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Young people, none of them are into hifi.

ic-racer said:
I dropped my child off at College this last weekend with a computer and i-phone. I remember when I got dropped off, the most important thing I brought with me was my stack of records and my integrated stereo record-player-radio-8-track player.
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Here's to us!! Finally closing the Dorm At Home!!

#1 out last weekend, and #2 this weekend. #2 is taking his system.
 
peerson said:
I honestly do not know anyone that is even mildly interested in hifi music. My kids and you all on here are about it.
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Both my boys are into music and hifi. I gave each of them an integrated and pair of speakers a few years back. Both are deep in the headphone thing.
 
In doing the Birthday wishes I go through every member who lists their birthday in their profile, and the number of younger members and female members would both surprise you!
Regards,
Jim
 
No Money said:
Not aimed at you, but there seems to be a large number of people here who like to s*^t on young people because they aren't carbon copies of them, and don't want to do the things they did when they were young. I certainly didn't want to relive the youth of my father ...



.
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I don't think anyone is s$'tt'%g on anyone.....just stating facts and observations. I don't have a gramma phone and 78's because I wanted fidelity and the best realism I could afford. I still do. That was what stereo wars were about in the 70's, basically. That drove the establishment of thousands of brick and mortar stores and multiple mail order houses.....all gone now......If the demand (interest) was there with the younger crowd, don't you think those establishments would still be here?........answer, yep.
 
My GF is a college professor and she tells me that she has a few of her students that have some sort of system, usually kludged together from rummage sales, CL, FBM, or some bits from Dad. It's something she started doing after she met me and heard my system. I was talking about kids not being interested as well.
 
halkaloogie said:
After reading the article and then all the responses, I feel like I'm in the minority. Most of my friends have at least a passable stereo setup.

My kid and his friends are all very much into records. Before the apocalypse, it was common for him to bring over friends so they could play their own records on my system. And I've helped quite a few of his friends buy equipment over the years.

High end audio gear has always been a niche market, but my experience is that the interest is still very much alive with the younger generations.
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I am experiencing the same.

When I compare my group of friends from the 70’s-80’s to my daughters and their friends today there really is not much of a difference. IMO they have higher quality music all the time compared to my age group by using great HP set-ups. If anything more young people I know have great HP “systems” and eventually transitions into “home systems” as there life changes. Only a few of my friends put much effort into their systems back in the day.

jlh3rd said:
If the demand (interest) was there with the younger crowd, don't you think those establishments would still be here?........answer, yep.
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IMO the answer is Nope

The interest is still great and the products are there and better than ever! You can get into great SQ for way shorter money than back when I was getting into it.

IMO the lack of interest did not kill the B@M stores, the flexibility of shopping online did. I have bought more stuff in the last few years than I have in 30 yrs. I have not stepped one foot in a store, was able to audition in my space and send back if it wasn’t a fit. That’s shits a win win :rockon:
 
What to do you expect, was not in their time of life
We had it made, walk in to a shop with gear and records galore. utopia it was for us.
Consider us old farts lucky
.There is still enough young ones in it, maybe just buying records. But keep it rolling along.
 
My daughters, both in their early 20’s, appreciate vintage hifi and are into vinyl records. They aren’t passionate about it though.
 
none of them are into anything automotive either. the future bodes a big wad of suck

eta: dont get me wrong, I brag that most of my customers are college age, BUT, its like 1 in 30 of the population. 1 in 30 is a closet fad, not a trend.
 
I was well into my mid-upper 20's before i could afford or make time for a decent system. I relied on my supertuner with jensen triaxial speakers w/ cassette for good sounds.Whenever i get to my local record store 75% of the patrons are in early 30's /20's of age.
 
Interestingly bricks and mortar is still a big thing here. I can walk into an electronics/computer mall not far from my building and get a reasonable quality high res music player that's about the size of a smartphone starting at about US$150 (and up, up, up) plus a decent pair of headphones starting at about US$100. And yes, I have my own. Makes the 40 odd minute commute somewhat more interesting. In the same shops are any number headphone amps, DAC's and powered speakers.

Hope on the train, head to Mong Kok and there are entire buildings, some with 20 plus floors with everything you could think of and desire, from entry level to the highly esoteric.

If I was a young whippersnapper I'd be much more into the headphone stuff. And likely gaming. I think I just missed the wave on that. Have a good number of friends five to ten years younger whose eyes glaze over when I talk about amps and speakers but can talk for ages about games and motherboards and mouse click speeds and overclocking and ... oh, and they spend big money on sound cards and headsets.
 
kirk57 said:
Good headphones streaming Spotify or the like sounds way better than the stereo I had in my teens. Definitely hi-fi.
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That’s what a lot of my fellow old folks seem to not understand. Just because it’s mobil does not mean it isn’t “hi-fi”.

I travel between 100-200 days a year for work so I stepped up my HP game (and it didn’t cost much). I know what all the “great stuff” they opine about sounds like... my HP/IEM set-up is 100% “hi-if” :music::rockon:
 
A bit of historical perspective here, or at least my view of history.
When audio was in its infancy, say pre-1940's, hi-fi was a minority hobby pursued by enthusiastic DIYers who would make their own amps and speakers. When rock'n'roll and pop record sales started to become huge most people were listening on fairly crappy gear and "hi-fi" was still the pursuit of the enthusiastic hobbyist. As the years went on, electronic production techniques evolved - printed circuit boards etc. - and the cost of manufactured audio equipment fell. By the 1970's the Japanese were producing amplifiers etc. at prices previously impossible and audio equipment became a desirable purchase for the general consumer. Through the 1970's, 1980's and into the 1990's, "hi-fi" was widely popular, at least compared to what it had been before the 1970's. These days, there are many more things for consumers to spend their money on and hi-fi is no longer popular with the general public. It hasn't gone away, it's just returned to how it started. Hi-fi was a consumer-buying trend that came and went as far as the general public is concerned, and now they consume their music differently.
The biggest change, as I see it, isn't so much the equipment used by the general public as the fact that they consider music should be free.
The other thing that's significant is that listening to music via speakers can be a social thing - listening on headphones is an isolating thing.
 
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Like many here I've been fighting the war for better sound. My last skirmish has born fruit and is ready to blossom.

A neighbor from up the block had heard my system in passing. Just before the holiday season he asked me, "Hook me up with a stereo? Blue tooth speakers just ain't happening". He now has a 2ch Yamaha receiver, a pair of modest bookshelf speakers, a powered sub and a CD/DVD player. He's especially happy that his phone can stream to the system and he really loves the sound he's getting.

This Friday he's coming over. I'm going to sit him in the sweet spot and let him just listen to what you hear with a higher level system. After having the Yamaha system for a couple of months I figure he's primed for the sound I regularly hear.
 
JoeESP9 said:
Like many here I've been fighting the war for better sound. My last skirmish has born fruit and is ready to blossom.

A neighbor from up the block had heard my system in passing. Just before the holiday season he asked me, "Hook me up with a stereo? Blue tooth speakers just ain't happening". He now has a 2ch Yamaha receiver, a pair of modest bookshelf speakers, a powered sub and a CD/DVD player. He's especially happy that his phone can stream to the system and he really loves the sound he's getting.

This Friday he's coming over. I'm going to sit him in the sweet spot and let him just listen to what you hear with a higher level system. After having the Yamaha system for a couple of months I figure he's primed for the sound I regularly hear.
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So your the Pusher Man ;)
 
My daughter is 24, married and moved out. She loves her vinyl, streaming into a setup I gave her. Which, I have changed over the years, when she mentions something about it or I get a better piece. My son is 17, loves vinyl and streams also. He has more interest in the gear then she does. She likes the vintage look of her setup, he approves or disapproves of any changes of his setup. They both know quality gear when they see it.
 
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