Start small, put the music first and don’t get caught up in the hype – our readers have some sage advice for hi-fi newbies

Back to school season is upon us, and for many of us that means watching our progeny take their first steps away from the nest.

And, if you’re like many of the What Hi-Fi? team, as well as making sure they have all the pots and pans they need and a few cases of industrial strength penicillin, it also means making sure they have a proper sound system – or at the very least the tools to build their own.

Which is why, at the end of July we asked you, our readers, what your top tips are for newbies, especially students, looking to get into hi-fi. Over the month, helpful souls that you are, a sea of sage advice has come flooding in and, having waded through all of it, three big tips emerged.

Here’s what you told us.

Start small

Like all hobbies and enthusiast endeavours, there’s a massive temptation to go in all guns blazing when first getting into hi-fi. And yes, we understand the temptation to spend every penny you have on audio equipment.

But, as our readers have pointed out, this is dangerous and can lead to a costly investment in a product you later find isn’t quite right or simply don’t need – as we’ve all done many times over.

This point was neatly expressed by one site commenter, Lurbanna, who told us: “I think starting small and working up to the system you want, you learn a lot more and can save costly mistakes.”

Fellow commentator Jeremy Frost added that newbies shouldn’t be scared to look at second-hand products, so long as they can listen to them before buying and should always think about what they actually need right now.

“Used often means better value and you can swap without losing. Use your own judgement when listening and don’t get caught up in hype. If you don’t already have records, think twice about buying a turntable as vinyl is so expensive nowadays,” wrote Frost.

David Jamison agreed, adding it's best to listen to the system and make sure you’re happy with it, rather than chase “audiophile” credentials straight away.

“Don’t get caught up in the cables and speaker wire and other high-end audio talk. Just put a system together and enjoy the music,” he commented.

Think about the room you’re putting them in

Even with the above in mind, most readers agreed that even newbies need to follow certain rules, including optimising the set-up to the space it’s being used in.

What Hi-Fi? Facebook follower Keith Parr argued this is especially true of speakers, where many newbie hi-fi fans go too big, too soon, bluntly commenting: “Don’t buy big speakers unless you’ve got a big room.”

Fellow Facebook follower Lyman_Zerga expanded on the point, issuing a firm warning that throwing money at new hardware won’t fix fundamental issues with how the equipment is set up.

“Buy for the room you have, not the room you want. Assuming you have decent equipment and you've set everything up correctly, your room will play the greatest role in determining whether it sounds good, great or amazing,” wrote Zerga.

“If you stick with (passive) speakers, don't forget cable management. It makes a surprisingly big difference to the sound, in my experience [...] keep your speaker cables as far away from your power cables as possible.”

Zerga added, if newcomers aren’t comfortable with that, they could consider investing in a decent pair of headphones first.

“If you have a 'difficult' room, before you start throwing money at upgrading your gear and/or room treatment, consider spending the money on a great pair of headphones instead. No room is so acoustically cursed that it can affect how a pair of headphones sound. And an amazing sounding pair of earphones is far, far cheaper than an amazing pair of speakers.”

Buy for your ears

But even then, among all the conflicting hot-takes on which specific hardware to go for first, you all agreed newcomers should think of their preferences first and foremost.

Reader Dr Dave told us that this is the biggest piece of advice he has for newcomers to hi-fi:

“[The] best advice I was given is buy for your ears. Don’t waste money chasing a dream you maybe can’t appreciate. Not everyone can tell the subtle difference and so don’t need the best of the best. If you can then great, but find out first before wasting hundreds on something you won’t notice the subtle differences.”

Parr mirrored Dr Dave’s sentiment adding: “There’s a lot of [censored] and contradiction in the hi-fi world, your opinion may differ from everybody else’s. Perfection is a myth, enjoy what you have.”

Our hot take

The What Hi-Fi? team generally agrees with our readers’ tips. As we say in our how to place your speakers and how to build a hi-fi system advice pages, you should always factor the room where you'll be listening into your plans.

But we’d urge any hi-fi fan, newbie or otherwise, to do their absolute best to hear a product, second-hand or otherwise, before buying it. Product matching is an art and many of us have sonic tastes that develop and evolve as time passes.

So it’s of the utmost importance to make sure an audio product meets your specific tastes before handing over money for it. This is especially true given how happy any decent hi-fi shop is to run demos for you.

We’d also add one key thing to the advice. Specifically, don’t be afraid to ask questions! While, as our readers pointed out, some audiophiles and hi-fi fans can have strong, sometimes slightly extreme opinions, most of the community is lovely and is always willing to help – as evidenced by this month’s Ask The Reader column.

So if you need help, don’t be afraid to reach out. You will find plenty of people willing to offer any aid they can on the What Hi-Fi? forums and our Facebook page. Our staff are also always happy to answer queries and can be contacted directly using our shared whathifi@futurenet email address.

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