Does Your Home Audio System Need a Boost?

Home audio systems tend to last a long time. Good quality hi-fi audio gear sometimes may not be replaced for 15 years or more. Analog components like preamplifiers, amplifiers, and speakers don’t need to be replaced unless they falter or you simply want something newer and different.

So why ever upgrade a home audio setup? While the analog side of audio hasn't necessarily changed that much, digital technology is another story altogether. As we know, almost any digital technology moves forward at a breakneck pace. Today's TVs offer astounding performance advantages over those of a decade ago. And your smartphone is nearly obsolete after about five years.

So why might you take another look at your audio system and decide to step it up? Let GHT Group, metro Atlanta’s home audio installation expert, give you three reasons to nudge you into something new.

SEE ALSO: No-See-Um Speakers for Home Audio

Digital Components

As everyone knows, music has been digital for a long time. It started with the CD in the 1980s, a format that proved quite durable for decades until the advent of music streaming over the internet in the late 2000s. Many audio enthusiasts still prefer the lossless quality of CDs and high-end CD players, but even the most ardent of them acknowledge the incredible convenience of streaming. While streaming quality until recently has not been as good as CDs, services like Tidal and Qobuz have changed that with lossless streaming equivalent to CD quality. What's more, these services also offer high-resolution libraries, with better than CD quality audio courtesy of higher sampling rates and greater bit depth.

Hi-Fi makers have jumped on making dedicated hi-fi components for streaming, as evidenced by products like Mcintosh’s superb MS500 streamer, a full solution for all your digital music. You don't have to give up sound quality for convenience, as you can add a new streamer like the MS500 to an existing system or go all out and get a complementary McIntosh MA9000 integrated amplifier with an upgradeable digital module that will keep up with the latest digital connections and high-resolution decoding.

Speakers

Great speakers can last for decades, but it doesn’t mean they don’t improve with time and advanced technology in speaker design. A case in point is the Klipsch Heritage line. All Klipsch Heritage transducers are hand-built by craftsmen in the U.S. Klipsch continues to make evolutionary improvements to the line, as evidenced by the recent redesigns of the Heresy IV and Cornwall IV. You may want better bass response – an area where many speakers have been improved – better imaging, and other improvements that fit modern music recordings. 

Perhaps you want great sound but don’t want to see the speakers. Architectural speakers have advanced tremendously in sound quality, as evidenced by speakers from such hi-fi brands like Monitor Audio and JBL Synthesis. Architectural hi-fi speakers can deliver the sound quality you crave without designing your listening room around them.

The Listening Space

The last upgrade we want to touch on here is not audio equipment at all – it's your listening room. Some rooms are acoustically challenging, either because of irregular shapes or open walls. Sometimes even excellent speakers won't sound their best in some environments. However, challenging doesn’t mean impossible. Various types of acoustic treatment are available to take on reflections, bass traps, and other aural anomalies that can hinder sound quality. With proper speaker location, calibration, and room treatment, your listening room can be your personal concert venue.

Let GHT Group show you all the options to take your home audio installation to the next level. Call us at (770) 955-8909, contact us here, visit our Marietta showroom, or use the live chat box below to connect with us right away. We look forward to working with you!