Perhaps we should stick with midfi...

Sincere thanks to all those posted - especially to lengthy posters who took the effort and time to share words of experience and wisdom...

They will help me and others get to the land of sonic-nirvanah.

I uploaded 2 pictures here :

http://s915.photobucket.com/home/Joong-In_Rhee

One is the new hifi system that's been lonely, and the other one is the beloved $1000 midfi system.

From chatting on other audio forums, I found out that my midfi system is pretty good. ADS speakers are well liked by many audiophiles, Onkyo Integra M-504 power amp is recommended by some experts as a good midfi piece, the Toshiba SD-9200 is top of the line DVD player with upsampling to 24/192 specs.

I just got lucky and ended up assembling a pretty decent souding system for not much money, and when I bought the hifi system expecting it to be many times better, I was sadly disappointed...

I am coming to like the new system a little more though - classical music (especially piano and strings) sound good on it. The reason I still prefer my midfi system is that female vocal music sounds better on the midfi system (and over 90% of my listening is that).

Perhaps B&W had classical music in mind when they designed the speaker... I am not sure.

I am a musician and I played on Steinway pianos and Stradivarius instruments before, and perhaps when I spent that much mulah, I was expecting something similar to the real instrument sound...

It ain't that for sure !

I am gonna try to find more music that sounds good on it, since I found out classical piano and strings sound good on them.

So to all the audiophiles who's searching for the realistic sounds, please look somewhere else than my system.

Maestro Jung Myung Whon (famous Korean conductor) prefers the sound of his hifi system to actual orchestral sound he conducts, so I know that a good hifi system can sound relistic - his system consists of McIntosh CD, pre, power, and 15 incher co-axial Tannoy speakers.

Perhaps it's the sony XA777ES (SACD player) and the B&W 802 D combination that's the culprit - both gears have been described as "annoying" when not matched well in a system. I am gonna try to mix and match my gears like some of you suggested...

I am glad I got into the land of SACD though - clearly sounds superior to regular CDs, and on Amazon, I can buy them for about the same price. Perhaps we should all make that jump sooner than later - all the digital lovers (rather than Vinyl).

I am sorry this got to be so long, but it was fun and educational for me.

Happy listening to all...

Horseface, I think I am gonna join you and hunt down classics on used market - sounds like sheer fun...
It's affordable, and just fun to try new things in this hobby - thanks for the tip.

Thanks to all the helpful posts so far...
Always interesting feedbacks for me to ponder over, and improve my system.

I will try to upload pictures later.

I bought the $60,000 system off of a gentleman who's business went under, and that was his 2nd system !

His first system was something like 3 times the cost, which he also had to sell...

So I didn't have a chance of extensively testing the system before I bought it - I just checked the professional reviews which were glowing.

The statement about synergy was especially enlightening to me - I am gonna pay more attention to that from now on.

Not all is bad news for me though - my upgrade bug has been cured for now - hopefully I have recovered from the much discussed audioholic disease. I am just gonna try to enjoy my midfi system, and not shoot for the cutting edge latest technology.

The gentleman said he would purchase the system back once his economic situation improves - I am hoping that day will be soon now for his sake, and mine, 'cause it's just taking up space in my living room, while I constantly turn to my midfi system for music...

To those who have a well chosen midfi system, I would recommend not shooting for the stars and spend big bucks, but just stop there and just enjoy the music, like I am gonna do from now on.

You might want to hear the big names, but I wasn't impressed with the improvement for the amount of money invested.

The person who mentioned the law of diminishing return must be right - on hifi, after a certain point, it seems like you get a little return even when you spend a lot more in a system.

That was really funny you all!
Thanks for the laughters (which we all need, don't we?)...

Since someone asked me to chip in, I will upload another picture proving that the 2 systems are indeed in the same room - I don't know what that accomplishes, but since some of you asked, I will oblige...

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vdone&1283411725&view

I am coming to like the hifi system even more everyday - perhaps the system needed burning in period, or my hearing is becoming more audiophile.

I know I don't have the golden ear yet for sure, but the higher end system sounds better than the midfi system in some ways - more liquid and transparent.

For that reason, I haven't mixed / matched the system yet, thinking it might get even better as time goes on.

Is it possible that the cables were installed in the opposit direction when it was moved, requiring a burning in period ?

I don't know for sure, but it's clearly begining to sound better - I am pleasantly surprised... I like the dynamic power of 250 watts per ch. Krell amp, and the sound just hovers in the air in a pleasant way...

But still, I would stop with the midfi if I had a chance to do it all over again. The difference is minor, and the cost is too high for me ...

AS someone mentioned, I am begining to believe that you can assemble a pretty good sounding system for not much money, if you know what you are doing - especially if you buy them used on sights like this...

I wish you all can hear my midfi system, and you might agree that it does 90% of the new hifi system, if not better it in some aspects...

I am still seduced by the wide soundstage of the bigger woofer ADS speakers - the B&W 802D has smaller woofers - almost sounds like a bookshelf with subs to me.

Anyway, thanks for playing detective with me - your intellectual curiosity is sparkling, and we all need a pinch of skepticism now and then, don't we - to go through life succesfully...

------------------------------------------- *** ---------------------------------------------

By the way, someone mentioned that since I rave about a $79 sony sub, I must be happy with a boombox. The sony sub, SA-WM500 is recommended by the pros in hifi magazines.

Hear it for your selves at the Bestbuy (of all the places!), and you too might be pleasantly surprised... It has a nice smooth amp section - perhaps a class D digital, and it has an echo button which is good for movies.

I was so happy with the sound - had me dancing for an hour.

Also, there are pretty decent sounding boomboxes out there - since this sight is really hi end, you might not be familiar with it.

JVC Kaboom has a sub built in, producing pretty full warm sound, with mid and highs that are pretty decent as well - if you want to have music at a barbecue...

If you want to introduce your loved ones to this exciting hobby, you might want to consider these, and other affordable good sounding gears.