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''It's no good having an orchestra with the ten best guitarists if I don't have a pianist.'' So said former Real Madrid manager Manuel Pellegrini, voicing his frustrations at the challenge of building a squad at the Bernabéu.

It’s an elegant metaphor, whether it’s describing a musical ensemble, a football team or a hi-fi system. In essence, building the perfect hi-fi system is about balance as much as individual quality. The whole should amount to more than, or at the very least equal, the sum of its parts.

But balance is one of those concepts that can be hard to define, let alone to achieve. While a lot of it boils down to trial and error, there are certain guidelines that will aid and, hopefully, ease your path to sonic enlightenment.