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Has the mid-80s stereo rack been replaced by the Bluetooth speaker?

JesusChrysler said:
Heh

Here you go.

Replace your rack system with a McIntosh Bluetooth speaker Lol

Hey its only $1200!!!


MattView attachment 2544094 View attachment 2544095
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At times I find the idea of a simple but good sounding mono system an attractive one; the notion being listening to the music rather than the sound. When I lived in a motorhome and used a Klipsch BT speaker listening to music over it was quite enjoyable. Some years ago I had a mono system consisting of an Altec 605A driven by a Fisher 80AZ tube amplifier and it sounded lush but clear allowing listening deep into the music without worrying about the sweet spot or where I was sitting and all that. It was nice listening while stretched out on the couch.
 
Thats just it Tom; I was only half joking.

I'm sure that Mc BT sounds Really Good.

Hell my 'system ' is a pair of Klipsch the Sixes with a sub and a turntable.

But I digress.


Matt
 
Tom Brennan said:
At times I find the idea of a simple but good sounding mono system an attractive one; the notion being listening to the music rather than the sound. When I lived in a motorhome and used a Klipsch BT speaker listening to music over it was quite enjoyable. Some years ago I had a mono system consisting of an Altec 605A driven by a Fisher 80AZ tube amplifier and it sounded lush but clear allowing listening deep into the music without worrying about the sweet spot or where I was sitting and all that. It was nice listening while stretched out on the couch.
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All you have to do is find a great pair of standmounts at the local thrift store and all your space constraints, and listening to the MUSIC enjoyment will come true. :D
 
Tom Brennan said:
Oh, I own one I think sounds better than L-100s, it certainly has better tone and tone is paramount. I'm not so keen on the SS receivers of the L-100s' time either.

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I've been considering one of these for the desktop, the reviews seem quite good and it can be had for well under 200.00 now. I like the fact that it has phono inputs. I keep a small side table by my desk which is usually occupied by whatever turntable I'm messing with at the time. Have you tried the phono section Tom? Impressions?

Pic showing the back side for others who may be intrigued -

klipsch12.png
 
wmgwizard said:
While BT speakers may not have replaced the 80's rack, the surging popularity of powered speakers may have.

Most have BT and other inputs, they are very easy to set up and many are quite impressive. Impressive enough to be used by many artists and producers, just look at the Rick Rubin /Paul McCartney documemtary on Hulu.

The times they are a changing.
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I just finished wiring my new "music room/man cave" attached to my shop building (16 foot "slice" of my 50x30 building) next to it is a 10 foot wide covered concrete pad "patio" accessed by french doors in the mancave. I wired four outdoor outlets, two close to the bottom, and two in the upper corners close to the ten foot high ceiling. I didn't bother putting any speaker wires in the walls anywhere I see wireless as the future. A friend of mine wired his new home with cat-5 wiring about 20 years ago. Rarely used it. wi-fi makes it un-necessary, though it does have some advantages. Same with built in hi-fi wiring.

I'm also not as picky regarding sound quality now that I'm 68 and wear hearing aids. So that may color my opinion a tad. :D
 
Well, bluetooth can be a good option after all... I recently just completed installing a complete 70 volt commercial sound system in my brothers house consisting of a 650 watt rockville bluetooth receiver and 21 JBL control25 speakers, (12 hf speakers, 6 midbass woofers, and 3 subwoofers) mounted in every room of the house as well as outside on the back patio and it JAMS! It is a mono system that kicks ass. We open up all of the doors and windows and play music from our i-phones and you can stand out on the street and hear music pulsing out of every opening. While walking through out the house it sounds like a live dance club. This is a way different experience than sitting in front of two stereo speakers in a single room trying to get the imaging perfect. I may convert to bluetooth mono in the future. This system is perfect for large house parties and I highly recommend it if you ever set up a bachelor pad. Cheers! :)
 
Did every house back then have a stereo rack? And if they did, were they all even any good? I remember the one my parents had. It wasn’t that good.
 
yofi said:
Did every house back then have a stereo rack? And if they did, were they all even any good? I remember the one my parents had. It wasn’t that good.
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There was some real crap in the 1980's.
But, folks buy what they feel they can afford.
Both things are still true.
 
No BT speakers are not the modern day version of BPC stacks...BPC stacks were for people who cold not afford silver face stacks from the 70's or could not hear the difference...

That said hard to beat bluetooth for convince...The sound from some of the BT speakers is impressive!
But anything digital is doomed to planed obsoleteness...
In a decade all of these BT speakers probably won't sync to anything...Some BPC still work as intended.

To make my point I have a $1400 TOL Pioneer head unit in my car that is 11 years old..
The radio, cd player & back up camera work great....But almost all of the rest of digital features are obsolete..

I just updated the firmware & maps in the navigation section....Still slower than molasses & a god awful user interface but it works
Hands free BT... Sorry BT version & features are obsolete will not interface with any newer phone..
iPod integration and control....Maybe haven't tried it my iPod was stolen years ago
XM Satellite Radio... Maybe? I don't subscribe...
HD Radio... Nope forget about it..
MSN real time traffic...nope Obsolete
SD card play back...Maybe?
USB...Maybe?
DivX CD& DVD ....Obsolete besides who watches movies
Voice activated / controlled features.....LOL Never worked from day one.

I guess I could drop $1400 on a new head unit that works with todays digital technology but why when in 10 years it will all be obsolete again....Besides it's in a 2008 Shelby GT and most of the time the stereo is off, the windows are down so I can hear the sweet sound of that V8 as I go thru the gears...
Cheers
PQ
 
PureQuill said:
That said hard to beat bluetooth for convince...The sound from some of the BT speakers is impressive!
But anything digital is doomed to planed obsoleteness...
In a decade all of these BT speakers probably won't sync to anything...
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Not sure I agree with that 100%. Bluetooth is backwards and forwards compatible, and my brand new phone still syncs fine to the Bluetooth in my 2010 Ford. I suspect this will continue for the foreseeable future. But yeah, lots of other stuff does get obsolete, especially hardware for streaming platforms. Try using a 10 year old Roku; you won't get anywhere with it. Everything comes down to money; when streaming devices are so cheap to make, it doesn't make sense for a manufacturer to continue to support older versions. Of course, our future generations will pay the price for all this waste.
 
LF240 said:
I've been considering one of these for the desktop, the reviews seem quite good and it can be had for well under 200.00 now. I like the fact that it has phono inputs. I keep a small side table by my desk which is usually occupied by whatever turntable I'm messing with at the time. Have you tried the phono section Tom? Impressions?

Pic showing the back side for others who may be intrigued -

View attachment 2544202
Click to expand...
I was drawn to a used one on FB Marketplace, didn't really need it, but I'd find a place for it. It sold before I could buy, but after the Youtube reviews I was sort of glad I didn't spend the money. Best BT speaker I've heard is actually the JBL Pill; small, loud, with decent bass.
 
I think the rack systems from the 80s replaced the stereo consoles from the 60/70s.

We take a TDK BT speaker with us when we travel and I am always amazed on how good it sounds with either streaming our local jazz radio station or Tidal.
iu


Rectilinear1 said:
I have yet to hear a bluetooth speaker which compares to a set of JBL L-100's playing an sacd on a Marantz sacd player through a Marantz stereophonic receiver but who knows, maybe one day. I never give up hope. Most of the bluetooth speakers I have heard are mono anyway. :)
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I think this BT speaker might blow away your JBLs:
g968OMNIAWL-F.jpg

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-kCLEu...wug=&msclkid=268045a97bb910c1948727ccc1f133ff
 
Bluetooth powered speakers are astonishingly good for what they are. Many/most would put boomboxes of my youth to shame.
JBL, Anker, both make REALLY good portable bluetooth speakers that play for hours and hours and hours. (I do NOT miss D batteries, like in 'do the right thing. battery tech is so much better then the eighties/nineties!)

There's a lot of psycho-acoustics, probably courtesy of our one time own ken cantor. As far as I know he pioneered the field of making a smaller speaker reproduce the harmonics of low frequencies, fooling the ear/brain into thinking its hearing the fundamentals.


But, there's a few of the BIG powered monitors that are stunning in their ability to reproduce music at HIGH DB levels. M audio makes some, I'm pretty sure so do JBL
 
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