Not a patch on an original Radford properly restored:
A great shame Hi-Fi World has gone. I enjoyed writing some articles for Noel and Dominic back in the early 1990s...
Hi Fi world
- Thread starter Clem Fandango
- Start date
Not a patch on an original Radford properly restored:
A great shame Hi-Fi World has gone. I enjoyed writing some articles for Noel and Dominic back in the early 1990s...
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
Might it be possible that someone of like-mind would take it on - or something equivalent? I guess not given that in terms of commercial break-even it seems few people want to buy a printed mag like it these days. Alas, libraries also don't seem to be the force they were. Many years ago they often bought and bound copies of magazines for people to read. These days Councils have to close them because they cost money. :-/
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
I confess that the 'academic' in mean gets quite sad/worried by the drift away from ink-on paper. It is a format that has endured and made inforation accessible even centuries after it was printed. No special equipment needed unless you need a light or glasses. Nowdays I suspect we've reached the point where many early webpages have vanished, and lost of people get lost in Twerper, etc, and don't even notice webpages, let alone printed Nth-hand books of titles that haven't been published for decades. Let alone specialist mags like HFW, or examples like the old Hi-Fi Mags that folded decades ago. Yet some have unique content documenting the history, development, and ideas of the time.
There is a line in The Bible IIRC "Where there is no vision the people also perish."
Often re-phrasesd "Where there is no television the people also perish"
...but perhaps it also indicated "Where there is no memory people are doomed to make the same mistakes as they did before."
There is a line in The Bible IIRC "Where there is no vision the people also perish."
Often re-phrasesd "Where there is no television the people also perish"
...but perhaps it also indicated "Where there is no memory people are doomed to make the same mistakes as they did before."
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Seems a shame but no one seems interested in Mags or Books these days. Friend recently died and had to give hundreds of Paperback Novels and hundreds of pounds worth of Hardback Reference books to Charity Shops. Like wise have been trying to give away near a 100 copies of Hi Fi News and over a 100 Hi Fi + for over a year and absolutely no interest.
Only kept the ones with reviews of my own equipment to assure me I'm not cloth eared
It's a most unfortunate situation yes. I have kept so many old hi fi mags, motorbike mags and electronics mags that they completely fill the area under the bay window in my living room to about 2.5' high. Old brochures from hi fi shows going back to about 1980 fill a couple of suitcases also.... Probably all this will be the first in the skip when I'm gone...
The internet is great and all that but there are huge gaps in info on thing pre internet. Sites like worldradiohistory and archive.org are fantastic but there have been many times when I've googled something I remember (mainly technical stuff) which was from pre internet times and had zero hits.... as if it had never happened/existed even according to google... though I know otherwise.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
When Hi Fi World reviewed the Axiom integrated I designed for Alchemist Products (Nov 95 issue) I was most impressed at their accuracy and the fact that they did ferret out its technical issues.... They gave it a good review anyway though. As I've mentioned before I was not happy with this design.
wd40addict
pfm Member
When the mags were flying off the shelf a decent, but by no means high end, hi-fi was often a families' third biggest purchase after their house and car. These days that money goes on huge TVs, games consoles and mobile phones. Audio is delivered from the latter either via earphones or a Bluetooth speaker. The mass market has simply disappeared. The number of people buying the £5k+ stuff filling the pages of HFNRR and Hi-FI plus must be tiny.
per-Sony-fied
Me in another jacket
I often wonder how many people have an interest or take the time out to read a review of the type of gear you mention. I'm not saying there are not people with large holes in their pocket whom also have an passionate interest in hifi but I suspect many will not bother or care with magazines & simply go the shopping route to get their shiny & often flashy new gear.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
/\ Indeed. I struggle to think of even a single example of any wealthy person of my past acquaintance, even those that are certainly music lovers and attend several live concerts a year, that own a decent hi fi system (other than those already into hifi that I've known professionally obvs). When I've broached the subject and suggested that surely a good hi fi would be a boon to their lives most have basically politely shut me down and changed the subject... in a way that reading BTL said "I'd rather eat bark" TBH
AndrewR
pfm Member
Also housing has taken an increasing share of income. With that also comes shrinking floor-space, making loudspeaker-based hi-fi an impracticality for many UK residents.
Really sad to see Hi-Fi World go. I have fond memories of buying and reading the mag when travelling back home from university in the 90s.
News like this really evokes a strange mix of nostalgia and melancholy...
Andrew
martin clark
pinko bodger
Well, this is sad: and for all the things I learned along the way or interest it sparked, and the vibrancy it represented as a pretty home-grown effort, with very good technical writing interest- I'll miss it.
Much respect & best wishes to Noel for keeping it running, and interesting, this long.
Much respect & best wishes to Noel for keeping it running, and interesting, this long.
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
Jim, would you like to start a magazine? With Graham perhaps?
After all, we’ve been reading your prose for so long!
The minor details of editing and publishing are way beyond me, alas!
I might have tried it a couple of decades ago. But I'm now far too old and slow/forgetful and find it hard enough to write a few pages per month! I'd be happy to help someone else a small bit, though. But wouldn't be up to more.
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
That's why I started the UKHHSoc site and group of people. Alas, we still can't find any museum, etc, who are willing to take on and keep the documents/mags. It seems like a 'non subject' so far as museums or academic historians are concerned. Would be nice if a UK audio company might finance a research studentship with a historian somewhere in the UK to kick this.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
That's a huge shame Jim. No doubt in say 50+ years time they'll be crying out for it!
There seems to be a somewhat predictable cycle where objects go from everyday utility > old hat > obsolete old junk you can't give away > some resurgence of interest > highly collectable and worth a fortune!!
One starts to notice this as age creeps on on one.... I recall many a time as a 20 year old hearing some "old codger" in a pub telling me about an old junk motorbike he once had that he sold for £15 "aye young 'n it were called a BSA Gold Star" and me nearly coughing a mouthful of beer out as I start to tell him what they are now worth... and that was then!
Thick end of 40 years later and I'm seeing Japanese motorbikes I sold on for a fair-at-the-time £250 now changing hands for £4000!! In fact it is to my chagrin that I only too well recall giving away a frame and easily repairable engine to someone who was a mere acquaintance, as they were only worth maybe £20 and I was under orders from the old man to "clear that junk out'a my garage".... those spares, in that condition, would now be worth maybe £1500+
When I bought my first leak Stereo 20 as a gangly 16 year old it cost me £20 as that's what one of "those obsolete under powered bit's of junk" went for then! (usually from someone who'd "upgraded" to something "better and more modern"... like a 25WPC budget Pioneer etc!)
Darmok
pfm Member
Not a patch on an original Radford properly restored:
A great shame Hi-Fi World has gone. I enjoyed writing some articles for Noel and Dominic back in the early 1990s...
Different beasts.
The Radford STA15 series 3 has a sweeter midrange to the STA25 and is well suited to match with the Quad ELS 57 electrostatic loudspeaker.
The STA25 series 3 has a more robust sound especially in the LF region and is a better match for the Quad ELS 63 electrostatic loudspeaker imho.
A endless debate as to which is best, for my tastes in music, the STA25 wins hands down using conventional "Non Electrostatic" loudspeakers.
Edit: I do recall seeing / reading your published articles in HFW,
so sad to witness its demise and by those dreadful reasons caused by a minority.
Different beasts.
The Radford STA15 series 3 has a sweeter midrange to the STA25 and is well suited to match with the Quad ELS 57 electrostatic loudspeaker.
The STA25 series 3 has a more robust sound especially in the LF region and is a better match for the Quad ELS 63 electrostatic loudspeaker imho.
A endless debate as to which is best, for my tastes in music, the STA25 wins hands down using conventional "Non Electrostatic" loudspeakers.
That is not my experience having restored a considerable number of each of these models. The STA15 is a better sounding amplifier on all dynamic speakers, and seeing as both amplifiers have similar power outputs - mine in the Hi-Fi World article produced 18 watts/channel, the difference in power is hardly worth worrying about. Admittedly most of the sound is down to the quality of the restoration and the parts used.
The STA25 is a much brighter and harder sounding amplifier having a solid state power supply and fixed bias operation.
Darmok
pfm Member
The debate continues...
The Radford STA25 series 3 produces 36 watts at full output.
To compares these two diferent power amplifiers with quite a large difference in OP does matter.
I have played my STA25 series 3 driving a pair of "Goodmans Tri-Axiom 1220s" at full output.
A dear friend who runs a Radford STA15 series 3 into "Ruack
Crusaders" compared the sound reproduction and difference.
His sound reproduction he described as "Club Rock" he described my sound reproduction with the STA25 series 3 as "Stadium Rock."
I rest my case.
He was right!
And IF they ask, they certainly won't follow ones advice anyway.