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Is Hi-Fi dead??

I agree, we have always been a niche market, though these days that niche is simply smaller due to people wanting to get their audio components for the same price they were going for 30 years ago. They get 'em, but they are mostly junk. Then again, we had junk in the 70's as well. Not ALL silver was golden :)....I cringe when I walk into the local GW and spy silver, only to see Soundesign, Yorx and Electrophonic names on the faceplates....
 
Arkay said:
I finally realized that it is "strokes for folks". Some people just aren't interested and just don't care about hi-fi, just as not everyone cares for motorbikes, boats, or the latest trends in ladies' shoes. Maybe if you set up a good system in their homes and let them listen, they'll change their minds, but if they haven't heard and don't know what they are missing (and perhaps even if they do hear?), your words will simply fall on deaf ears.

Alas, the true hi-fi shop, and the competition that once drove manufacturers to make ever better quality hi-fi gear, is a thing of the past, perhaps holding on in pockets to serve a niche market like AKers, but it will never be mainstream again.

The only hope that I hold out is that over time, the digital technology does make advancements. 16 bit becomes 24 bit, 96Khz moves to 192Khz, XRCD, SACD, DVD-A and Blu-ray emerge. True, some of these are/were short-lived, and downloading is threatening to make them all obsolete (if it hasn't already), but the developmental trend will continue to push forward, I think, as digital memory storage capacity increases and cost decreases.

Perhaps one day the stuff that we can stream from the small successors to the iPod will sound as good as a hi-fi vinyl system does today. I hope it does, and sooner rather than later. I hope they put it into a nice retro-looking package that I can stomach having in my home, too. But until then, I'm holding on to my vintage analog gear with as tight a grasp as I can! :yes:


The question mark in all of this is whether enough people will still WANT good-quality sound, to encourage makers to offer it when they can. I'd like to think that at least enough people will, despite some evidence that not everyone will.
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Quality audio has always been a niche market, though these days it was more of a niche market than it was 30, or even 20 years ago. This is because there are many more home entertainment options vying for the consumer dollar than there was back then. Unfortunately, this means that specialty audio now is much more expensive as the mainstream electronics companies cannot subsidize the cost of developing and building statement products, say a preamp and power amp with hundreds of consumer grade receivers. With the economy still hurting, it is an open question whether any of these specialty audio companies will make it to the end of the next decade.

Still, digital continues to advance, and I think your speculation about digital downloads and computer like devices, perhaps high end versions of the cheap, powered speakers will eventually save high end audio. Additionally, I think a lot of the kids who have grown up with earbuds will eventually buy better headphones. The high end audio system of the future may be no more than a ipod or music server, connected to a preamp/dac device, connected to the internet for streaming or to a hard drive, and will feed either a good pair of powered speakers or a set of Grados or Sennheisers.

Sadly, I think the days of retro audio with large speakers are numbered.
 
Tedrick said:
Hi Fi dead?? No way. For evidence, look no further than (1) the proliferation of new 2-channel gear on display at every electronics show; (2) the surge in affordable 2-channel tube gear from China; and (3) the resurgence of vinyl, including the number of NEW titles being issued.
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Well, I will be convinced that old school hi fi is back in a big way when I see people in the real world owning turntables or decent electronics. I am the only person I know (of all my friends, relatives, even acquaintances) in the real world (as opposed to here) who owns a turntable. I know of only a handful of people who own even moderately good electronics/speakers. Most these days are happy with whatever the local big box chain is offering, or maybe one of those lifestyle tabletop radios.
 
I think it will always be alive. People still buy quality gear like McIntosh and other gear in audio salons. There will always be a demand for it, or else no one would sell a Pioneer SX 1980 for over $2000 bucks. There will always be a market for Hi-Fi and it will always be a niche market. The majority of people will just be happy with music coming from a I-Pod coming from two cheap speakers, boom box or a Bose wave stereo. Back in the 1970's, which is considered the "golden days" of Hi-Fi audio, all the people that I knew had cheap all-in-one stereos, portable mono record changers, AM transistor radios, portable 8 tracks and cheap console systems. The only thing that changed is the format that the music is played on. The more things change, the more things stay the same.
 
Resounding yes. My work takes me all over the city and into many homes (mainly middle class) and the dearth of anything remotely related to hifi is so sad. Many years ago the middle class at least showed much greater appreciation for some quality reproduction of music. I guess this is just a different era and people have no time to relax and "listen"
 
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What needs to be understood is that Hi Fi at the upper level is a Hobby

Like any hobby it is only interesting to a small number of people. How many of you collect stamps? Coins? Beer cans?

sure everyone will listen to the radio while driving. Some may even have a CD or two on the floor or under the seat that they may dust off and shove in. A few people will rip out the stock car radio and put in a nicer one. Fewer yet will rip out the interior and dampen it then install home quality speakers and a couple hundred watts of chest thumping power.

At home everyone has a clock radio that wakes them every morning with music. A few people will turn on the radio in their kitchen while having their morning coffee. A few may even turn on their living room stereo (now a home theater hi-fi combo). An even smaller number of people will have a sound room (or dedicated area of the home) that is just for music with killer sound system and a wall of CD/LP/tapes.

Everyone will listen to music if it is playing. Very few will take the time to search out and put together a FINE sound system.

It's just a hobby after all.........

.
 
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Sure my Sony has plastic but when its removed it lookes just like a normal speaker front mounted
the plastic is just a look good thing

BPC doesnt exsist today as youd call it
its plastic but its been thought about and used where it can work
 
Tube King said:
Was HiFi ever alive? Everyone likes to think back to when there were records everywhere, etc etc etc. But what selective memory forgets to mention is the majority of households which didn't have anything even remotely close to HiFi. Everyone forgets the budget bin records which sounded terrible (high end records on sale excluded). HiFi is a niche market for people that want to enjoy music. Most people simply don't care, and never have. My wife is one of those people. She can tell the difference between something that sounds nice and something that doesn't, but she will listen to this HORRIBLE under counter AM/FM/CD/DVD/TV thing that literally sounds like 100% pure distortion. It sounds so bad that after only a few minutes I get an actual head pounding headache. She simply doesn't mind that it sounds terrible. She represents a LARGE portion of the world then and now. People that enjoy live music, clean music, and high fidelity will always want better than ordinary. Right now there are plenty of sources to download higher quality formats than CD; those places just aren't ITunes, Napster, and all the other big box watered down retailers pushing the next injection of smack.
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I tend to agree, but only to a certain extent.

A great many of us have searched thrifts far and wide and grab a number of vintage receivers, speakers, etc until we hit critical mass. Somebody was using these gems back in the day. So while many had some basic systems (we did in my house) many also used the stuff we are grabbing, restoring, and using.

Which begs the question, what are those folks who ditched their vintage using now?
 
well im a product of that
sony system
call it what u will
it sounds as good as my Technics not as warm and pure but pretty close in 2 channel mode oh and without the subs on Direct 2 speakers
 
Exactly a year ago, we were invited for Thanksgiving to my cousin's wife's sister's house. I thought I saw some decent gear, a moderately good home theater receiver in the main setup, a set of PSB speakers connected to a TV in the basement. I asked the guy what he is using for speakers, he showed me the soundbar under the TV. How does it sound for music, I ask? He says he doesn't know as they never listened to music on it. What do you use for music? Bose wave radio.

I ask the guy, why did you break up your good electronics? He said, nobody in the house actually listens to music, except as background music. They watch a lot of TV and movies together, so he bought the soundbar for home theater and basically relegated his good speakers to the basement/rec room for use with video games or kids TV.

This is an example of an American family that has put its money towards other home entertainment, who 30 years ago might have had a good stereo in the living room.
 
in saying that ill never get rid of My yamaha or technics systems thay are great things metal fronts one silver one black metal aluminum
 
The problem is that thing like itune's have taken away the album.
And while there is nothing wrong listening to your favorite song, you need the album for the whole experience. DSOTM, Sgt. Peppers, Pet sounds, Abbey Road, etc are albums, while there are songs that you can listen to alone you lose part of the experience.
More you listen to just you favorite song or group of songs etc, more it becomes background music. If more people made time to listen, more people would be into high-fi. Even more so when they get goose bumps from the quality of the music being played on a good system.
We also have the idea of more is better, less you spend the better.
I have a bad history with headphones, every 30 doller pair got distroyed from normal use. I got mad that they kept breaking and I did some research saved up and got my Grado SR-60's which have lasted longer than any other headphone I have own. It was also at a point when I found music for myself so it started my hifi journey.
People see $200 5.1 set up or a $500 2 channel system that is way better. They are going to go for the 5.1 because it is cheaper and is 5.1 as simple as that. More is better for them but only at the lowest price point.
The last thing to consider is that a good system makes it hard to listen to music as a background music, it draws you and make it more active and many people don't like that.
 
Jack Lord said:
I tend to agree, but only to a certain extent.

A great many of us have searched thrifts far and wide and grab a number of vintage receivers, speakers, etc until we hit critical mass. Somebody was using these gems back in the day. So while many had some basic systems (we did in my house) many also used the stuff we are grabbing, restoring, and using.

Which begs the question, what are those folks who ditched their vintage using now?
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See my post above for a partial explanation, at least one family I know.

As to the actual owners of vintage gear, think about it. The 30 or 40 something owner of a Marantz, Pioneer or Sansui gear in 1975 is now in their late 70s, possibly retired and living in a smaller house or apartment, or even deceased. Their heirs or children don't want their silver faced receivers and big speakers when their parents/grandparents moved or passed away, so it goes to Goodwill or sold off at an estate sale.
 
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No one wants to be seen as belonging to somthing dead or dying. I love these discussions because so many can't seperate music from the gear. But that does not change the mainstream which loves music but couldn't care less about how its played or sounds. And they never did. Even the Silent generation just went to a store and bought a stereo. It just so happens that the gear back then was Marantz etc. Today it's just etc.

marc mc
 
I don't think Hi-Fi is dead, it's just not as big as it used to be. I guess now, a lot of people don't care about having quality sound. They just want it to be loud with a lot of bump and thump. Some of the stuff I hear now, wouldn't sound good on the best system in the world.
After all, what's more important nowadays, having quality sound or having 10,000 songs on your iPod? I just think peoples' attitudes and perceptions about music has changed drastically in the last 20 years. And not for the better!
 
On the other hand, I do have a counter example, though it is a somewhat dated one. My mom always loved music, especially classical and opera, but until a few years ago, never owned a moderately decent stereo. Her best sound came for the 2 years I was studying overseas when she used my system from high school (EPI 100s, Sony amp, JVC turntable). Other than that, her stereos were all cheap all in ones from the 70s and 80s.

Around 2000 or 2001, I convinced her to go the specialty audio route, though in a limited way. Long story short, she bought a cd changer (would have preferred she bought single cd, but she wanted to play her operas all the way through), Nakamichi 100 wpc stereo receiver, Acoustic Energy Aegis 1 speakers, along with decent stands, and decent interconnects.

At the time, she complained that for the money spent, she could have taken a vacation. I told her that it was worth it as with her cheapie stereo she was only hearing maybe half of the music on her cds, that her new stereo allowed her to hear maybe 85 or 90% of the music, that if she wanted to get closer to 95% of the music, it would cost another thousand or two.

8 years on, she still loves her stereo, and even decided to keep it when she retired and moved to a smaller place.
 
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Many people had Japanese "silver" hi-fis in the 70s because having a hi-fi was cool, the thing to do. Most of my pals back then had Sansuis, Marantzes, Pioneers and such with JBL, Advent or similar medium sized box speakers but few of us used stuff like Magnepan, Fulton, Hartley, Klipsch, "good" Altec and JBL, Dynaco, Mac, Crown, Hafler, Ampex, Tandberg and Thorens. And of all my old pals I'm the only one still interested in the hobby and the pals I made in this hobby are a different set of guys than my old cronies.

Anyway now hi-fis aren't cool anymore, ipods and cell phones are. And that's that.
 
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Tom Brennan said:
Many people had Japanese "silver" hi-fis in the 70s because having a hi-fi was cool, the thing to do. Most of my pals back then had Sansuis, Marantzes, Pioneers and such with JBL, Advent or similar medium sized box speakers but few of us used stuff like Magnepan, Fulton, Hartley, Klipsch, "good" Altec and JBL, Dynaco, Mac, Crown, Hafler, Ampex, Tandberg and Thorens. And of all my old pals I'm the only one still interested in the hobby and the pals I made in this hobby are a different set of guys than my old cronies.

Anyway now hi-fis aren't cool anymore, ipods and cell phones are. And that's that.
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Curiously, vinyl is cool again, but this example runs counter to the general trend of small, fashionable and disposable.

Another anecdote. Last year, I was talking before a spinning class with a guy who is about my age (40 ish) and we are talking about our lp collections, I was saying how I have sold off quite a few recently. The trainer, a mid 20s female, jumps in and says she loves lps, asks how I could consider selling lps, tells me she has a collection but is currently looking for a turntable. I say I had no idea but in the future, will give her first crack at my lps if she wants. Anyhow, I was wondering what sort of turntable she might want to get, give her my take on things, tell her to remember that she also needs a receiver with phono stage, to ask me if she isn't sure of what to get.

Fast forward a couple of months. So, I ask, what did you finally get for TT/ phono stage? SL 1200, Rega, ProJect, Thorens? Nope, she bought a Crosley. My heart sank when I heard that.
 
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