Do you think this hobby is dying ??

[soundmotor]

I picked out two interested young people and taught them how to build speakers and amps. That is how we keep it alive.

Did they have a choice in this?

 

[bobins08]

I think the hobby started shrinking in he late 80's and got progressively smaller as the baby boomers faded deep into raising families and spending money in other places. Products changed and people wanted big TV screens and surround sound. Big box stores took over and the small shops mostly faded away. Music's popularity has not faded and young people switched to portable systems such as boom boxes, walk man, disc man, etc. Then came computer systems and mp3 file sharing and self powered computer speakers ... leading to iPods, earbuds, smart Phones, Bluetooth, streaming, etc.

A few things happened on the way to extinction. Products that are small and transportable got better and are supported by devices that sound good. There was always a high end audio that survived as a niche. Boomers came back and started playing with vintage gear and vinyl again. Even some of the kids and grand kids of boomers are into audio now.

I think it was dying but it has made somewhat of a comeback for now. You can find a few high end audio stores in major cities/metro areas, not like it was but the hobby is still there and might be on a growth trend.

 

[soundmotor]

If I had to guess what the Hi-Fi Hut of the near future might look like it would one that is more concierge service and less Best Buy or brand-centric audio store. It might not even have much inventory just demonstrators. Once goals & budget are determined staff helps a potential buyer pick the gear to fulfill that. It might even be shipped to the buyer's house and a tech from the shop shows up to install it.

I very much agree with the previous sentiment that many just want to get on with it and listen to the music now. The bits to do that are secondary. Except at the very top end, I 'm not sure the gear brand matters either, only the capability. The shop, service, social media rep etc. is what drives the business and the experience they can deliver to the customer. The shop is the force that picks the gear and discards brands that don't live up to its standards. It won't be left to customer trial & error.

 

[PRESSON100]

Did they have a choice in this?

Well, they were interested. Once they started, it was too late to stop after speaker and parts purchase. Both finished.

 

[soundmotor]

Well, they were interested. Once they started, it was too late to stop after speaker and parts purchase. Both finished.

Whew, I'd envisioned a cellar pit and "It learns to solder or it gets the hose again."...

 

[Westy56]

My thinking of it as a hobby died.
It's only music played through tools.

Don't get me wrong. I use those tools often.

 

[Jota2]

I am not sure if its dying, seems like it sometimes. My nephew showed some interest while back so I gave him my modded Systemdek IIX and a stack of LPs that were duplicates he has a pair of subzeros and some ok electronics. The fire seems to have gone out there. :-( the only thing he seems to listen to is what he can download.
I have a late 20s coworker who seem to be kinda interested in audio so I let hem listen to my system, Its pretty good, B&W 803S, Kenwood L-09Ms, Kenwood Pre and KD500 with a Black Widow ADC ZLM cart.
tried a nice sampling of LPs, Nada, Zilch he just didn't get it. This guy has super sensitive hearing but after awhile I came to the conclusion he doesn't know how to listen. When I was his age I was fortunate to have friends who were really into audio, we went to Allan Halls house to hear the Plasmatronics Plasma drive speekers. John Bau of Spica fame is a friend and we spent some time in Santa Fe at his shop. The Local high end audio was Hudsons Audio (now a ListenUp).
My hearing at 64 isn't so good but I still think I can "listen". Maybe people need to learn how to do that again, That's what the volume knob is for.

 

[Alobar]

But Sat radio is still around is it not? The free market will shake out the chaff leaving the best business model.

As crappy as it is, yes still around So is Muzak although the name has been retired you still are subjected to it every time you are put on hold or in a box store. There are a lot of services like streaming that will be around losing money and eventually filing bankruptcy and still will be streaming after in likelihood. It isn't going away neither is anything else. profits be damned.

 

[Alobar]

Nowadays I see many people using the word "impact" this way. I wonder if often it's because they haven't mastered the affect-effect thing.

I for one have not mastered it embarrassingly so.

 

[I LIKE MUSIC]

 

[50nstillhifi]

I picked out two interested young people and taught them how to build speakers and amps. That is how we keep it alive.

The last two I chose, in the family, looked at the "setup", asked me "why so much stuff", and then left me standing there questioning my own motives... lol : O

 

[Alobar]

Awesome! You did in one post what 12 years in public schools could not!

 

[tom67]

Back in the late 70s during the "Golden Age" of audio, Stereo Review's resident guru Julian Hirsch opined on more than one occasion that less than 2% of Americans had any kind of quality audio gear. I recently got back into vinyl and my quest for new records confirms his opinion. The vast majority of pop and rock records are ravaged and were obviously played on junk equipment by people who had no interest in record care. So, perhaps things have not changed that much, and perhaps there never was a "Golden Age". And the business sales models have changed from showroom to online in even the sale of high end goods which makes it appear that interest has waned.

 

[soundmotor]

As crappy as it is, yes still around

Sirius XM continues to surprise, ain't dead by a long shot -

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/24/3-reasons-not-to-short-sirius-xm-stock-in-2017.aspx

 

[4-2-7]

So, perhaps things have not changed that much, and perhaps there never was a "Golden Age". And the business sales models have changed from showroom to online in even the sale of high end goods which makes it appear that interest has waned.

I think you have a very good point here and times have changed so if we look at the lack of in your face advertisement that once was.

We had show rooms and you couldn't go shopping for other things without see a stereo store. This would introduce you to new stuff even without shopping for it. Posters on the windows, and window display would get you to walk in. Even if it was way out of your league you still knew about it by chance of walking by.

How about print magazines, they where everywhere you went. You could flip though them at Walgreens killing time waiting for the girlfriend or wife, On the street from a vendor, sitting in the doctors office and on and on. You didn't have to look, it was just there giving you brand names and models. It really was kind of education and keeping one informed as to what's new, not just audio either.

Today we don't have that, you have to think about it, search, and be more pro active but you also have trouble searching without brand names and model numbers. Today it's also, who pays the big search engines to make product pop up first and more dominant.

I just googled record turntables
https://www.google.com/search?q=rec....69i57j0l5.29644j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

What pops up is hardly a good representation and is all the low end tables and stores to shop. This is why when people just getting into this are lost or older people saying old tables are better than new. Well the better new is being under represented in a basic search until you dig deeper and deeper.

 

[Bodyblue]

And this is just a hobby and hobbies change and one has to be able to understand that. The hobby wont die tomorrow but in 20 years it will have changed. One can either stick fingers in one's ears and scream "LA LA LA LA" or roll with the punches.

 

[JarredCrowe]

I think it will still exist, not many people my age or younger care about the quality of audio reproduction. They just want to hear it. However that doesn't mean that they don't exist.

 

[DaveVoorhis]

I think it will still exist, not many people my age or younger care about the quality of audio reproduction. They just want to hear it. However that doesn't mean that they don't exist.

I suspect the percentage of people interested in good audio is the same now as it ever was, and it's a pretty small percentage. Yes, the big silver-faced high-quality stereo used to be commonplace, but not because the majority cared how it sounded -- they didn't care how it sounded -- they owned it because it was fashionable. For the majority, the fashion changed -- as it always does -- and they moved on to other things.

 

[Alobar]

In my little world back in the 70's we (at least I) never saw hi fi audio as a hobby at all anymore than we would see a flat screen TV, a smartphone, PC, or dishwasher a hobby today. It was thought of as more of an appliance or an entertainment center maybe although we mostly called it a stereo, and was a very normal thing to see. Nowadays my big speakers are more of a spectacle to visitors and are either stared at like a dinosaur egg or if they are a couple, talked of in hushed tones amongst themselves.

And calling it a "hobby" today is the easiest way to explain it to the uninitiated.

 

[Alobar]

Yes, the big silver-faced high-quality stereo used to be commonplace, but not because the majority cared how it sounded -- they didn't care how it sounded -- they owned it because it was fashionable. For the majority, the fashion changed -- as it always does -- and they moved on to other things.

As with much of what you have said in this thread, at least in my experience of living with a stereo in that time (1970 onwards), I have to more or less disagree. Perhaps because there was a lot of money floating around in my community but performance was important and people DID care how it sounded. Back then we just had 14 channels of shit, no computer, nothing but music, and we did listen to it, and it was a focal point to how we socialized with one another.

What maybe killed it was all the other distractions that came along in the 80s, Apples, the 80 x86's, the rise of cable, as well as a downturn in the economy in the mid 80's. No, stereo gear was more than a fashion statement in the 60's and 70's at least for most IMO. It was a large part of our social existence.