advertisement


Flat Response

I don't buy hi-fi magazines anymore. The mediocrity of most of them was mind numbing, but for some strange reason, that didn't stop me spending pounds on the things; at least TFR dared to be different.
 
the best way to determine the quality of a hifi magazine was the absence of a mission advert on the back cover.
 
Now that brings back memories...I still have lurking their system special edition. Those were the days when I aspired to the six pack!
 
Hi Guys:

We never saw publications like “The Flat Response” down south in the antipodes but a couple of years ago the first 9 issues of the flat response appeared as a download on the Internet. I grabbed them and enjoyed a rather irreverent and very unique read. Unfortunately, I cant seem to find the download site so I cant link to it.

The magazine content did seem to get very inflammatory and very close to liable, if not at least more than a little bit opinionated. An entertaining read nonetheless.

I’m curious to find out how many issues were published and how long the publication lasted before it was wound up ???

LPSpinner.
 
A fascinating read, though very disappointed to read that CF actually believed that nonsense, but those were different times. I believed it for a good while too.
I honestly thought he knew it was rubbish (his piece is littered with inaccuracy in places too, especially around the CD measurements) and just wrote what he thought the punters wanted.

I have two sets of TFR and a full set of HFR. It was a fun read then and now, but wrong on just about every count.
It's only positive was a recognition of a certain type of sound which suited a limited range of musical tastes, and promoting some equipment able to satisfy that limited appeal.
Both magazines were clearly more about politics and promotion than hi-fi.
 
Chris Frankland said:
Especially with loudspeakers, you would find that as the designer gained the freedom on more expensive models to incorporate more of his lame-duck ideas, the worse they would sound.
Click to expand...
Gross generalisation of the highest order, unless he was referring to the Linn Isobarik. :D
 
Robert said:
A fascinating read, though very disappointed to read that CF actually believed that nonsense, but those were different times...
Click to expand...

From what I have read and heard, it was a very different environment in England at that time. Down here in Australia we never saw the “flat earth” wars so any flat earth product that made it down under had to stand in its own merits rather than rely on zealous advertising and fanatical press coverage. In Australia, the Linn LP12 actually did quite well considering its price. Once you factored in import duties, the local distributer’s mark-up and the rather steep exchange rate during the seventies and eighties, it surprising the LP12 managed to sell as well as it did in Australia and New Zealand.

Other Linn Products didn’t fair as well and it took the naim brand quite some time to establish itself down under. Some of the rarer products listed in the FLAT RESPONSE magazine never made it to Australia so we never got to sample the full delights of the more obscure flat earth wonders. We didn’t have the Internet all those years ago so ordering stuff from over-seas was a complex operation as the world was a much bigger planet back then. ;)

LPSpinner.
 
Comes across as a bit up himself.

As for the Brit bike mags, PB was a much more entertaining read, created by people who had some journalistic flair, which, unfortunately, CF did not. Vanilla prose.

And those other bike mags are still around.
 
Once you factored in import duties, the local distributer’s mark-up and the rather steep exchange rate during the seventies and eighties, it surprising the LP12 managed to sell as well as it did in Australia and New Zealand.


Back in the 80's, NZ still imposed a 30% import tax on audio.

To minimise the impact of this tax, LP12's sold here had locally made plinths; mine was, indeed, a Linn of tawa (there's a Kiwi in-joke there).

Naim and A&R amps were assembled from components shipped from the UK, and a number of speaker brands had their cabinets made here.

The success of the Linn and Naim brands can be attributed in large part to the knowledge and unswerving enthusiasm of the local importers.

The long-time Naim distributor for NZ, NAdist, has recently been appointed Naim distributor for Australia as well.
 
Certainly takes you back, times were indeed very different, as were dealers then.

The Linn/Naim dealers were a different breed who actually seemed interested in music and the gear that played it rather than the others (HiFi Markets, remember them?) who just wanted to flog a box or three and couldn't really care what was in them.

At least TFR was a giggle, anyone know who did the drawings??
 
I had one of the first issues, sold by a young hifi dealer in Kansas City, Mo. He sold Linn, naim, Audio Research, ps audio, creek, audible illusions and others. There was some fine value American gear at the time. Notably ps audio.
 
RustyB said:
Robert said:
A fascinating read, though very disappointed to read that CF actually believed that nonsense, but those were different times.
Click to expand...
Robert said:
So, judging audio on the basis of its ability to play music rather than painting a pretty aural picture is "nonsense"?

Strange planet you inhabit, Rob.
Click to expand...

Maybe, Rob wasn't referring to that bit? These days, I talk about a system's ability to destroy music, preferably a lack of ability to destroy.
Click to expand...
 
The flat response scans were available on the web for awhile bit they vanished some time ago. I have a set of the magazines I bought when they first appeared and I have thought about scanning them in but it is a long slow process so I think it will be a retirement project. I enjoyed reading them at the time they were different from the usual hi fi mags.
 
RustyB said:
So, judging audio on the basis of its ability to play music rather than painting a pretty aural picture is "nonsense"?

Strange planet you inhabit, Rob.
Click to expand...
On the subject of strange planets, no audio playback device I have ever owned, from the lowliest AM transistor radio to the hi-fi-est of the hi-fi, has ever failed to "play music".

Ok, once, but I popped in a new 9v battery and out the music flowed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top