Information
A/B
Audiophile Equipment
Formats
Power
More than you need

Links
SoundFactor
AudioReview
AudioSource
Tannoy
AudioQuest

None of my gear qualifies as audiophile grade.  The closest I get is the Denon and Vifa stuff, but neither is quite audiophile grade.  One of these days I'll be able to spend the $35,000+++ to start getting up in this range.  I do think for the average person that getting above the regular consumer-grade gear (Pioneer, Sony, Technics, etc.) is definitely a good investment.  The sonic difference between something like a Harmon-Kardon receiver and a Panasonic is remarkable.

Denon AVR-3600 Receiver

This is the heart of my system.  It is the switching and processing center.  I bought the Denon after extensive A/B comparisons with other near-audiophile and non-audiophile equipment.  My satisfaction with my choice has grown after years of use.  The sound is clean with enough power to drive moderately inefficient speakers.  

One of the most phenomenally useful features is the ability of the receiver to remember the settings of each different input device.  For example: if you like more center-speaker and sub-woofer when playing DVD's, but less when playing CDs and you like very little sub-woofer for the turntable, the receiver remembers each of these settings and sets the inputs automatically when you switch devices.

For music I find the 5-channel stereo mode particularly useful.  Apparently most other brands don't offer this feature.

Power amp specifications: 
110W at .05% THD, 2 speakers driven
125W at .7% THD, 2 speakers driven
90W at .7% THD, 5 speakers driven
AC Power consumption: 960 watts

Mach 1 Speakers

I've had these things for 20 years.  Genuine walnut veneer cabinets.  I got them back in about 1981 for I think around $250 apiece (sale priced, regularly $500 apiece).  I had a friend that had a pair of Bose speakers that cost around $900.  These things blew his speakers away for half the price.  All these years and never any problems.  They are not as good as modern speakers, but for the time they were as good as anything you'd pay $1500 apiece for.  I used to haunt stereo stores, and I've heard just about everything that existed between 1979 and 1985.  They are rated to handle 160 watts, and I've pushed all my receivers as hard as they'll go through these things without a hitch.  I can't believe I've never fried an element on these things, nor have the massive 15" woofers ever suffered from cone droop (crossing my fingers and knocking on wood).  When I was playing in a band, I fried countless 12" speakers in my Fender amp, many of them died from droop, but these things sound the same today as they did when new.  I've thought of replacing them many times with something more up to date, but they just sound too good and work too well. 

Their big downside is: they are large, and they are heavy.

Vifa Speakers

I made these myself.  I had an old pair of Fischer XP-65s that I took the elements out of and loaded with Vifa elements (12", 5", 1.5") and custom cross-overs. I also built a Vifa-based center-channel speaker.  These bad boys are FLAT!  And they can take the power: I broke a bunch of glassware in my house the other day when I was doing some house-work and playing a little "mood" music (I think it was Motorhead).  These things shook all the stuff off the shelves.  My neighbors must think I'm nuts.  

P.S. I asked my neighbors the other day if I was too loud, they said I wasn't.  Maybe they're nuts.  Or being polite.

AudioSource SW15 Sub-woofer

This 15" 200W sub cost me $200 at Costco.  I don't think it sounds as good as a 15" Velodyne, but it sounds a hell of a lot better than a 12" Velodyne (or JBL, or anything else 12" or smaller other than the $2000 Sunfire) I listened to.  This speaker is easily the best value in sub-woofers around.  I know people complain about the auto-on, and they're right: you do get a thump and it doesn't come on soon enough.  I just leave mine on.  Plus you can hear a very slight 60Hz hum if you put your ear up to it.  It still sounds better than the $550 12' Velodyne by a LOT, and about as good as the $800 15' Velodyne.

With the exception of the Sunfire (an 11" cube that cranks) bigger is better.  Over 15" starts to cost a lot of money because the cone is so large it flexes easily thus requiring a very rigid cone and a lot of power.  I think 15" is probably the best value.  I've toasted scores of 12" sub's because they couldn't keep up with my requirement for auditory punishment.  18" is too big for my small house.

Toshiba SD-2107 DVD

I was a fairly early adopter of DVD.  I got this 2nd Generation DVD player when it first came out, I think around January 1998.  Los Angeles was one of the test markets for DVD, and I knew the concept was for me: I never tape anything, I always watch pre-recorded stuff and have a large pre-recorded VHS video collection.  I waited a little while to make sure DVD wasn't another "Betamax" and then jumped in.  I love all the extras DVDs provide, I own around 150 DVDs.  

This deck is wonderful.  10-bit processor.  The remote is the best functioning and has the best layout of any remote I've ever used.  This player will play anything.  The one feature I wish it had was a shuttle dial.  Beyond that it is perfect. 

Apex AD-660 DVD/MP3

I got this because I wanted to play MP3 CDs, VCDs and MPEG CDs on my home theater.  This made in China player is so low quality I had to return 2 before I got one that worked properly: the first one kept crunching the CDs in the door when you closed it (the spindle never retracted); the second one wouldn't work from the remote.  It works okay for its intended purpose, though some MPEG videos confuse the deck and it strobes between full-screen and quarter-screen.  MP3 playback is fine.

GE/Thompson Electronics TV

I got this 46" rear-projection big-screen TV about 4 years ago.  I don't think its performance matches a $4000 Mitsubishi, but for the $1000 I paid it is better-looking than any other projection TV I've seen at other peoples houses.  For some reason nobody seems to be able to adjust their TVs convergence very well.  Or the edge convergence is way off the center convergence.  I don't have these problems with this set.  Additionally, this set has excellent brightness, and field-of-vision (or whatever its called when you can be off-center and still see the picture okay). Overall I'm happy with it, but I recognize that Thompson is a "lesser expensive" brand.

Denon DRM-550 Tape Deck

I bought this because I was so happy with my receiver.  It doesn't have a lot of features: I prefer to pay for performance and quality over features any day.  This deck performs flawlessly.

JVC XL-Z331BK CD Player

Reliable.  Digital coax out.

Toshiba M-764 VCR

Never any problems.  I bought this because I wanted to make sure I was getting maximum fidelity from the SLP format via the deck's 6 Heads.

Technics Turntable

Vinyl isn't dead.  There are so many rare things that are just plain unavailable digitally its sad.  I've had this direct-drive turntable for more than 20 years.  It works the same now as it did 20 years ago.  

One interesting quandary about the whole Napster copyright debate: if you own an album on vinyl, you own a copy of the sound-material (not the physical medium necessarily) for your own enjoyment; presumably that means you can download digital copies of albums you own copyright-infringement free.  For every vinyl album you own, and then purchase a duplicate copy on CD, you're being ripped-off by the record companies.  With Napster, a little "turnabout is fair play."  Probably about 10% of my CDs are duplicates of vinyl.

AudioQuest Interconnects

This is a strange one for me.  I didn't use to believe in spending a lot of money on interconnects.  I mean, how could some electrons "know" it's going though better wire?  Voltage is voltage, right?  This attitude was exacerbated by trying Monster Cables.  The Monster Cables sounded identical to my normal cables.  So I'm at the stereo store buying my receiver and I needed some interconnects, and they recommended the Audioquest.  I asked them incredulously if there was any difference and they claimed there was.  I needed the wires, so I let them sway me.  When I installed them I could actually hear the difference.   It was totally weird.  I didn't want to hear the difference, I wanted to stay in my own little world believing wire was all the same.  Electrons and physics don't care about audiophile voodoo.  So I conducted some A/B tests just to make sure I wasn't kidding myself.  I included the cheapie wires that manufacturers always include, Audioquest, and Monster Cable.  The cheapies and Monster Cable sounded identical to me, but the Audioquest sounded like it "opened" up the sound field, like there was more clarity to the music and less dynamic-range compression.  If you played AC/DC, you probably wouldn't notice the difference.  But a high-quality and dynamic orchestral piece really demonstrated the difference.  I have since installed Audioquest speaker cables and interconnects between everything.  

I know I'm not alone in my opinion on Monster Cables either: I was in a stereo store once, and the store clerk was trying to push the Monster Cables on me, and I explained that I didn't like them, that I used Audioquest.  He said, "Do they actually make a difference?"  I replied they did, and he wanted to know where he could get some (at SoundFactor of course).  Obviously he felt the Monster Cables didn't "actually make a difference."

My advice: if you only listen to rock and rap, or your other stereo components are low-end to medium consumer grade, just use standard cables, save your money for better speakers and amps.  If you listen to jazz, orchestra, or any other somewhat clear and dynamic source and you have high-end consumer or better grade gear, try the Audioquest.  Make sure you A/B test the cables to make sure you can hear a difference you like.

Information

A/B Testing

This is a technique you can use when you want to pick between 2 or more pieces of gear that perform the same function: for example 2 or more different tape decks.  You listen to one and then you listen to the next.  You are supposed to not know which piece of gear you are listening to until you pick one as the best.  As an example, say you're trying to decide between tapedeck A, tapedeck B, and tapedeck C.  First you listen to A and then B.  You pick one of the two and then you listen to C versus the one you just chose.  It is important to never know what you're listening to in order to minimize intellectual bias towards one brand or another.  In other words, pick the one that sounds the best, not the one you think should sound the best.

This is the only way to ensure you are buying gear that sounds good to you, instead of gear that has all the hype.  TRUST YOUR EARS!  I have listened to many supposed pieces of "audiophile" gear that sounded like absolute crap.  This technique is the one that eventually led me to believe that there really is a difference between cheap gear and more expensive gear.

Audiophile Gear

I have 4 grades of gear: Consumer, near-audiophile, audiophile, and garbage. 
Consumer gear would be:
Sony
JVC
Technics
Pioneer
Kenwood
Energy
JBL
etc.

Near Audiophile gear would be:
Denon
Yamaha
Harmon-Kardon
NHT

Audiophile would be:
Carver
Tannoy
many many other brands

Super Audiophile (okay, 5 grades)
There is a whole range of gear that is just stellar in sound and price.  Its fun to look at, but when ONE home stereo speaker costs $12,000 or more its out of my price range.

Garbage would be:
Bose
Radio Shack
Monster Cable

I cannot understand why Bose is popular at all.  This stuff sounds like absolute trash.  Bose has the best marketing people around, because people think this stuff is actually "good." 
I think Yamaha, high-end Sony, and Harmon-Kardon, while not bad, are over-rated.

Formats

Power

Get an amplifier with plenty of power.  I would say 85 clean watts is the minimum.  The more the better.  Power is not so it will be loud: many cheap amplifiers are loud.  Power is for: a) Dynamic Range: when the source material delivers a sonic "punch" the amplifier can keep up, b) More Power = Clean Sound at every volume level, c) many very good speakers are very inefficient requiring large amounts of power to make them "sing."  My current minimum is 115 reasonably clean watts per channel.  Power ratings should always be when the amplifier is producing less than 1% THD.  A quick way to check if the amplifiers specifications are bullshit or not: check the power consumption.  If the amplifier is rated for 125 watts per channel times 5 channels, and it consumers 500 watts AC, you know the specifications are bullshit.  It's impossible.  Wattage = voltage x amperage; so 120 volts times 4 amps is 480 watts.  No amplifier is anything close to even 80% efficient.  Check the specifications on my amplifier above: pushing all 5 channels at maximum rated (for clean sound) is 90 watts per channel.  The amplifier sucks almost 1000 watts AC to produce 450 audio watts.  Less than 50% efficient because of amplifier inefficiency (all that heat), power overhead (peaks can go significantly higher than 90 watts, but will distort beyond the .7% THD), and other circuitry, like the pre-amplifier section.  High power requirements are why good amplifiers are so heavy: they need big wires (transformers) inside to keep up with all that juice.

Remember that twice as loud takes 10 times the power (kind of like earthquakes).  To get an amplifier that sounds twice as loud as mine with the same distortion levels, I need 900 watts per channel!  Using the same inefficiencies as my amplifier (I don't know how much power is dedicated to other internal circuitry) that amplifier would consume around 9000 watts AC, or 75 amps at 120 volts.  A house normally can provide a maximum of 30 amps at 120 volts to the wall socket for your stereo, and 60 amps to everything in your house combined.  That's why your lights dim when you run the hair dryer.  This is one reason why people tend to not have massively powerful amplifiers at home.  The biggest I've seen (I'm sure there are bigger) is 300 watts per channel, 4 channels.  Assuming 50% efficiency, that bad boy sucks 2400 watts and would fry your average extension cord (typically rated 1600 watts).  That's 20 amps, and probably at the top of the practical maximum for a home system.  When I used to play in a band, we would use car jumper-cables to connect directly to the house mains because we were sucking 60 amps!  (Not safe, but our amps went to 12!)

More than you need

Whatever you think you need in terms of inputs and outputs: double it.

Links

www.soundfactor.com - I buy a lot of my gear from these guys
www.audioreview.com - usually people love what they own
www.audiosource.net - I like these guys, they're sort of anti-establishment
www.tannoy.com - I like Tannoy.  I've used their studio monitors and they sound great for small near-field speakers.
www.audioquest.com - I don't understand this voodoo, but it works.