I get these phone calls, friends of friends, people I haven’t seen in ten years, complete strangers. Not one of them wants to know how I am, few say thank you, all of them are about to buy a hi-fi or video deck so what would I recommend. I sigh, play the answer man, and more often than not they get off the phone annoyed with me. What did I do? Simple, I got too technical. There’s no one word answer to how to buy electronics, if there was I’d have more people thinking kindly of me.

Trying not to take any knowledge of hi-fi for granted, it’s still difficult for me to explain how to buy a hi-fi system if a half dozen basic concepts . aren’t understood. Thes6 concepts relate to the function of particular pieces of equipment. There is a chain that links the needle in the record’s groove to the sound that comes out of the speakers. This chain has only a few links, but knowing what each is and why it’s there is important if you want a hi-fi system that works.