AFFORDABLE WAYS TO UPGRADE YOUR HI-FI SYSTEM

Maximise your power supply

There are various ways in which you can better power your system. The simplest is to ensure the mains plugs you’re using are clean (best done by treating the pins with a cleaning solution, but make sure they’re dry afterwards) and all the components are connected as close together as possible. This means not plugging your preamp in on one side of the room and your power amp on the other. This improves system grounding and sound quality.

You could give your hi-fi a dedicated feed from your fuse box. This will bypass everything else plugged into the mains –– from your TV to the fridge – that adds noise to the signal. There are greater gains to be made the higher up the food chain you go.

Upgrade your phono stage

This method is restricted to those who have a turntable in their system, of course.

But even if your record player or amplifier has a phono stage built in, as with an outboard DAC, you could improve the overall performance of your system by upgrading to a dedicated one.

A phono stage provides extra amplification – the output of your cartridge can be in the order of a thousand times less than a typical CD player – and equalises the tonal balance, which, because of vinyl’s physical limitations, is skewed heavily toward the higher frequencies.

It’s an intricate process, so having a separate component devoted to the task really makes a lot of sense.

Upgrade your cabling

When it comes to cables, there are those who believe using anything slightly more conductive than string will do the job and that spending extra on better quality speaker cables and/or interconnects is a waste of money.

Here at What Hi-fi?, we have reviewed many cables, and all we can tell you is that the differences in performance between certain cables are clear to our ears.

That isn’t to say spending more means you’ll necessarily get a better sound, and those gains will again be dependent on the capabilities of the rest of your kit, however the relationship between the various elements of your system can be as much to do with what’s connecting them as the aptitude of each component.

Get your system serviced

There are all sorts of things a dealer is able to do when servicing your kit.

From giving your system a once-over to making sure everything is all working as it should, to replacing small parts that may need it, your hi-fi dealer should also be able to suggest specific system upgrades that will offer you the greatest sonic returns for your investment.

As you’ll have read in our reviews on these pages, the best product for one person may not be the best for someone else, but with dealers knowing the products they stock as well as anyone, you can at least be guided in the right direction before wading through reams of reviews and testing every product on the market for yourself.