Sight and sound.(audio equipment)(Buyers Guide)

After a dramatic recession, a crashing stock market and a seemingly endless string of corporate scandals, the last thing most music-lovers need is encouragement to purchase a new audio system. In these tough times, we thought it might prove more useful--and certainly more economical--if we told you how to make the equipment you already own sound its best. While not necessarily cheap, each of the items below has been carefully chosen to provide the largest improvement for the lowest cost, which probably makes them a better investment than anything in your tattered portfolio!

SYNERGISTIC RESEARCH ALPHA INTERCONNECT ($99/1-meter pair) AND ALPHA SPEAKER CABLE ($150/10-foot pair)

Just like tossing your car's old tires, upgrading the "throwaway" cables that came with your gear is the easiest, least expensive means of improving system performance. How can cables make a difference in audio and video quality? The choice of conductive and insulation materials, the care with which connectors are attached to each end of the wire and the physical relationship between positive and negative conductors (what cognoscenti refer to as "geometry") have all been shown to exert a profound influence on sound and image. Justly renowned for their superb, cost-no-object designs, Synergistic Research applies the same high standards to a series of more accessible products. Tailored to tame the often harsh, bright upper octaves of low- to mid-priced receivers and CD players, Alpha cable transforms the sound of entry-level systems by resolving all the detail, warmth and ambience lurking within your favorite recordings. A breath of fresh air for tired old systems.

800-578-6489; www.synergisticresearch.com

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GRADO SR-325 HEADPHONES ($295) AND RA-1 HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER ($350)

For less than $650, you can achieve a level of sound quality that typically costs thousands. How? Compare Grado Laboratories' SR-325 headphones and RA-1 headphone amplifer with any amplifier/speaker combination in the $3,000 price range, and you'll see--and hear--what we mean. Whereas loudspeakers must fill acoustically imperfect listening rooms with sound, headphones work in concert with the small, predictable volume of air between your ear and the headphone driver. The resulting sound is more accurate and consistent, which explains why audio engineers use `phones to monitor the recordings they produce. And the headphones chosen by the most discriminating sound professionals are those made by Grado. Handcrafted with high-purity copper voice coils and connecting cable, machined alloy earcups and pair-matched left and right drivers for superior stereo imaging, a pair of SR-325s will bring you closer to the musical truth at the heart of great performances.