I guest it depends... to some people, a receiver with a pair of name brand speakers can be considered HiFi, but the same setup can be seen as child's play to other's eyes. These days, a cheap stereo VCR has "HI-FI" displayed all over the places on the front face plate, consumer electronic stores also sells "Hi-Fi" equipments. So just what the h*ck is "Hi-Fi"? and how much "Hi-Fi" do I need?
Well, to me, the important part is to be able to ENJOY the music. Of course, a decent equipment is needed to extract the music to a level of sophistication that a listener can enjoy. Since each person has different taste and degree of sensitivities to the accuracy of the sound, the equipment requirements differ. In my case, my NAD 7000 and Boston Acoustics A70IIs put a smile on my face for years since my college days. Although I've added a NAD AV716 for surround sound entertainment, but not because I needed more 'Hifi'. I also knew that I'd stay away from auditioning higher end gears so I stay happy with my setup for as long as possible. It was also a decision depending on living environment too, as for the longest time I've stayed in dorm, apartment, or share room in a house, and because I moved around quite a bit, large heavy high end gears were just not practical.
But one day it came, I've settled down with my own little townhouse, I knew it was time for an upgrade. I knew I could get more music by plumbing in more $$ for the speaker, amp, source, etc., but how much is enough? Perhaps the question is better asked as "how much money to spend to reach a next level of Hi-Fi without breaking the bank so the result fit the small townhouse well?"
To this I have to thank Art Dudley, the author of the Listener magazine, with whom I had a little email-conversation with a few years back that started with non-hifi topics, and he was nice enough to send me a copy of his magazine. I read it cover to cover with joy, but one of the article really struck me. I think it went something like this:
How Hi Fi is today's Hi-Fi. How much have we advanced in recreating a sounding environment? To make it simple, let's start with an empty room, you sit on an anchored chair, and a person standing in the center of the room, facing you, and in front of you. Listen to the voice of the person. Then bring in the worlds best recording equipments and engineers to record that spoken words, then reproduce that recording with the workd best audio equipment. The result? even a child could tell the difference! And that is how "Hi-Fi" are today's best hifi gears.
So to answer the question, "How much HI-FI is enough?" it is purely dependent of each. If a person is picky and wants absolutely the closest thing possible on earth, then plunge down the money for the very higherst end equipments money can buy may not suffice to put smile on their face. There is nothing wrong about asking for more, as long as the goal is to enjoy the music and not picking on minor flaw of sound recreating system. For some, a boombox would be good enough. And as for me, I'll stay with what I got with speaker upgrade, more if win a lotto.
