North West Audio Show, Cranage

[NSNO2021]

£10k, to me that's an awful lot of money but it was very good and I imagine easy to live with

[CN211276]

£10k, to me that's an awful lot of money but it was very good and I imagine easy to live with

Quite a bit more than all my source components put together including PSs and cables.

[Lindsayt]

I got a sense of desperation at this years show. Too many companies chasing after too few customers.

None of the visitors to the show gave me the impression that they were looking to buy a new system. Or to make a significant upgrade to their existing system.

In contrast to the first hi-fi show I went to in 1983.

[Progmeister]

Sad as it is the whole concept of Hi-Fi is of a time and that time is coming to an end with the more of us of that age pass away. Which Hat audio went into liquidation recently and i suspect with the present economic climate more will soon follow. A couple of the big US amp companies recently went bust too.

[TheRealAleman]

Sad as it is the whole concept of Hi-Fi is of a time and that time is coming to an end with the more of us of that age pass away.

Too true. I suspect that the vast majority of those born in the 90's and later having grown up with MP£, and then streaming, have absolutely no interest in quality music reproduction. when I upgraded a few items of my HiFi, I passed the old ones on to my daughter, and bought a new pair of speaker and a CD player for her in her bedroom ... the first thing she did was disconnect one of the speakers and listened in pseudo monoaural!!!

[CN211276]

I suspect that the vast majority of those born in the 90's and later having grown up with MP£, and then streaming, have absolutely no interest in quality music reproduction. when I upgraded a few items of my HiFi, I passed the old ones on to my daughter, and bought a new pair of speaker and a CD player for her in her bedroom ... the first thing she did was disconnect one of the speakers and listened in pseudo monoaural!!!

I am convinced that this is the overwhelming reason why young people are not interested in quality music reproduction. The small percentage of under 50s at hifi shows says it all. The silly prices of some equipment at hifi shows, which does not sound very good (my experience at Bristol) does not help. That said the discerning can buy good sounding kit that costs no more in real terms than it did in the golden age. It is a matter of seeing through marketing . There was a lot of it in the bumph I was handed in Bristol.

There are other lesser contributory factors such as older people having more disposable income, mortgage free with pension pots, the design of modern houses and the lack of quality and poor production/mastering, compression being a big problem, of much modern music.

[slinger]

We used to respect music, and we used to respect musicians. So much of today's output is disposable, for want of a better word, and that's how people want their music now. How many of them darn kids play music "on the go" and almost never actually sit down to "listen" to it, as we do? A listening session often consists of one person sharing an earbud with a friend, so they're both listening to half of a (low-res) stereo recording.

Why would you pay five grand, or even two grand., for an amp with that in mind when you can't even strap it to your back? ...Plus speakers ...some sort of source ...wires made out of unobtanium, obviously. Did I mention the special plugs, with the special fuses in them? Using a streamer/CD player/Wireless? Then you'll want a separate DAC too, cos the one that's built into your streamer/CD player/Wireless is inferior to an external DAC, sometimes it's even inferior to the external DAC made by the same people who made your streamer/CD player/Wireless.

You can, of course, add the current financial crisis to that equation.

We're dinosaurs, but unlike the original dinosaurs, our day will almost certainly come again, and I don't mean in a Jurassic Park way.

[antonio66]

Every one keeps talking about the 'younger generation' not being interested in hifi, or at least not as much as some of old buggers.
I remember going to the Harrogate HiFi show more than 40 yrs ago, it wasn't crammed with youngsters eager to hear Quad 57's and the LP12. Give them time.

[Hifi Architect]

For what it is worth as this was our 7th year at Cranage we were greatly encouraged by the amount of women, who were not being dragged around reluctantly, youngsters and families. There were also a significant amount more people we have never seen before. From our perspective the future is looking brighter than ever, certainly for a long time, for hifi.

[Lindsayt]

Good point Hifi Architect. I thought that the show was pleasantly busy on the Saturday morning. As the afternoon wore on, visitor numbers thinned-out. When I got to my car at 6.20 PM, the car park was almost empty.

My rough estimate was that 98% of visitors were men.

The £6k KEF LS60's (playing in the KEF room alternately with a £24k Naim / Kef R3 system) would be a good solution for a certain well healed segment of the market. Sound was not too tragically bad (from my highly provisional assessment). With them being modern trendy looking things. And having the wireless functionality.