mostly… empty. Like a cappuccino, you will be buying hot air (that’s why intelligent people like audiophiles drink espresso!).

Weight is a basic but fundamental indicator. It does not automatically guarantee great sound but it shows the level of engineering in terms of panel density, panel thickness, internal bracing for rigidity as well as, crucially, the size of magnets. The larger the magnet the stronger the magnetic field creating the sound waves. Especially for acoustics, you just cannot bypass the laws of Physics.

The human ear is an incredibly beautiful and complex system. Thus, the logarithmic scale is necessary because of the nature of our hearing. We can hear the sound of one pin dropping but we cannot distinguish the difference between 1,000 and 1,001 pins dropping!

Floor standers (also known more technically as ‘full range’ speakers, because they cover a wide range of frequencies) are very good all-rounders. A bit like saloon cars, they offer incredible value for money and fit almost all purposes. The aesthetic trend is that they are now slimmer but taller, thus looking very nice and also taking less floor space. To achieve this, sometimes, say, a 10-inch woofer is replaced by two 5-inch ones. The result is not always as good as having a larger woofer (see also ‘Subwoofer’ section).

Some purists claim (not always true) that smaller stand-mounted speakers are more ‘audiophile’. They may not be ‘full range’ extending to very deep bass (the low frequencies, say, roughly below 45Hz) - due to their smaller enclosure - but their sound can be very pure and coherent. Again, if your room is smallish, it could be challenging to have very good low frequencies anyway. Since their cabinets are smaller, standmounts are more rigid by structure and, as a result, their shorter vertical sides resonate less. As an analogy, let us say they are sports cars. They excel at what they do, but only within a pre-defined limited frequency range. Also, they are smaller and have the ability to ‘disappear’ visually. So, it is easier to imagine that the music is more natural, not coming specifically from a box. They look less overwhelming than floorstanders and blend more easily with the rest of your furniture.

An increasingly common practice nowadays, some audiophiles use standmounts (or smaller floorstanders) and then add a separate subwoofer (usually active, ie. with its own dedicated amplification) for the lower frequencies, to have the best of both worlds. It is also more budget-friendly as you spread the cost over time (you can add the sub later). The very low frequencies (from the sub) can sometimes sound quite detached from the mids (of the standmounts). So, it is important that the sub integrates well with your pair of speakers. No one said hi-fi was straightforward but that is also part of the fun!

We also have to make the distinction between 2-way and 3-way speakers. This relates to the number of speakers within the enclosure (more precisely by the separation of frequency ranges – low/medium/high – as enabled by a ‘crossover’). Besides the tweeter for high frequencies, a 3-way speaker has two more ‘cones’ (a woofer for low frequencies plus a midrange). But in a 2-way speaker, only one cone is used for both low and midrange. However, it is better not to focus too much on the technicalities. Ultimately, the most important thing is that you like what you are hearing. Also, if we assume that price can be an indication, a premium 2-way speaker will sound better than a cheap 3-way. As one British magazine usefully indicates, a 5-star £200 equipment will not sound better than a 4-star £2,000 one…

Note that, strictly speaking, we now rarely use the word ‘bookshelf’ speakers (sometimes synonymous with standmounts). These are very affordable smaller speakers placed, by definition, on bookshelves in small rooms. They were all the rage in the 70s and 80s, especially in student rooms and small flats. Standmounts are now quite affordable and offer great sound for not much more in terms of cost. With the necessary stands, the… standmounts also have a more audiophile set up. However, smaller speakers are now making a comeback, especially active (with an internal amplifier) Bluetooth speakers, usually linked to a computer (or phones and tablets) in, say, a home office, and placed on a table.

There are also other types of speakers such as electrostatic panels and horn speakers but these niche products are beyond our introductory scope. Now you can even get electrostatic speakers in… headphones!

Some people are purist 2-channel audiophile enthusiasts who swear only by acoustic jazz trios, whilst others need a 13-speaker setup plus 4 subwoofers and the latest THX or Dolby Atmos processor to experience the ‘Top Gun’ sound effects. Some of the 2-channel purists may spend more on a stereo, music-only system than others would spend on their 13-speaker Home Cinema (and that could be just the cables!). Again, it is what makes you happy. There is no right or wrong. But what if you want to have both?

If money was no object, you would get as many surround speakers as you want with the latest sound processor and, crucially, a powerful mono amplifier… for each channel. Then you would have a high end 2-channel stereo system when you listen to music only - and then switch on the remaining 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 amplifiers/channels (!) when you watch a movie. But many of us may not be able to afford this elaborate setup…

The other option is to have a dedicated home cinema in one room. Here, you do not really need very expensive audiophile equipment. A very affordable 5-channel home cinema processor integrated with an amplifier (called an ‘AV Receiver’) with the entry level Mission LX speakers and a sub (making it a 5.1 system) will give you very good movie surround sound. Then you can dedicate another room to an exclusively mid- or high-end purist 2-channel audiophile system, including a turntable as well as a pair of prestigious, reference speakers.

A simpler and less costly approach (and a first step) is to have a good 2-channel hi-fi and just hook it up to your TV (with the now ubiquitous HDMI cable) – with a subwoofer. This would then be a 2.1 system focused more on purist hi-fi but nevertheless great for watching the occasional movie. The additional ‘0.1’ means a ‘satellite’ subwoofer is added to the right and left channels. You would be surprised how movies can sound good with such a simple stereo system, especially if your living room is not too large.

All elements of a system are important, even accessories, as they all potentially can impact the sound quality. However, many people consider an amplifier to be the heart of a system. Again, let us not worry too much about numbers or Watts. A good 25W amplifier may well sound better than a bad 50W one. Valve (known as Tube in the US) amplifiers have much lower output in Watts (compared to Solid State) but their specific sound signature is very much loved by some.

There are numerous other items of design which make good sound, not only the Watts rating. This is why some people prefer the sound of a 2 x 50W audiophile amplifier rather than that of a 7 x 80W Home Cinema AV Receiver. Indeed, the audiophile amplifier may well be more expensive than the AVR, which is an indication of the level of engineering and parts used – in the ‘smaller’ amplifier.

In general, the more powerful an amplifier (in Watts, W), the stronger the current fed to the speaker and the less amount of work the speaker has to do. In fact, too weak an amplifier can damage your speakers as they will be made to work too hard and the sound will start to show distortion (a phenomenon known as ‘clipping’). As an analogy, imagine you travel at 100 km/h on a 49cc scooter (probably at its max power) and at the same speed on a 1,000cc 4-cylinder Kawasaki Ninja (which will be barely above idle mode!). Which engine is working less and thus will be more at ease and more durable in the long run? This is why one school of thought claims that ‘you can never have too much power, more is always better’. Well, everything is relative…

It is also considered that amplifiers have a sweet spot, where their output is ‘linear’ and sound their best, with the lowest distortion. This is roughly the first 20% of their output. So, let us say you need/want an amplifier of 50W, some people advise you should, in fact, ideally have a 250W amplifier to then use only the first 50W, at a comfortable volume output with the highest quality (ie. lowest distortion guaranteeing no listening fatigue)! But this is just another way of looking at things.

The Audiolab 6000A delivers only 50W per channel and this may be all the amplification you ever need - in a normal room with reasonably sensitive speakers. Hence, the power of an amplifier also depends on the speakers used. The more sensitive the speakers (in dB), the less power you need from an amplifier for a given Sound Pressure Level (SPL). Also, when you check out the Watts output of an amplifier, make sure the manufacturer is quoting ‘RMS Watts’ (Root Mean Squared) which is a standard in Physics used by all good amplifier manufacturers and not the ‘Musical’ (or Marketing!) Watts, used in lo-fi, which mean next to nothing. Yes, we should all have paid more attention to our Physics classes in secondary school, our teacher was right.

What a conundrum! CDs are digital and very convenient too: you skip tracks with your remote, you do not have to get up to change from Side A to Side B. A CD Player is virtually maintenance free compared to a turntable. Vinyl is analogue and, to some, sound more ‘lush and organic’, is more satisfying to own and more tactile to set up and play. Which one is better? It all depends on what you like. CDs are also cheaper to buy than vinyl but… in some countries, vinyl is now outselling CDs! At the Bristol Hi-Fi Show last February 2020, the joke was that if you were still into digital, it meant you were… old-fashioned. Paradoxical, maybe… There are fans for each. Maybe the best of both worlds would be to have ‘warm’ vinyl as source and a powerful and affordable solid-state amplifier? Or, inversely, a CD player (especially if you already have a large CD collection) with a valve amp!

Every system sounds different, this is why listening is crucial. The first time I listened to an (award-winning) valve amplifier, I found the instruments positioned in front of me quite sloppy, constantly moving (like swinging lanterns) to the point of making me dizzy! Maybe the listener had been too accustomed to solid state for decades. But solid-state amplifiers do sound as if every instrument is rigidly fixed into place, maybe at the expense of sounding a bit harsh sometimes and lacking warmth. Some high-end manufacturers use valves at the pre-amplification stage with solid state power amplification. This could be in one box (integrated) or in two separate boxes (pre/power). This topic is endless…

Solid state amplifiers need no maintenance for years and are quite affordable and powerful. The newer ‘Class D’ amplifiers are even more powerful, run cooler as they are more energy-efficient and are usually cheaper on a ‘per Watt’ basis. Valve (‘tube’ in the US) amplifiers usually give you a warmer sound but they are also lower in power for the same price. This is where it helps to have speakers with higher sensitivity. However, the number of Watts from a valve amplifier cannot be directly compared with solid-state Watts. It is a bit like diesel cars, which have lower power outputs but more torque (a measure of ‘moment’, which is force applied multiplied by distance - yes, Physics again), which may well be more useful. So, a low Watts output from valves may sound more ‘full’ than the mere numbers suggest. Usually, valve amplifiers are more expensive and require some light valve maintenance (called ‘adjusting the bias’). The valves last only a few thousand hours. They consume more electricity and dissipate more heat. However, they are uniquely flexible in that you can easily… change the sound of your amplifier by just trying other valves (a practice known as ‘tube rolling’ in the US).

We do not want to be too technical here and neither are we engineers. One type of amplifier is not better than the other, they all have different sounds – and personal tastes vary infinitely. We invite you to google the related topics of Class A, Class AB, Class D and valve amplifiers – should you want to delve deeper. It is fascinating stuff.

Music streaming is now a very convenient digital source. You have instant access to millions of tracks for a very affordable monthly subscription. You do not need space for physical medium (lots of heavy CDs and vinyl) in your living room – and it is very convenient if you travel or move house a lot. All accessible from your iPad. Spotify is at the entry level though most tracks are not bad at all in terms of sound quality. Its interface is very user-friendly, especially in terms of curation (proposing you new artists based on your listening patterns), using savvy algorithms. Then comes Apple Music. Both are of MP3 standard, hence below CD quality, with Apple sounding slightly better than Spotify. Well-recorded tracks sound surprisingly good with both – on a good system, of course. Other streaming services offer better sound quality but are more expensive, such as Tidal and Qobuz. These even offer some tracks at ‘Hi-Res’ or ‘Master’ quality, ie. above CD sampling rates, if you have the streamer to decode the higher resolution formats. MQA, launched by Meridian in 2014 and available on Tidal, claims to offer high quality sound with smaller files than ‘Hi-Res’ or ‘Master’ quality, hence enabling shorter download times.

A DAC is a Digital-to-Analogue Converter. What does this mean and why is it required? In the old days, music sources were tapes, vinyl and radio in, say, AM/FM. Music was recorded in analogue and played back in analogue, ie. sound waves that the human ear can process. Then, we had digital files on CDs (co-developed by Philips and Sony, released in 1982) - as well as on computers. You may remember the famous Marketing slogan for CD, ‘Perfect Sound Forever’. Audiophiles who do not like digital find it very funny... Some countries also have DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) radios. Audio files (and maybe even some ‘audiophiles’) are made of bits, coded fundamentally with 0s and 1s.

Of course, the human ear does not hear bits or code. So, the files have to be decoded from digital and converted to analogue signals. Hence, the presence of a DAC in CD players. In higher end audio, a higher quality DAC may be in a separate box. Then the CD player is in fact a CD Transport. The sound - sorry, rather, the bits - then go to the DAC (second box) and thereafter to the amplifier. This is the case with the Audiolab 6000CDT, which is only a transport, so without an internal DAC. The twist here is that the DAC is not in a separate box but in the 6000A amplifier. One philosophy is that spinning the disc is better kept separate as mechanical noise can cause interference. The 6000CDT thus has an electromagnetically shielded case. This approach is also very convenient. To play music from digital sources (internet radio, a streaming service, YouTube or files from your phone/iPad/laptop), these devices can connect directly to the 6000A amplifier for playback via cable or, more conveniently, Bluetooth.

So, if you only stream music, you do not need to buy the CD player just to get a good DAC, it is already in the amplifier. Computers (and phones) also have an internal DAC. The quality of internal DACs in portable devices has improved over the years. However, in general, an outboard DAC sounds better. One of the reasons is that when the bits are converted into analogue, the timing sequence is not always consistent, which results in ‘clocking errors’. This causes what is called ‘jitter’, hindering true fidelity in sound restitution. Good quality external DACs, even some portable ones, reduce jitter. There is thus, now, a growing market for portable external DACs which bypass your internal phone or computer DAC once plugged in, such as the Audioquest Dragonfly or the Audiolab M-DAC Nano.

At the higher end, with conventional (normal size) hi-fi systems, demanding audiophiles may even bypass the DAC integrated with their CD players by using an external DAC. A new external DAC also makes sense if you have a relatively older hi-fi which you like and do not want to change. So, upgrading only the DAC makes sense, especially as the more modern standalone DAC will most probably support higher resolution files, above CD sampling rates. It helps substantially that the external DAC has its own transformer guaranteeing a strong and dedicated power supply. And external DACs now increasingly come with a headphone amplifier as a bonus. The Audiolab M-DAC+ is such a product.

These are upgrades, with cables and more amplifiers, used to separate the frequencies within an audio system to achieve even better sound resolution. As the terms imply, it is about separating (speaker) cables and amplifiers.

Bi-wiring is when you have two speaker cables per channel (or special ‘bi-wire’ cables with double termination for connecting to speakers), as opposed to only the usual one cable. You need speakers with two pairs of binding posts. One cable carries the low/medium frequencies to the woofer(s) and the other (on the same side or channel) carries the high frequencies to the tweeter only. There are technical reasons as to why the sound will improve – as well as, inevitably, skeptics. It may work in some systems and not in others. Using separate cables allows for a further refinement: you can use a specific type and brand of cable for low/medium and a different one for high frequencies! The double binding posts on your speakers come bridged with a thin strip of metal (the manufacturer de facto assumes non bi-wiring mode). They are to be removed for bi-wiring. One of the benefits of bi-wiring is that the sound may also improve by removing these metal strips. They are usually not good conductors as they are of lower quality than dedicated audiophile speaker cables. Tip – so, even if you do not bi-wire, replace the metal anyway with a very short length of good speaker cable. It will probably improve the sound.

Bi-amping, as the name implies, is when you use two amplifiers. There is a major structural difference between vertical and horizontal bi-amping.

In vertical bi-amping, you have one amplifier for the right channel only and a second amplifier for the left, so two identical boxes. Since you have a dedicated amplifier for each channel, these will be mono power amplifiers, or stereo power amplifiers switched to mono (called ‘bridging’). You will need a separate pre-amplifier to control both power amps (or use the pre-amp section of your existing integrated). You may choose to bi-wire or not.

Horizontal bi-amping is when you use the right channel of your first amplifier (say, your integrated amplifier) for the treble of your right speaker and the right channel of a second amplifier (usually, an added power amp) for the bass of the SAME RIGHT speaker. And obviously the same configuration for the left channel. Horizontal bi-amping gives you more flexibility: the amplifiers need not be the same. Indeed, it is possible that they have different power ratings as tweeters require less power than the bigger midrange speaker and woofer combined. However, the amplifiers, whilst not necessarily identical, should usually be of the same brand so that the ‘gain’ is the same. Explaining the technical term ‘gain’ is beyond the scope of this paper (Google ‘Amplifier voltage gain’).

Hence, when you are using a ‘pre/power’ amplifiers combination, it is horizontal bi-amping. You could use a specific bass-friendly cable for the right and left midrange/bass frequencies (remember, here it is from the same amplifier) and another cable which works better with high frequencies to feed the right and left tweeters. If you want to go full exotic, you could even use a ‘warm’ tube amplifier for the high frequencies on the right and left channels to achieve silky treble and a cheaper but more powerful solid state amplifier for the woofers, which are more power hungry.

To recap, as this might be mildly confusing, in vertical bi-amping you have separate but identical boxes/amplifiers for the right and left channels. For horizontal bi-amping, you have the same amplifier (usually an integrated amplifier) driving the right and left tweeters and a second amplifier (an added power amp) driving the right and left woofers. So, in horizontal bi-amping, you are, by definition, also… bi-wiring. Hi-fi can be real fun!

Very important - never skimp on accessories. The quality of a system is only as good as its… weakest link! The two main accessories to start with are cables and speaker stands.

Interconnects are cables placed between a source (CD player, turntable, streamer) and the amplifier. Speaker cables run from the amplifier to the… speakers. You also need an Interconnect between your amplifier and a subwoofer, if you have one. We assume here it is an ‘active’ subwoofer, ie. with an amplifier. This cable would be a ‘mono interconnect’ for subwoofers. Obviously, you do not need stands for floor-standing speakers.

In fact, these are not ‘accessories’ at all but an integral part of any hi-fi system. As the saying goes, why buy a Ferrari and use cheap, skinny tyres or try to save on oil? It makes no sense. We can easily demonstrate how cables and heavy, very stable and rigid steel speaker stands (as opposed to wobbly and hollow furniture) do make a difference to the sound - and help you get the best out of your system. The aim is to provide isolation and reduce vibration.

If good quality cables improve the sound of your system, this also means that you do not have to re-start with a completely new system. One of our first customers upgraded his existing, modest hi-fi with our lowest-priced TCI Tiger II Interconnect. He was astounded by the sound improvement. We cannot resist to share his epiphany with you: ‘Hi, just to tell you am rediscovering my CDs. It’s time wasted over the years with those low grade cables.’ We rest our case.

We also stock other audiophile-grade items such as hi-fi power cords or leads (the cables from your power sockets to your hi-fi equipment) and hi-fi power strips (also known as ‘multi-plugs’ in Mauritius).

There are quite a few skeptics about the improvement hi-fi accessories brings. Not all accessories will improve your sound equally. It could be also that accessories are where the law of diminishing return kicks in earlier. That is, it is highly probable you will hear a sound improvement when you replace the thin, free black and red speaker cables that come in the box of your amplifier with even entry level audiophile cable. But the sound will not improve five times if you replace a £100 cable with a £500 one. In this case, you may be better off getting a new CD player or amplifier or new speakers. Or just add a subwoofer (again, an active one) to dramatically increase the scale of your music.

As a rough rule of thumb, cables should account for at least 10% of the cost of your hi-fi system. Start with entry level audiophile cables at the very least. Then, move up and stop spending when you can no longer hear a difference. This will vary greatly for each system - and every listener too.

Most of us do not have the means to buy a completely new, perfect high end system from Day 1. Then, gradual upgrade is the way to go and this is an exciting journey in itself. It could even be that the journey is more interesting than the destination… But, with a limited budget, which equipment to upgrade first?

Obviously, the one you deem the weakest link in your current system. What if all the items are of roughly equivalent level? Some audiophiles maintain that the amplifier is the heart of any system and this is where you should start. But then, another philosophy is that the source is the most important as you will never be able to correct an intrinsic bad source downstream, even with great amplifiers. You can start with the cheapest upgrade, cables, especially in case you are still using the old black and red electrical wiring! Or place your stand-mount speakers onto heavy, steel stands, as opposed to being on top of hollow furniture.

Also, subwoofers are not just for home cinema. The lower frequencies (say, 30-45 Hz) can really add much more scale and emotion to even 2-channel music. Good speakers are critical. Speakers may be as much as 40-50% of your hi-fi budget. In Mauritius, for the past 40 years or so, some good Japanese electronics have been available but not always good, especially European/American, speakers. By tradition, we have focused more on electronics than on speakers. Upgrading your speakers from the cheap and light empty boxes will make the biggest improvement to the sound of your existing electronics. As mentioned previously, the first indication of a ‘good’ speaker is a heavy box of solid engineering incorporating strong magnets and dense, thick panels with internal bracing for rigidity. In many cases in Mauritius, speakers remain the weakest link.

For turntables, it is generally considered that an affordable (though more midrange than entry level), good quality cartridge is all you need. That is, it is better to invest in a high quality turntable and tone arm (as opposed to an expensive cartridge fitted to a cheap turntable). So, start with the best turntable you can afford as a foundation. Later on, add a dedicated external phono stage bypassing the one in your amplifier. The next step could then be to replace your Moving Magnet (MM) cartridge with a Moving Coil (MC) design, if your phono stage allows this.

With some lateral thinking, sometimes the best upgrade is just to choose well-recorded albums. A free one is to experiment with speaker placement. Your room may also need acoustic treatment. Another ‘upgrade’ that most people do not think of, is to… get your ears cleaned! Just do not fall into the trap of constantly changing equipment so that you forget to listen to the music. This is why we like Mission’s philosophy and slogan: ‘Music is the Master, Technology is the Slave’. As stated earlier, hi-fi is a very interesting journey, with many, many flavours…

Believe it or not, this fundamental question is very easy to answer. It is not about money, design, watts, impedance, brand or the number of speakers. A good hi-fi is one which instinctively makes you want to listen to music every day. It can be affordable or expensive. If you love what you hear, it is ‘audio nirvana’, the holy grail. The ultimate irony is that you forget about the equipment (it disappears) and you just enjoy the music. It is the proverbial toe-tapping with a wide, knowledgeable grin on your face. So, and this is very critical, it is what makes you feel good, NOT the most expensive equipment you can buy.

And we all have different tastes – and constraints (room, budget, music sources, etc.). You may have a high budget but your room may not be adapted to large floorstanding speakers going down to below 40Hz anyway. There are bass freaks or, conversely, fans of more balanced, musical sound. Some swear only by the coherent sound of standmounts. If you listen mostly to classical music, you may need powerful amplifiers as some passages are very subtle, demanding excellent dynamics, switching between the low and high passages effortlessly, from one delicate flute to fifty violins in full flight. Some people need millisecond access to tracks streaming from an iPad, others spend hours with one vinyl… and this is just cleaning it! It is what rocks your world.

A well-designed entry or mid-level amplifier in a system with sweet sounding standmount speakers is all you may ever need to be happy for the rest of your life. You may not even like the sound of some award-winning equipment. This is why listening before buying is critical. Also, in some cases, instead of spending more on hi-fi, buy some better recorded CDs or vinyl.

The philosophical irony is this. Imagine you live in New York, you are a fan of classical music and can spend USD100,000 on a very high end hi-fi. You might as well, with a bit of lateral thinking, not buy any hi-fi at all and just get a life subscription to the New York Philharmonic to experience the real thing! That would make you a very lucky dog indeed… But chances are, if you can afford this lifestyle, you can also have a very expensive hi-fi. Of course, hi-fi at home is very convenient.

As stated earlier, our passion is also about the pleasure of owning beautiful equipment. We have now come to a rather philosophical final instalment of this introductory series. Thank you for following us.

If you are part of the AA (Addicted Audiophiles) like us, the good news is that there are now loads of free information online. Do not just take our word (even though we offer award-winning products).

Check out websites and magazines like Stereophile, What Hi-Fi, Hi-Fi Choice, etc. Some French language sources are ‘diapasonmag.fr’ (including news on classical music) or ‘hautefidelite-hifi.com’. On YouTube there are very interesting features by Michael Fremer (Stereophile), Paul McGowan (PS Audio), Steve Guttenberg (independent) and many, many others. The ‘Sound Sommelier’ videos are very high end.

Also, get in touch with us at Art of Sound. We are always very happy to discuss and share our passion – with free coffee! The golden rule is always to listen for yourself how an equipment sounds before spending any money.

Your ears are the ultimate judge. Listen and you will see…