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" Published in the May 2013 issue Unlike most of the docks, AirPlay speakers, and TVs tuned to satellite radio that many of us use to listen to music, a component stereo system plays songs the way artists meant for them to be heard: clear and full, with a depth that makes listening to an album feel like being at a concert. Your Macklemore bootlegs will sound better than ever. But first, an important step: Prepare yourself. You cannot become an audiophile, even a moderate one, without opening your wallet. Nope, wider. But there is some hope. While a top-of-the-line stereo can easily run you more than $100,000, Christopher Hansen, co-owner of Simply Home Entertainment in Beverly Hills, says you can assemble an excellent system for around $4,000 (see next page). Or $13,000 (below) if you&amp;#039;re feeling particularly flush. Start by finding your speakers. They have the clearest sonic fingerprint of any component, Hansen says. Change them and you change the dynamics of the sound. So if you listen primarily to Mahler, you&amp;#039;ll want different speakers than someone who listens to A$AP Rocky. Just be sure to test the speakers with your music in the store before buying. From there, you&amp;#039;ll want to pick your pre-amp and amp. You could buy these together as a combined integrated amp (if there&amp;#039;s an incorporated tuner, too, it&amp;#039;s called a receiver) \u2014 many less expensive setups do this \u2014 but the more electronics you have in one component, the greater your chances of distortion. Think of the pre-amp as your control center. It receives the signal from your source and handles volume. The amp is your power center. In general, the bigger the speakers \u2014 and the bigger the room you put them in \u2014 the more powerful an amp you need. Finally, you want to pick your source. Out of all the stereo components, this is the worst place to skimp. According to Hansen, if you don&amp;#039;t start with good sonic details, even the most expensive components can&amp;#039;t add them. Vinyl is best, he says, followed by CDs. Just forget about using your MP3&amp;#039;s. They&amp;#039;re so compressed, to use them on a good system would be like feeding corn chips to a thoroughbred. THE $13,000 SYSTEM(Pictured above.) [1] MartinLogan Ethos ($6,795 per pair; martinlogan.com) speakers are electrostatic, with a curved panel that helps disperse your music throughout a room. With electrostatic, a thin plastic film is placed between two steel mesh panels and charged with electricity, forcing it to move and produce sound waves. The technology gives you less distortion than traditional dynamic speakers, but often at the expense of bass, which is why ML added a woofer. Pair them with the [2] Oppo BDP-105 ($1,199; oppodigital.com), which serves as a pre-amp and Blu-ray player and gives you exceptional clarity, whether you&amp;#039;re listening to a CD or watching Magic Mike. For your amp, the two-channel, 75-watt [3]McIntosh MC275 ($6,500; mcintoshlabs.com) uses vacuum tubes to retain the warmth (that classic vinyl hiss that some people love) removed by modern transistors. It has 4-, 8-, and 16-ohm outputs, so it can handle the Ethos\u2014and nearly any other speakers you choose. Plus, well, it&amp;#039;s beautiful. If you prefer a more modern look and the crispness of transistors, the Pass Labs XA30.5 ($5,500; passlabs.com) and the B.M.C. CS2 ($8,390; aaudioimports.com) are also excellent choices. Tack on a [4] Sonos Connect ($349; sonos.com) and you&amp;#039;ll be able to play music from any other source in the house.    THE $4,000 SYSTEM For an excellent setup at a slightly lower price (say you have a family that wants to eat or wear weather-appropriate clothing), Hansen recommends the [5] Marantz CD5004 CD player ($349; marantz.com), the [6] PM5004 integrated amplifier ($449), and [7] Paradigm Signature S2 speakers ($3,398 per pair; paradigm.com).    INVESTMENT-WORTHY DOCKS For those of us who don&amp;#039;t want to dedicate a good portion of our living-room space to a stereo, the best choice is a wireless speaker. You can get a good one for $200 to $300 (try the Samsung DA-E670; samsung.com), but lately companies have been introducing higher-end ver-sions that come closer to replicating the sound and power of a component system. The best (and most expensive) we&amp;#039;ve seen is the [8] McIntosh McAire ($3,000), an all-in-one system that runs on Apple&amp;#039;s AirPlay. For a quarter the price \u2014 and with a much more modern design\u2014there&amp;#039;s Monster&amp;#039;s recently introduced [9] Katana ($700; monsterproducts.com), a two-foot Bluetooth speaker that manages to make music feel as if it&amp;#039;s coming from all around you. A COUPLE FOR YOUR HEAD:    Left: Parrot Zik Noise-canceling Bluetooth that knows when you take it off your head and automatically pauses. ($400; parrot.com) Right: Bowers &amp;amp;amp; Wilkins P3 Small, comfortable, and affordable, with clear, rich sound and minimal weight. ($200; bowers-wilkins.com) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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