The problems associated with buying hi-fi equipment are numerous, beginning, of course, with just what to spend your money on in terms of equipment performance and value. But the biggest problem is the cost of sound equipment. Most people are operating on some sort of budget and even when they’ve cut through all the advertising crap and come to a decision as to what would be the ideal system to own, they often find the price tags outrageous. The result is either a compromise in terms of the equipment you buy, or the necessity of putting everything on hold until you can get Mastercharge to up your credit rating.

A third solution, however, is available. During the past couple of years several mail-order discount houses have come into being. These houses deal in name-brand equipment, most of it quite good, and give excellent discounts. Of course you have to know what you want before you buy and you can’t have the instant gratification of walking into a store and walking out with your new toys, but the savings really are considerable.

One such house is Dixie Hi-Fidelity Wholesalers, 10140 Bacon Drive, Beltsville, Maryland 20750. Their welldesigned 36 page catalog covers amplifi*ers, speakers, tape recorders, color tvs and related accessories. Typical discounts are $83 for a pair of the new' AR7 Speakers which list for $120 a pair; $280 for AR’s 120 watt stereo receiver/ amp which has a list price of $420; $67 for AR’s XA Turntable (one of the best) which you’ll pay $90 for in stores. Other values include AKAI tape recorders starting at $176; Pioneer earphones starting at $24 and Dynaco amps starting at $166.

It’s a media stereotype to say that these are real savings, but it’s true. Dixie ships via U.P.S., R.E.A. and other truckers and the only catch is that you must order at least $10 worth of equipment and that you pay the shipping costs — for U.P.S. this comes to about $1.50 for every ten pounds shipped.

Dixie will send you their catalog on request. Even if you don’t order from them, it certainly is a good reference guide if your local hi-fi store says they’ll give you a great discount.

Another mail-order firm dealing in hi-fi equipment at good prices is Midwest Hi Fi Wholesalers, Box 567, Ellsworth Industrial Park, Downers Grove, Illinois, 60515. They haven’t got an illustrated catalog yet, so you pretty much have to know what you’re looking for, but their prices are good. Their recent list featured Dynaco’s Stereo 400A power amp for $105 off list in kit form and $170 off list price already wired. They’re also listing the Concord DBA-10 deluxe Dolby noise reduction unit for $84 against a list price of $150; the $25 Shure M44E cartridge for $8; and Wharfedale’s W-45 speakers for $68 each.

Both Midwest and Dixie take Mastercharge and BankAmericard, by the way, so if you’re going to go into debt buying equipment, you might as well get the best for your money.

New products this month are headlined by the Pioneer TX-9100 AM/FM tuner. If you have a drift problem in your reception area (the signal you want to hear keeps varying in volume and clarity) then this is a tuner to consider upgrading to. The list price is $299.95 and for your money you get a welldesigned, functional piece of very sophisticated electronic equipment. This isn’t an amp, mind you, just the tuner unit which must be used in conjunctipn with your amp. Even if you’re not interested or impressed with the internal electronics of the Pioneer TX-9100 which take the AM or FM signal and clean it up so that what you hear is what is being broadcast, you’ll find that the front controls allow you to zero-in on the sound you want to hear. There are level controls (volume) for the headphone jack and for both AM and FM. A function switch allows you to choose either the AM or FM band and with the two level controls you can switch back and forth between your favorite AM and FM stations without any annoying blasts of noise. There are also three filter controls on the control panel which let you shape the sound you’re hearing. And there are two meters, one which allows you to get an exact stereo signal and the other which tells you when you’re tuned into the station exactly.

If $300 is a little high for all this, you might consider Kenwood’s KT-4005 stereo tuner, which has many fine features, delivers crisp, clean broadcast reception and has a list price of $189.95. This tuner will ensure that you don’t get any cross-modulation (mixing) of the left and right channels of the stereo signal, nor any distortion from internal overloading of the electronic components.

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For another $189.95 you can mate the KT-4005 tuner with Kenwood’s KA-4004 stereo amp. The power output is 18 watts per channel which is enough to drive a moderate system without any problems. Frequency response is flat so the amp itself won’t color the sound coming from your records to the speaker, and distortion at high amp levels is not a problem. This is important since many inexpensive amps tend to distort the sound as you turn the power up to higher volumes — in much the same way that a rock guitarist will get distortion by pumping his amp. He (or she) wants that, you don’t. Inputs on the KA-4004 include two phono inputs, a tuner input and two auxiliary inputs — which means that you can run two tape recorders into the amp and either switch back and forth between the two for playback or else use the facility to dub tape copies from one machine to the other without disconnecting them from the amp. ^