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HiFi: old man's (end)game?

Hi-Fi as a place to waste money has gone up and down the hierarchy of popularity a few times since I bought my first system in 74, funded by a reward for OK O levels and a summer job.
First, it was video recorders that diverted cash away from it, then it was PCs, then AV systems and now it is other stuff. I know a few late teens and 20-somethings (children of friends) who do have good entry systems. From my observations, they all seem to be into vinyl. They are the minority though, but then I was back in the 70s. most of my contemporaries had a dansette or a basic music centre. Of the few that did have separates systems I wonder how many still do? Or how many of the music centre group upgraded to separates I know a good few did and this was probably enough to support the industry.
Naim and a few other companies I think have been very astute in developing products like Uniti ranges. The Atom is in effect a 21st C music centre and for around £3.5K you can get an amazing system which probably equates to the expensive end of the music centre market in the late 70s. Music centres were lifestyle products like the modern versions are and back in the 70s some actually sounded OK, a few easily beat the classic Amstrad entry system in SQ as the Atom does today. In the photography world, there seems to be a renaissance of stand-alone small cameras happening, with some young people who don't want the hassle of film cameras, seeking out relatively basic digital cameras. The mass market days of audio and photography are likely past soI don't believe we will ever return to the glory days of hi-fi and camera stores on every high street. I do think there will be enough interest to support a small but healthy niche hi-fi market.
 
I think the real issue is it is a dying market for a variety of reasons and there is just so much amazing stuff from far more innovative eras floating around the second hand market all that is left to fight over is shiny crap for football players and oligarchs. The days of selling stuff to real music fans is gone for much of the industry now. There are exceptions, obviously, but those who know what they are doing buy the classics or pro-audio now and those that don’t are likely happy with an Apple AirPod or whatever it is called, maybe two if they want stereo. It is a depressing situation but a whole raft of societal change and bad marketing decisions has led the whole industry into a cul-de-sac IMO. Hi-fi shows are just cringe now. Just so detached from real music buyers/fans.

I totally agree with the comment about pro audio, it is where I am spending my money these days. This week, I bought a pair of Electro Voice Everse 8 speakers. They are battery-powered small PA speakers that support direct Bluetooth connectivity as well as the usual XLR sockets. Fed with a Topping DX7 Pro, which has balanced outputs, they produce outstanding sound quality.

The other significant factor I am seeing is that teenagers are not interested in music in the way that we were. My teenage boys have no interest in music, musicians, or bands. Following the music charts, which were a big part of my life when I was growing up is no longer done, do they even exist? Teenagers' lives are dominated by video games played on consoles and dedicated gaming PCs. Or posting pictures or videos on social media.

That is the bad news. The good news, in my opinion, is that stunningly good sound reproduction is available at very affordable prices. A mobile phone plus Bluetooth headphones from Sony, Bose, or Sennheiser produce outstanding sound quality.
 
re: Concorde -

The Wife is from Sunningdale - they could hear the sonic boom.

Wife says her dog would start to hide away before they could hear the aeroplane.

I have never heard it, but I have heard a Vulcan bomber flying low in a valley at Cromford. Still this most awesome sound I have ever witnessed.
 
headphones and, recently buds, have always been loudspeaker beaters, taking all the room resonance problems out of the equation.
Making the source and amp portable happened with the Walkman, but Walkman owners likely knew that round at their uncles house, the Quads or Tannoys, and the Garrard/ SME combo blew all that away.
maybe we just need better 'uncles'? :)
 
Making the source and amp portable happened with the Walkman, but Walkman owners likely knew that round at their uncles house, the Quads or Tannoys, and the Garrard/ SME combo blew all that away.

The days of a big home hi-fi system blowing away the portal alternative are long gone.
 
There’s no denying a good pair of headphones connected to a modern digital source is stunningly good. That level of access and quality is within the grasp of most people as they have the smartphone or computer anyway, so really it is just a matter of dropping a couple of £hundred on a good pair of cans.

That said there is no substitute for full-range in-room sound and the soundbar HomePod sort of thing don’t even start to worry even the Spendor S3/5Rs I have on TV duty, let alone the full range Lockwood monitors in the main system. They put you right in the studio control room. I’d have loved to have a smartphone and headphones as a teenager, but I’d not have swapped my hi-fi for the headphones (I’d have killed for the ability to freely explore music that exists today though, that is the real game-changer).
 
re: Concorde -

The Wife is from Sunningdale - they could hear the sonic boom.

Wife says her dog would start to hide away before they could hear the aeroplane.

I have never heard it, but I have heard a Vulcan bomber flying low in a valley at Cromford. Still this most awesome sound I have ever witnessed.
As a son of Windsor we saw it twice a day most days and after the noise the best thing was the couple of minutes silence before the next trash hauler came in thanks to the residual turbulence it caused.
And on the day of the first commercial flight my school lessons were rearranged so that we could watch it flying out.
 
That said there is no substitute for full-range in-room sound and the soundbar HomePod sort of thing don’t even start to worry even the Spendor S3/5Rs I have on TV duty, let alone the full range Lockwood monitors in the main system. They put you right in the studio control room. I’d have loved to have a smartphone and headphones as a teenager, but I’d not have swapped my hi-fi for the headphones (I’d have killed for the ability to freely explore music that exists today though, that is the real game-changer).

Nothing beats the sound and feel of a big pair of speakers, especially ones with 15" drivers. I think we will see the traditional passive speaker market dwindle, however, being replaced by high-powered active speakers with sophisticated DSPs.
 
Nothing beats the sound and feel of a big pair of speakers, especially ones with 15" drivers. I think we will see the traditional passive speaker market dwindle, however, being replaced by high-powered active speakers with sophisticated DSPs.

The new market, yes, certainly. Ignoring green issues, Right To Repair etc (which I can’t!) I have no idea how anyone sells conventional low to mid-level hi-fi against say Genelec, Neumann etc. If I was broke and wanted maximum bang for brand new buck that is what I’d be buying. My approach is however very different, I buy second hand and actually make money out of hi-fi. Consumables (cartridges etc) aside is never much other than an investment for me. An enjoyable hobby that pays.

The thing with audio is there is just so much totally amazing stuff floating around the used market and will be for a very long time as it was just so well made. Again referring back to a post I made earlier on the thread a lot of younger folk totally get this. Whenever I see younger folk on YouTube talking about their record collections (and I actively seek them out) they tend to have a) a nice retro system, say SL1200, 70s Marantz Receiver and nice chunky vintage speakers, b) something modern like a Rega P3 and LS50s, or c) some real cheap piece of crap Crossley or whatever. I’d say it split around evenly across those categories, actually far more to the first two. Obviously this is a subset of music buyers, more than that, music buyers who are prepared to spend a lot on new vinyl and enjoy the dignified hobby of record bin-diving. This inevitably preselects people that care a lot about music in its physical form. I’m sure a vastly higher number get huge enjoyment from streaming through a HomePod or whatever. To be fair I bet a pair of them is pretty decent (I definitely couldn’t live with one!).
 
Call me old fashioned, but I don't get the point of silent disco.

Whilst I generally accept that high quality cans sacrifice nothing in terms of sound quality, I can't stand the claustrophobia of not being able to hear what else might be going on in my environment. Is that someone knocking on my door?
 
The other significant factor I am seeing is that teenagers are not interested in music in the way that we were. My teenage boys have no interest in music, musicians, or bands. Following the music charts, which were a big part of my life when I was growing up is no longer done, do they even exist? Teenagers' lives are dominated by video games played on consoles and dedicated gaming PCs. Or posting pictures or videos on social media.

My teenage son showed little interest in music, but frankly, commercial music is aimed at teenage girls not boys, and it's all pretty boring. He played *lots* of computer games, and really appreciated the music in films.

Wind on a few years, and he's now 22, and goes out gigging all the time. The live music scene is much more interesting than recorded music. He's studying sound design at uni, and spends his spare time helping out with live sound at local venues and exploring field recording.

So don't give up on them - you may find that their interest changes when they get to experience local bands in dank basements, which to be fair, is what music is really all about, none of this hifi replay at home nonsense ;)
 
Call me old fashioned, but I don't get the point of silent disco.

Whilst I generally accept that high quality cans sacrifice nothing in terms of sound quality, I can't stand the claustrophobia of not being able to hear what else might be going on in my environment. Is that someone knocking on my door?

That’s kind of the point. I’ve only tried it once, and that was in an art exhibition at The Tate. It was kind of interesting/funny, especially given there were alternative soundtracks so no consistent rhythm across different people’s headphones.
 


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