THE JOY OF A GREAT SYSTEM
There’s nothing quite like that feeling when your system sings! That moment where it sounds amazing and all you want to do is play music again and again… and again. When all that effort you put into it pays off and you want nothing more than to close the door to the outside world, press ‘play’ and immerse yourself in another dimension.
Creating an enjoyable music system has a lot to do with system synergy – the way all the parts work together to produce a result. Components all differ in design philosophy, specifications and voicing, so it is paramount to match them carefully so that their strengths complement each other and the cumulative effect is… magic!
The team at Nirvana Sound are always listening to different combinations of amplifiers, speakers, cables, streamers, turntables, stands and whatever else we can get our hands on. Whenever we discover combinations that produce great results, we talk about them here. We try to explain why we think the combination works so well and how the synergy is created.
OUR RECOMMENDED SYSTEMS EXPLAINED
We have presented a selection of systems where the combination of components sounds great – the overall sound is greater than the sum of the parts. We believe that these systems represent extraordinary value at their pricing level. If you are operating at a particular budget, we recommend that you consider one of these as the basis for building your personal system.
We assign each system an approximate price based on the RRP of the digital source, the amplification and the speakers. This is just a basic guide so that the systems can be compared relative to each other. Please note that the prices are not necessarily the sale prices of the systems. Then wherever relevant we list the complimentary analogue components, the signal cables and power cables that we used to achieve the sound we describe.
We also recommend downscaling options if you want to achieve this sound but your budget can’t quite stretch to it and upscaling options that will take that particular sonic presentation to another level. Just for fun, we name the system after a place in the world that relates to the feeling the system gives us.
Please note that being a purely subjective hobby, we all have different tastes and preferences with how we like to listen to music. We aim to cover a diverse range of possibilities so hopefully there will be something in this collection of systems that may stimulate some thought about how you relate to your own sound and remember that we’d love to hear from you. Enjoy!