Michael Lavorgna strikes back.......

[Shadders]

Hi,

Isn't the Far East becoming a larger market for Hifi ?

Regards,

Shadders.

[eclectic]

Apparently it is.

 

It would be interesting to know if MQA has made any inroads there

 

[Shadders]

6 minutes ago, eclectic said:

 

That's a city surely.

Hi,

No, Basildon does not have a cathedral.

Regards,

Shadders.

[Spacehound]

2 minutes ago, eclectic said:

Apparently it is.

 

It would be interesting to know if MQA has made any inroads there

 

The only place it seems to have made any inroads is the USA. And that's only the US magazines getting all excited.

[eclectic]

The name's Bond, - Basildon Bond..

[kumakuma]

41 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

They are creating ad revenue markets by backing MQA with all their might. And I doubt "magazine" sales are worth anything to them. Maintaining their current subscriber #s is all they need to do to continue to keep their current advertising clients.

 

Probably true to a certain extent.

 

Most magazines lose money on subscriptions and newstand sales but make it up on advertising and renting out their subscriber list.

 

Stereophile's list is especially interesting to many marketers because their subscribers are educated and affluent.

 

Some interesting information on the publication in their media kit and mailing list data card :

 

https://www.hometechnetwork.com/mediakit.stph.pdf

https://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=311549

 

 

 

 

 

[Spacehound]

14 minutes ago, eclectic said:

Bond, - Basildon Bond..

You don't have to have a cathedral to be a city, not in the UK.

 

London:

Two small adjacent cities, one with a cathedral, one without. The rest of it , totally surrounding the two cities, is a  'town' with a population of 8 million plus, you  can't see the joints because there aren't any.

 

And I liv in a town which is actually  a 'county' though iy hasn't got any countryside.

 

And 'England'  is part of a 'federation' called the UK but unlike the other parts 'England' doesn't have a government.

[Indydan]

5 hours ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

His demeanor has always struck me as being somewhat inspired by Tony Soprano.  The machismo is sometimes palpable.

 

So Lavorgna's demeanor is Tony Soprano like... Does that make Plaskin like Paulie?  

 

 

 

[Mercman]

8 minutes ago, Indydan said:

 

So Lavorgna's demeanor is Tony Soprano like... Does that make Plaskin like Paulie?  

 

 

 

No way, I'm more like Silvio :-)

 

 

[Milt99]

1 hour ago, eclectic said:

 

Some excellent points by Mr Ship.

 

The hifi industry, as we've known it for 40 years or so is dying. The only healthy sector is headphones, and that customer base is significantly different to  traditional audiophiles. Magazines are struggling and over the past few years have been increasingly focused on "high end" equipment. I'm sure they see MQA as the great redeemer - to revitalize the industry as a whole (including themselves) but in their desperation they've sacrificed their credibility by becoming cheerleaders for MQA.

 

 

So Hi-Fi has been "dying" for 40 years? Care to provide any facts to back that up? That's an awfully slow death isn't it?

I've been well involved in HiFi to varying degrees for longer than that and when I see people bemoaning about only old farts are into it etc., it doesn't paint an accurate picture imo.

Let's take 1970 as a starting point. Do you think there are more or less companies making gear now or then? Do you think there is more or less money being spent on gear and content now or then?

Both anecdotally & quantitatively there are far more audio and audio\video companies now than ever before. What a lot people used to buy came from firms like Zenith, Admiral, Philco etc., comes from other companies now.

To me this is by far the best time since I got my first Philco Hi-Fi at age 12 to be, for lack of a better term, an Audiophile.

In real dollars, we've never been able to buy so much performance and had so much to chose from.

 

I'm sure someone like John Atkinson or Kal Rubinson could offer a more thorough insight on the industry regarding now versus "then" myself.

[mansr]

50 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

You don't have to have a cathedral to be a city, not in the UK.

I live in a city of 250,000. The nearest cathedral city is much smaller.

 

50 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

London:

Two small adjacent cities, one with a cathedral, one without.

Westminster has a traditional Christian cathedral. The City of London has (or is) a cathedral of Mammon.

 

50 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

And 'England'  is part of a 'federation' called the UK but unlike the other parts 'England' doesn't have a government.

If only it were that simple.

[eclectic]

6 hours ago, Milt99 said:

So Hi-Fi has been "dying" for 40 years? Care to provide any facts to back that up? That's an awfully slow death isn't it?

I've been well involved in HiFi to varying degrees for longer than that and when I see people bemoaning about only old farts are into it etc., it doesn't paint an accurate picture imo.

Let's take 1970 as a starting point. Do you think there are more or less companies making gear now or then? Do you think there is more or less money being spent on gear and content now or then?

Both anecdotally & quantitatively there are far more audio and audio\video companies now than ever before. What a lot people used to buy came from firms like Zenith, Admiral, Philco etc., comes from other companies now.

To me this is by far the best time since I got my first Philco Hi-Fi at age 12 to be, for lack of a better term, an Audiophile.

In real dollars, we've never been able to buy so much performance and had so much to chose from.

 

I'm sure someone like John Atkinson or Kal Rubinson could offer a more thorough insight on the industry regarding now versus "then" myself.

I didn't say it had been dying for 40 years.

 

I'm sure you're correct. Look at the vast profits Meridian are making  

 

What is dying is the hegemony of manufacturer, dealer and magazines controlling the narrative. The rise of forums and the ability to discuss and read discussions on gear and hifi related issues is changing the business. Now, there's no guarantees that forums won't become cheerleaders for manufacturers too. There's evidence of that mentioned here. Some of the largest forums in existence have dubious records of removing threads critical of trade sponsors etc. 

 

I'm sure Mr Atkinson et.al. have great knowledge on this. However, anything they say is now tainted with suspicion by many people here and on the "net" in general. I find that depressing but it's been of their own making.

 

[Norton]

7 hours ago, mansr said:

The City of London has (or is) a cathedral of Mammon.

 

and of course has St Pauls Cathedral. Quite well known I believe.

[Spacehound]

8 hours ago, mansr said:

 

 

I live in a city of 250,000. The nearest cathedral city is much smaller.

 

Westminster has a traditional Christian cathedral. The City of London has (or is) a cathedral of Mammon.

 

If only it were that simple.

I simplified my post for the Americans.

 

(I live roughly equidistant from two cathedrals. One's' near the Naim factory and Frank Sinatra sang about the other one.

The UK is a strange place. Why did they build the Queen's biggest castle so close to a noisy airport?)

[Spacehound]

Today on Audiostream.

Lavorgna 'reports on' the dCS Rossini.

 

When questioned he says "It is simply to let people know what is here for review."

 

He's reviewed it  already.

 

So it is simply  a way to get MQA another mention. Which he does immediately after the picture, which is just below the heading.

"explore new features delivered as a firmware update including MQA decoding."

 

The other new "features" are limited to one, an apparently routine  network firmware update, which Lavorgna doesn't mention.

 

 

[Spacehound]

3 hours ago, Norton said:

 

and of course has St Pauls Cathedral. Quite well known I believe.

It's not called a city because of St Pauls.

It's named 'The City' after the  Roman city of Londinium which had roughly the same boundaries and is far older than St Pauls.

 

Not that it matters

[Spacehound]

4 hours ago, eclectic said:

 

 

I didn't say it had been dying for 40 years.

 

I'm sure you're correct. Look at the vast profits Meridian are making  

 

What is dying is the hegemony of manufacturer, dealer and magazines controlling the narrative. The rise of forums and the ability to discuss and read discussions on gear and hifi related issues is changing the business. Now, there's no guarantees that forums won't become cheerleaders for manufacturers too. There's evidence of that mentioned here. Some of the largest forums in existence have dubious records of removing threads critical of trade sponsors etc. 

 

I'm sure Mr Atkinson et.al. have great knowledge on this. However, anything they say is now tainted with suspicion by many people here and on the "net" in general. I find that depressing but it's been of their own making.

 

Other than when thinking of a new box and checking it is not total rubbish I doubt  many people ever 'acted' on  what any magazine says.

 

And even less so today, when there are so many other options. They   like   to think  the 'media' drives the people. In reality it's the other way  around -  if they don't do what we want them to do we don't buy it and so read the adverts..

Their egos won't let them accept this.

[eclectic]

4 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

Other than when thinking of a new box and checking it is not total rubbish I doubt  many people ever 'acted' on  what any magazine says.

 

I know a guy that used to work in a hifi shop. He reckoned it was common for customers to come in armed with their copy of "What Hifi?" and refuse to listen to anything that didn't have a 5 star review. It was like the Gospel to them.

 

I'm embarrassed to say I used to do the same in the 80s. I ended up with an Audiolab 8000a amp that I never got on with. I chose it over a Denon, which I remember thinking at the time sounded better. I convinced myself I must be wrong because What Hifi gave it a lower rating.

[Spacehound]

17 minutes ago, eclectic said:

 

I know a guy that used to work in a hifi shop. He reckoned it was common for customers to come in armed with their copy of "What Hifi?" and refuse to listen to anything that didn't have a 5 star review. It was like the Gospel to them.

 

I'm embarrassed to say I used to do the same in the 80s. I ended up with an Audiolab 8000a amp that I never got on with. I chose it over a Denon, which I remember thinking at the time sounded better. I convinced myself I must be wrong because What Hifi gave it a lower rating.

What Hifi is about the only one I look at. And that's the online version. I suppose I 'acted' on it with my Chord Mojo, and I nearly bought a Naim Supernait 2 on the same basis, but   eventually didn't.

 

I'm not that interested in all this 'esoteric'  stuff, I can  afford  some of it  but  have other financial priorities even though trout don't actually care how much your  fishing rods cost.

[OldBigEars]

14 hours ago, Spacehound said:

 And the UK  is part of the EU, a larger market than the USA.

 

A market divided into small fragments where people speak different languages. So it's not really A Market - unlike the USA.  Which partly explains why it's hard for you find a hi-fi mag.

[botrytis]

2 hours ago, eclectic said:

 

I know a guy that used to work in a hifi shop. He reckoned it was common for customers to come in armed with their copy of "What Hifi?" and refuse to listen to anything that didn't have a 5 star review. It was like the Gospel to them.

 

I'm embarrassed to say I used to do the same in the 80s. I ended up with an Audiolab 8000a amp that I never got on with. I chose it over a Denon, which I remember thinking at the time sounded better. I convinced myself I must be wrong because What Hifi gave it a lower rating.

 

I am lucky, being in a town (100k or so) and have 2 decent audio stores, 6 new/used record shops, and 7 brew pubs and one artisan distillery. Also, in the USA.

[Spacehound]

3 minutes ago, botrytis said:

 

I am lucky, being in a town (100k or so) and have 2 decent audio stores, 6 new/used record shops, and 7 brew pubs and one artisan distillery. Also, in the USA.

I live in in the UK in  a 'village' close to a town of about 350,000 separated by a  broad river.  I haven' been there for years, as the  parking charges are very high but  parking is still close to impossible.  It's effectively a 'sales' tax' as I can think of zero reasons why anyone would  go there for 'pleasure' other than to get away from it in one of these:

 

.

[Norton]

2 hours ago, eclectic said:

He reckoned it was common for customers to come in armed with their copy of "What Hifi?" and refuse to listen to anything that didn't have a 5 star review

 

I imagine that's super common.  An awful lot of Cyrus stuff sold by that route I reckon.

 

I don't read them anymore but I thought we were still well served with mags in UK, What HIFi, HIFi+, HIFi  Choice , HFN &RR are still going aren't they?

[mansr]

9 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

I live in in the UK in  a 'village' close to a town of about 350,000 separated by a  broad river.  I haven' been there for years, as the  parking charges are very high but  parking is still close to impossible.  It's effectively a 'sales' tax' as I can think of zero reasons why anyone would  go there for 'pleasure' other than to get away from it in one of these:

 

.

I can see that ship from my window when she's in town.

[Spacehound]

12 minutes ago, mansr said:

 I can see that ship from my window when she's in town.

I can if I walk a mile or so. Totton. Which isn't 'pretty' either.