Hifi Bake-Off Society & Blog
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 1:11 pm
Hi everyone,
As a long time hifi enthusiast, and now a member of a few forums, I'm keen to help myself, and others, to gain more knowledge and experience of great hifi. I've come to the conclusion that the best way to achieve this is through meet-ups and bake-offs, listening to as much kit as possible and then sharing opinions. Recent events have shown that bake offs can be fun and informative but also challenging to organise and write up.
I have been looking for a 'social project' to spend some of my time (and likely a chunk of my cash) on setting up and running. I must just be getting to that sort of age! Until relatively recently, the costs of setting this up would have been prohibitive, but there is now off the shelf software available...and I can pull in a few favours!
My idea is to create an online society for enthusiasts from across the UK to set up bake-offs in their own homes (and other non-commercial venues) and to report their findings. This will consist of a database of members, an online 'manual' with guidelines (and some rules) for setting up bake off sessions and a blog for reporting the bake-off findings.
The project will have some underpinning principles (draft):
The society will not be exclusively linked with any one of the existing hifi forums (but I will be asking each of the forums to share information about the society with their members). The society will not seek to 'compete' with existing forums; it's remit is only to help enthusiasts organise and report bake-offs.
The society will be a not-for-profit association and will not seek or permit advertising from hi-fi manufacturers, dealers, magazines, forums or any other hi-fi related source. There will be a small annual subscription paid by members towards the ongoing costs (e.g. online hosting) of operating the society. Any surplus funds (unlikely but you never know) will be ring fenced for investment back into improving the site.
It is expected that most bake-off items will be the kit that members own themselves. In addition, hi-fi manufacturers and dealers will be able to loan items for bake-offs and the society will maintain a list of those who have agreed to do so.
Society members must host a minimum of one bake off every 18 months. Members may attend as many bake-offs as they are invited to by bake-off hosts.
Each bake-off session must be written up and submitted to the administrator for publication and archiving on the society blog.
Obviously, there is a lot of detail to work through. This post is the start of the consultation process with enthusiasts (I have started here at HFS because it is the forum where I am most often active, and there is an existing culture here of organising and welcoming bake-offs).
I need to know:
Is it a worthwhile idea?
Would it attract sufficient interest to be meaningful?
What are the critical things required to make it work?
What other principles and values should underpin it?
What would success look like?
What could go wrong and how can we mitigate?
I envisage a 8 to 12 week process to gather feedback from around the forums and from manufacturers. I will post here a few times a week to check my understanding of members feedback but I mostly want to listen rather than direct. I don't want to close down any lines of thought, so no idea is a bad idea.
Thanks, in advance, for sharing your thoughts. Warm regards,
Paul
As a long time hifi enthusiast, and now a member of a few forums, I'm keen to help myself, and others, to gain more knowledge and experience of great hifi. I've come to the conclusion that the best way to achieve this is through meet-ups and bake-offs, listening to as much kit as possible and then sharing opinions. Recent events have shown that bake offs can be fun and informative but also challenging to organise and write up.
I have been looking for a 'social project' to spend some of my time (and likely a chunk of my cash) on setting up and running. I must just be getting to that sort of age! Until relatively recently, the costs of setting this up would have been prohibitive, but there is now off the shelf software available...and I can pull in a few favours!
My idea is to create an online society for enthusiasts from across the UK to set up bake-offs in their own homes (and other non-commercial venues) and to report their findings. This will consist of a database of members, an online 'manual' with guidelines (and some rules) for setting up bake off sessions and a blog for reporting the bake-off findings.
The project will have some underpinning principles (draft):
The society will not be exclusively linked with any one of the existing hifi forums (but I will be asking each of the forums to share information about the society with their members). The society will not seek to 'compete' with existing forums; it's remit is only to help enthusiasts organise and report bake-offs.
The society will be a not-for-profit association and will not seek or permit advertising from hi-fi manufacturers, dealers, magazines, forums or any other hi-fi related source. There will be a small annual subscription paid by members towards the ongoing costs (e.g. online hosting) of operating the society. Any surplus funds (unlikely but you never know) will be ring fenced for investment back into improving the site.
It is expected that most bake-off items will be the kit that members own themselves. In addition, hi-fi manufacturers and dealers will be able to loan items for bake-offs and the society will maintain a list of those who have agreed to do so.
Society members must host a minimum of one bake off every 18 months. Members may attend as many bake-offs as they are invited to by bake-off hosts.
Each bake-off session must be written up and submitted to the administrator for publication and archiving on the society blog.
Obviously, there is a lot of detail to work through. This post is the start of the consultation process with enthusiasts (I have started here at HFS because it is the forum where I am most often active, and there is an existing culture here of organising and welcoming bake-offs).
I need to know:
Is it a worthwhile idea?
Would it attract sufficient interest to be meaningful?
What are the critical things required to make it work?
What other principles and values should underpin it?
What would success look like?
What could go wrong and how can we mitigate?
I envisage a 8 to 12 week process to gather feedback from around the forums and from manufacturers. I will post here a few times a week to check my understanding of members feedback but I mostly want to listen rather than direct. I don't want to close down any lines of thought, so no idea is a bad idea.
Thanks, in advance, for sharing your thoughts. Warm regards,
Paul