This hobby is all about building a system, where, when you retire at the end of the day, you can fire up your system and ask yourself, who will be performing in my listening room tonight? The experience should allow you (when you dim the lights) to be transported vicariously to a “you are there” in the concert hall venue or, “they are here” in your listening room experience.

However, before you even get close to getting there, you must first build a system that is capable of taking you there – easier said than done. System building is an art. Before you start your shopping list you’ll be better off knowing the audiophile lingo so that you will be in the same page with the audio salesman when he start describing the tonal quality of the equipments you are about to audition.

Allow me to explain some of these audiophile terms (in parts since this can be a long post if I don’t break it up to several parts).

Soundstage – The ability of the system to reproduce the actual recording space from a live performance or recording venue setup is one of the most important tasks a system should be able to deliver. To put it simply, your system should reproduce the drama of a large-scale Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, (ok, maybe this is too much but just to make a point) and the intimate small-scale work of a chamber orchestra. Your system should replicate a believable reproduction of music (sound) no matter what the scale (stage) is.

Imaging – You should be able to pinpoint in the soundstage where the individual instruments and performers are located in a 3D soundstage. This attribute pertains more to the width location of the sound.

Depth – If imaging refers more to “how wide is the stage” is and how you can easily discern the location of a particular sound left to right, depth, on the other hand refers to the layering of the sound from the front all the way back of the soundstage. If the soundstage is too forward, the listener will have the impression that he is sitting within the first three rows of seat in the theater. If the soundstage is too backward, the listener will have the impression that he is seated in the bleachers.

Presence – the ability of the system to reproduce a holographic believable realism where you experience goose bumps and are fooled to believe that the performers are in the same room as you are. Sam Tellig, one of the regular contributors in Stereophile always used the term “palpable presence” in his writing. I don’t know if he is the one who coined the term but I think he nailed it. This sound attribute is one of the reasons audiophiles remain loyal to the hobby.

(to be continued … )