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Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:47 am
by Lindsayt
Some people think that today is the golden age of audio.

Digital recordings and playback, DSP, modern materials, computer tools to help with design etc etc.


I suppose you could argue that you can't uninvent all the innovations that have happened to audio in the last 130 years. And that today there's nothing to stop anyone combining the best features of the past with any best features available today.

But then again, there are so many good technologies that have disappeared from mainstream hi-fi over the years. And you don't have so many large companies involved in state of the art hi-fi manufacture any more. And the market for new hi-fi equipment is far smaller than it used to be.

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:53 am
by Dr Bunsen Honeydew
The point is that the last twenty years have been about making it smaller and cheaper so *they* can make more money out of it and in the process a lot of what made things good is no longer available.

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:07 pm
by terrybooth
Is there any 'soul' in current large hi fi companies. There are a lot that try to live of past glories (e.g. all the companies purchased by Chinese corporations or those that resurrect names). Do any of them have a mission other than 'make money'? There are obviously some small companies which have this but does any company 'pride' themselves in their products in a similar way to Japanese companies used to do.

I guess I find myself with feet in two camps - one in vinyl/analogue technology and the other in digital. I'm afraid I missed some golden ages because of the 'flat earth' stuff. I hope I've grown to be able to think for myself a little more now. I do think some digital can inspire and I feel we are living in a golden age in terms of access to music and the sheer variety available.

However, it is very interesting that there a lot of artists currently striving to reproduce 'older' sounds from putting fake vinyl crackle on digital recordings to seeking out recording studios with old technology in them.

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:49 pm
by Dr Bunsen Honeydew
Slinger - My point is we have all become "back to the future", basically because the new stuff in both technology and product ain't up to the job. Or that you disagree with that premis. I was interested in which part of the past we thought was the Golden age of whatever - recording, product.

What this thread patently isn't about is any form of promotion for *your* choices, it is about discussion, and opinion, and understanding.

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:54 pm
by SteveTheShadow
Well my little stream of consciousness "poem" should tell everyone what was my golden era, ie the early to mid sixties. Of course, I was just a kid then but radiograms and hi-fis had something about them that made me want to revisit that, for want of a beter word, "character" and soul in middle age, by building my own gear.

The mid seventies was another favourite era, with me getting my first real taste of what was possible. At a mates house, I heard his dad's Technics DD, can't recall which, but it had a hardwood plinth, with a set of white grid lines where the arm went. The arm was an SME 3009 Improved, with Shure V15III. Amp was a whacking great JVC receiver and speakers were big Goodmans. I was around 18 years old and was blown away.

Now, after a major 30 year hiatus, I think the advent of computer audio has made good digital sound into a force to be reckoned with and we are into another age of discovery. For my own system the combination of two eras, 50s/60s amplification and up-to-date computer audio, gives me the gobsmacking 70s "blown away" experience.
But of course YMMV and all that 8-)

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 8:31 pm
by Dr Bunsen Honeydew

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:18 pm
by wallace
All i can say is,that i was happy with a Leak Truspeed transcription deck with a shure M75e cart,a Trio KA4002 amp and a pair of big Heathkit speakers for many years.If i had stuck with melody maker and banjo monthly and ignored hi fi news i would have a bit more in my pension pot.. :lol:

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:05 am
by SteveTheShadow
Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote:It was probably this one Steve http://audiogold.co.uk/products-page/ou ... ics-sl110/


Yep! That's the one. :grin:

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:23 am
by Dr Bunsen Honeydew
Dingsking has had a hissy fit and gone.

Re: Back to the future

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:34 am
by Dr Bunsen Honeydew
To put on NVA hat for a moment. I suppose NVA is new product, but in reality it is the same concept as its mid 80's counterpart. The major changes since then were forced on me by regulations, but lateral thought ending up turning a necessity into advantage. Primary one was changing to Class II appliance regs.

OK having got that out of the way back to the reason for this thread and it has no agenda behind it apart from interest and entertainment.

It seems it boils down to how our initiation to hi-fi happened. My problem is still finding good enough components that haven't been discontinued, not that changing to modern components makes thing better, in most cases it makes things worse musically