Do you really enjoy your music? Do you ever listen to it exclusively, while doing nothing else?  Sure, music may be great background if you work in an environment where you can use headphones or a speaker. It can motivate you for your run or workout. It can be relaxing when preparing dinner in the kitchen.

But beyond background listening, do you ever just disconnect and get lost in a great album or playlist? That’s what a two-channel audio system is all about – delivering enveloping sound that washes away the day’s stress and lets you revel in the music. 

Until recently, the trend in audio has been convenience over quality.  Portability of music – as in carrying 10,000 songs in your smartphone or being able to stream 30 million songs over the Internet – took precedence over the quality of the experience. But now the pendulum is swinging back, and people want the convenience of digital music with exceptional audio quality too. 

So let’s look at a few options for elevating the music-listening experience at your home in the Philadelphia area. 

See Also: How To Pick Out True High-End Audio

The Listening Room

Do you have a room where you can just relax and listen?  It doesn’t have to be a dedicated room; it can be an office or bedroom. It just needs to be a place where you can simply relax with the music. Two-channel audio systems don’t necessarily require a lot of space and complicated installation. There are superb-sounding systems at every budget level. 

Here’s one example of a moderate setup. Klipsch’s R-15PM Turntable system is a complete small stereo that bundles a Pro-Ject built turntable with powered bookshelf speakers. It’s ready to revive your record collection and includes Bluetooth and digital connectors to serve up other sources like a TV or CD player. 

Jumping to a higher end of the performance spectrum, the Rotel RA-1592 is the latest incarnation of a long line of integrated amps from the 55-year-old family owned Japanese company. With 200 watts per channel of amplification, a high-performance AKC DAC, and Bluetooth, USB, Phono, and digital inputs, it is ready for all your stereo analog and digital sources as the centerpiece of a larger listening room.

The company has long had a strategic association with Bowers and Wilkins (B&W), which would make a perfect speaker mate to this setup. The B&W 800 D3 would make a fine pairing; its beautiful design in gloss black, white, or rosewood complements the speaker’s incredible performance. 

While we’re discussing high-end, add a VPI Prime Signature turntable to this system. Its style makes it a conversation piece, and its performance will provide countless hours of listening pleasure. VPI is another family-owned company, based nearby in New Jersey, and its products are designed and built in the U.S.

The Headphone Listening Room

Perhaps you don’t quite have the space to have the audio-listening room of your dreams. If family or neighbor considerations factor in your decision, consider a high-end headphone setup.  High-quality headphones can be as immersive a music experience as you can get. 

Our partner Audeze is a leader in high-end headphones and headphone amplifiers. They use planar-magnetic technology in their LCD line, which is renowned for its accurate sound reproduction and is used by many recording engineers. A headphone and headphone amplifier can help you deliver audiophile quality sound out of portable devices too. Couple one of the LCD headphones with their Deckard combination headphone amplifier/DAC, and you have a compact hi-fi system that you could enjoy in any room.   

We work with many other high-end audio brands that fit a broad range of performance and budget considerations. Visit our showroom in Cherry Hill to hear some of these brands for yourself. Contact us for a demo today!