The Complete Guide to High-End Audio [Paperback]

Robert Harley (Author), Keith Jarrett (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 1999

Expanded and revised to cover recent developments, this text should tell you what you need to know to become a better listener and buyer of quality high-fidelity components. New sections include: super audio CD; high-resolution audio on DVD; and single-ended amplifiers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

""Without question the best value in high-end audio." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Robert Harley is the editor in chief of The Absolute Sound, the world's most respected magazine on high-performance audio. He is the author of Introductory Guide to High-Performance Audio Systems and Home Theater for Everyone and has written more than 1,000 product reviews and articles on high-quality music reproduction. He lives in Carlsbad, California.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 558 pages
• Publisher: Acapella Publishing; 2nd edition (December 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964084945
• ISBN-13: 978-0964084940
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,529,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost, May 29, 2004

By 

Andrew M. Ward "My Stolen Life" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to High-End Audio (Paperback)

This book is:
Almost what the High-End Audio industry needs

It's important for me that a book be written on the advantages of high-end audio. It's the business I'm in and it is dear to me on a personal level. There are many excellent portions and handy information pieces scattered about the book and that's the good news.

I will refrain from personalizing my complaints and stick to the issues as I see them. To write this book as the author, you should know Ohm's Law. Harley does not. This is made evident in several examples. Amperes, voltage and wattage are all part of a greater equation that appears to mystify the author. The basic laws of physics and simple electrical concepts need be firmly grasped prior to making an endeavor such as this. There are many elements of "Dark Science" in the high-end audio realm and a mystique that is largely relevant. This book does a strong job of handling that delicate balance between science and myth, that is so important to this industry. Along the way however it forgets to "check the science"

That's too bad, but not a total loss...

A serious explanation of negative feedback as used in power amplifiers would have been pretty easy to put down for the record. Most power amp manufactures have fascinating solutions to the problems associated with negative feedback. A breakdown of a few of the key developments in this area would have been excellent. An opportunity missed. Instead he uses an example of a negative feedback amplifier and calls it just the opposite! At that point in the book I admit I was a bit frustrated.

The good parts are many!
It's an enjoyable read when the author sticks to what he actually knows, acoustics and auditioning gear. I learned much and felt the key points were illustrated clearly and in the contexts of meaningful application. I am not saying "don't buy"

I guess I'm saying this book missed a huge opportunity simply by not getting some important parts right. That's all.

232 of 266 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Almost totally without credibility, September 24, 2002

By 

Karl S. Chwe (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to High-End Audio (Paperback)

This is one of the very few books I have ever returned to the bookstore (and I have bought thousands of books.)

Why don't I like this book?

1) It contains many, many, factual errors. These errors would be easily spotted by any freshman physics student, and should have been spotted by the publisher. For example, the author Robert Harley apparently doesn't understand the difference between electrical current and voltage.

2) It doesn't actually explain things. To me, an explanation shows how something works in terms of basic principles. Mr. Harley simpley states "facts", e.g., an outboard D/A converter will improve your sound, without explaining how or why.

3) Many photos and diagrams have mistaken or even irrelevant captions, leading me to conclude that Mr. Harley doesn't understand his own diagrams. For example, a diagram of an amplifier that uses feedback is used to "illustrate" a point about amplifiers that don't use feedback.

This last is the most serious point to me, because it makes me suspect that much of the technical-looking stuff in the book is included to impress the reader, not to actually explain things. In other words, it creates the impression of dishonesty.

To the people who defend the book as not intended for technical readers, I say this: even a non-technical book should be written by someone who understand the technical issues, so he or she can explain things clearly and truthfully. If it turns out that the author doesn't know the technical stuff, why should we read the book?

I might add that Robert Harley has a very poor reputation among respected audio engineers and other commentators in the field. Some audio manufacturers (but not all) pander to him apparently because he edits a high-end audio magazine, and his reviews can make or break a product.

48 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Other Sources Available, November 27, 2008

By 

Mark A. Lucas "SingleSpeeder" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to High-End Audio (Paperback)

[Just for reference, I have a background in electronics, old-school hi-fi sales, professional sound system installation, and operating both a PA system business and a mobile DJ business... and my hearing as measured by audiologists still reaches most of the spectrum from 50-18khz and follows normal response (aka loudness) curves.]

>> If you want to understand the electrical and electronic "rules" and theories, there are several books you can borrow from a local library (or buy at an electronics supply store). Understanding voltage, amperage, power (v*a), capacitance, inductance, phasing, etc. is all basic to correctly installing any level of "advanced" audio equipment.
/* if you dont understand these terms or the acronyms in my review - you need to get some electronic and audio engineering texts...*/

There are some old-school "hi fi" books that cover the basics of speakers, acoustics, and room design, (most are less than $25).
If you seriously want to understand high-end audio Systems, I suggest investing in Audio Engineering books (most are $50 to $100+). These cover acoustics more comprehensively, how to "aim" speakers, apply acoustic treatment, what wire guage is needed for long speaker runs, how to design (or choose) a passive crossover, how to operate an active crossover, etc.

**These all get you to the basic level of knowledge needed to weed out the useful info from the "fluff" in high-end audio magazines and 'text books'. A basic example is that there is a significant difference in power loss (heard as loss in dynamic range) between 20AWG speaker wire and 14AWG cable. But most professional audio engineers/installers question the value of $1,000 per meter(yard) oxygen-free-copper wire as compared to using a doubled pair of 16awg or 14awg (a pair each for negative and positive for each speaker), for < $50/meter. A pair of thick extension cords turned into speaker wires may not be as cool looking as a multi-colored cable labeled "Mega-Cable" and having some funny looking noice-cancelation inductors and proprietary gold flashed connectors - but there are very few people on this earth who can *honestly* tell the difference in a "double blind test", unbiased by knowing what cable costs $8,000 and what costs $200 and came from a hardware store.

Likewise, many people with trained ears can hear the difference between tube and solid-state audio, and can SEE it on an oscilloscope as the rounded edges of a clipped waveform as compared to the square edge produced by a SS amp.
Again, proper speaker placement (height and room position) and acoustic treatment of the listening room has noticeable affects on sound quality.
And - large power amps (>200wpc RMS) have a more noticeable dynamic range before distortion occurs due to clipping, allowing more comfortable listening at higher SPLs (even if they are dangerous). but...a tube amp with only 20-30wpc can sound better than a SS amp with the correct speakers and correct musical source (i.e. not rap or metal). [ps. I love metal, some rap, and lots of other types of music!]
**All these effects are not only something you can Hear but they can be Measured and are based on Scientific principles developed over at least 100 years (some are old, some are circa 1940s-today).

BUT - claiming to hear a power conditioner providing more "soundstage", or claiming a $1,000 RCA interconnect has certain audible traits in the low frequency range is very questionable. Beware when an audio review reads like a WINE or CIGAR tasting. It is not referenceable to Anything! MORE IMPORTANTLY, unless the same audible characteristic is heard by more than one person, it is a Subjective evaluation based on personal taste and several psychological factors unique to that person and time.

Honestly, I like TAS, but many of the reviews make me laugh. For example an interconnect is claimed to "..have an expansive soundstage in which orchestral images always seem rooted and stable..." Come on!!-what the hell does that really mean!?!? A wire is not a dynamic component like a tonearm or speaker motor and unless it is being chewed on by the cat should not be affecting the audible "soundstage" perceived by the listener.
Will a $1,000 tonearm "sound" better than a $250 one? ...possibly slightly noticable, but will a $15,000 tonearm sound better than the $1,000 model....?

CONCLUSION: Use this book as a guide, but temper it with factual knowledge from Audio/Sound Engineering books (go to the local college if you dont want to buy them).

CAVEAT - if you have ruined your hearing with excessively loud music - of any genre, or by loud engines or industrial noise, you can't hear much beyond 100-12khz if you are lucky, and the frequency response of your ears is probably very ragged,(so save some money and stick to an iPOD or a $500 packaged system....)

ALSO - if you can afford high-end gear and like the prestige and sex appeal it has - Go for It and dont waste time on a book. Open the checkbook and buy what looks sexy and fits your budget. Most people with the money to buy this gear dont *really* have the ears that a professional musician, engineer, or producer has - they buy the stuff on snob appear and on "horsepower races" (mines better than yours).

True audiophiles with gifted ears value an old AR turntable and Dynaco-70 amp as much as a set of MBL speakers driven by a Conrad Johnson amp and Mark Levinson preamp... They can hear and enjoy the subtle sonic differences in how the different systems reproduce different music... (A basic concept that RH emphasizes in his books...)