The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

[Geoff.R.G]

Interestingly, talking to my nephew and his girlfriend, large speakers are fine, and the tt interested them, but the rest they thought was ott. Katie (said gf) quite liked my speaker monstrosities, but was rather disparaging about the number of boxes. The wife's face at that was a picture.....

My wife puts up with my 96cm high NAD 60s, they have been here longer than we have been married, but I wouldn't expect to get away with replacing my Quad 707 with mono-blocks. My TEAC X10 I have had since 1982 and my turntable even longer, both are large and I doubt they would be acceptable if I/we were buying now. I am fortunate in that my wife sings and thus appreciates good sound quality but with the virtual demise of music in schools where are youngsters going to hear live music to know what they are missing with MP3?

If the Hi-Fi industry is to survive, let alone thrive, it needs to move back to mass market, lower margin, products and to sponsor either music teaching or live music. Hi-Fi lives on the back of live music, remember Peter Walker's principle was "the closest approach to the original sound". If you don't know what the original sounded like how can you appreciate how good, or bad, the reproduction you are hearing might be?

[CN211276]

I don't think there is a lack of interest in music amongst young people, although it is not as intense as it was during the classic rock era. I am going on the numbers I see walking round and on public transport (prior to Covid) with headphones on. What I have noticed is the proportion with headphones as opposed to ear buds has increased. I have also noticed that the proportion with quality headphones as opposed to Beats or Scull Candy crap seems to be increasing. This could bode well to the take up of two channel through speakers in the come. The problem in this day and age, as has been referred to in this thread, is opposition to boxes and cables. My wife once questioned why do I not go wireless like everyone else.

[Geoff.R.G]

I don't think there is a lack of interest in music amongst young people, although it is not as intense as it was during the classic rock era. I am going on the numbers I see walking round and on public transport (prior to Covid) with headphones on. What I have noticed is the proportion with headphones as opposed to ear buds has increased. I have also noticed that the proportion with quality headphones as opposed to Beats or Scull Candy crap seems to be increasing. This could bode well to the take up of two channel through speakers in the come. The problem in this day and age, as has been referred to in this thread, is opposition to boxes and cables. My wife once questioned why do I not go wireless like everyone else.

My point was that Hi-Fi is about Fidelity, how closely the reproduction approaches the original. If you have never heard a violin live how can you tell how accurate a reproduction you are hearing? Using an expensive headset to listen to MP3 files should show up the weakness of the format but I don't use MP3 so I have no way of knowing.

I also wonder whether people are enjoying music of just using it to cover silence. I know people in their 30s and 40s who seem almost afraid of silence.

[Daniel Quinn]

You've got to be interested in music. Not everybody is and it was always thus. Once your interested in music you need curiosity and showing the way.

Nobody who likes music will be satisfied with Bluetooth once they heard a good hifi.

The problem is the absence of mortgage movement amongst the young. Which is due to the same reason hifi is astronomically priced. Polarisation of income.