The Death of the Home Stereo System

[Audio_ELF]

So many of these "insights" just seem to be old guy grumbling.

Rose tinted spectacles and an unrealistic thoughts of what Everyman has IMO...

 

Eloise

[Savage]

I am kind of struck by thinking of the 20 year old me, moving at least once a year and often twice into tight living quarters with less than optimum sonic appeal. Moving crates of records, full size speakers and a rack of components was the bulk of the work. All the while what I actually craved was more exposure to music as my journey of discovery was just starting.

 

Long story short, the 20 year old me would take the portable iPod.

[goldsdad]

Well, there you go. mp3 compression is a liberal commie un-Christian alien terrorist conspiracy.

 

You mean Obama invented mp3?

[bluesman]

Long story short, the 20 year old me would take the portable iPod.

...as would the 60+ year old me. We will schlep no box before (or, in this case, after) its time.

 

 

(Yes, this ad is a contemporary of the audio gear in my post above. Anybody know who this is or what the ad was for?)

[mav52]

You mean Obama invented mp3?

 

I thought Al Gore was the inventor and Obama was the implementor

[Savage]

...as would the 60+ year old me. We will schlep no box before (or, in this case, after) its time.

 

 

(Yes, this ad is a contemporary of the audio gear in my post above. Anybody know who this is or what the ad was for?)

 

lol! I am still schlepping them and don't even have a TT rig right now. Let go magpie, let go

[goldsdad]

I thought Al Gore was the inventor and Obama was the implementor

Could be. Al Gore did invent the internet, after all.

[bobbmd]

orsen wells-the guy who owned the ferrari magnum drove in 'magnum,pi'

cant remember the commercial my guess 'i will drink no wine before its time' but would orsen do a commercial for THAT wine bobbmd

[elcorso]

Well, there you go. mp3 compression is a liberal commie un-Christian alien terrorist conspiracy.

 

I did not know that Fidel Castro was the culprit...!

 

Roch

[NOMBEDES]

Paul Mason (sp?) wine.

 

Drink no wine before its time. In this case, its time was Thursday.

[kumakuma]

orsen wells-the guy who owned the ferrari magnum drove in 'magnum,pi'

cant remember the commercial my guess 'i will drink no wine before its time' but would orsen do a commercial for THAT wine bobbmd

 

I believe it was Paul Masson wines.

[bluesman]

orsen wells-the guy who owned the ferrari magnum drove in 'magnum,pi'

cant remember the commercial my guess 'i will drink no wine before its time' but would orsen do a commercial for THAT wine bobbmd

The wine was Paul Masson - and Orson Wells was so blitzed while making those commercials that I suspect he'd have drunk kerosene if offered.

[bluesman]

lol! Let go magpie, let go

Nevermore.

 

[Bob Stern]

Here's an article from Dennis Prager about that very issue as it relates to audio and photography.

 

The Absolute Sound published an article by Prager on his ethical justification for spending $100K on a stereo. I thought it was totally dumb.

[Snowmonkey]

Don't know if it was just an Australian phenomenon, but back in the Golden era, the young guys with the great hi-fi rigs were mainly the ones who smoked a lot of pot. Just mentioning...

[goldsdad]

Don't know if it was just an Australian phenomenon, but back in the Golden era, the young guys with the great hi-fi rigs were mainly the ones who smoked a lot of pot. Just mentioning...

 

Not just Australian

[wgscott]

Don't know if it was just an Australian phenomenon, but back in the Golden era, the young guys with the great hi-fi rigs were mainly the ones who smoked a lot of pot. Just mentioning...

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/drugs-12549/

[crisnee]

Don't know if it was just an Australian phenomenon, but back in the Golden era, the young guys with the great hi-fi rigs were mainly the ones who smoked a lot of pot. Just mentioning...

 

Nope, they just thought they had great hi-fi rigs.

 

As a matter of fact, now that I think of it, I had a great hi-fi rig. What was really amazing about it, from one small speaker it emitted dazzling colors and paisley elephants along with Grace Slick's Rabbit and Love's Revelation. Now-a-days all you get is a little extra air, if your lucky, for a $1k cable.

 

Chris

[crisnee]

But that is just it, you didn't have hi-end then, yet you found some way to still enjoy the music. Regardless of the reason, music can be enjoyed without the need for hi end.

 

Furthermore, you can probably bet that most kids today have access to more music than most of us did when we were younger. So what they may lose in quality, they make up in variety.

 

Exactly. Most young folks didn't start out with audiophile systems back then, and they don't now. But I would bet that today's sound via ipod and mp3 is better that of 30-50 years ago. But today is anyone actually listening, or are they just playing music to keep a beat going or a noise in the head.

 

I still think the real issue is attention span, as I mentioned earlier. To really become interested in music and audiophile systems takes time and commitment. It's not something you're going to do while constantly texting, talking and tweeting. If one can't even walk down the street without head bowed to Iphone or Android device, when will the music fit in.

 

Chris

[souptin]

Affording good equipment requires self denial, which is beyond today's "I want it now" youngsters.

 

In high school, I skipped lunches for months in order to pay for the best stereo system I could buy. I could never afford anything good if I hadn't skipped the caviar and surf & turf lunch instead of the basic soup. Today's youngsters will never understand the simple economic sense of that.

 

And I now own a system that is so good that its offerings sound only a bit less real than what I hear from the conductor’s podium. I bless the engineers and others who design stereo products, and it is my joy to help support their noble quest of reproducing great music in people’s homes.

[wkhanna]

.........But today is anyone [today's youth] actually listening, or are they just playing music to keep a beat going or a noise in the head.

 

....It's not something you're going to do while constantly texting, talking and tweeting. If one can't even walk down the street without head bowed to Iphone or Android device, when will the music fit in.

 

Chris

Someone else mentioned in another thread recently about how music was / should be a communal event. Something that seems lost in today's lifestyle. One of my greatest pleasures is getting together with my audio friends for an afternoon / evening of camaraderie & listening.

[bluesman]

I would bet that today's sound via ipod and mp3 is better that of 30-50 years ago.

Yes it is, and by a margin so huge that you can't appreciate it without hearing what we thought was good in 1960. In fact, my Crown IC150/D150 harshed up the music far more than my iPod does. It's like I said earlier in this thread:

 

Those of you not old enough to have lived through the early days of home audio have no idea how good "average" is today.

 

Go out and find a record player for $10 at a flea market. Use it as your sole source of music for a few days. Then plug your iPod back in. "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, Willis!"

[Audio_ELF]

Someone else mentioned in another thread recently about how music was / should be a communal event. Something that seems lost in today's lifestyle. One of my greatest pleasures is getting together with my audio friends for an afternoon / evening of camaraderie & listening.

An interesting observation ... yet how many people here have their main system in a separate room with just 1 chair to get "perfect" sound?

 

Eloise

[Snowmonkey]

Affording good equipment requires self denial

Can't help thinking there's a bit of irony in that statement.

[souptin]

An interesting observation ... yet how many people here have their main system in a separate room with just 1 chair to get "perfect" sound?

 

Wanna come over and listen to my Neil Young collection? I have a special chair for guests, very comfy:

 

Actually, regarding the social aspect of listening, although the image of a teenager wearing headphones, eyes glued to their mobile, is portrayed as negative, I'm not so sure: Certainly it's no worse than the 80s equivalent of two teenagers plus ghetto blaster on public transport. Also, forgive the geekiness, but 'what music are you listening to right now' is a widespread social media mene. Also from conversations with my psychotic dwarf nephews (not really dwarves any more either, f*ck they grow fast) their virtual friends are very often real life friends too. We even have the wrinkly equivalent right here in the form of Album of the Evening.

 

I also take some encouragement from the iPod + headphone image from a sound quality perspective - even the dreaded Beats are not all that bad and the likes of the Apple stores and box shifters usually have a line up of similarly priced phones available to listen to. I found my old Walkman D6 (the 'legendary' pro one) in a drawer recently and decided to give it a whirl, thinking "heh, this'll blow away my modern compressed digital nonsense" - guess what, it really didn't. The only thing getting blown away was a whole lot of dust.

 

For me the weakness (and hopefully the opportunity and challenge) for the industry is that area between headphones and the high end. Again I question if it really is drifting to the extreme high end. For sure such products will always grab the attention (WTF? HOW MUCH??? LET ME SEE!!), but hunting around the internet shows lots of lower cost options. It's just that opportunities to hear them are limited, and (stating the obvious) the best sales pitch is for them to sell themselves through the sound they make.