The interest in Hi-Fi

[Floyddroid]

I often wonder if the interest in Hi-Fi/audio is finally starting to wane? It is of course an pastime/interest/hobby of people from a bygone era. This is born out by the fact that there are sites popping up on social media and the net in general for those of us interested in vintage equipment. The Hi-Fi industry as a whole still seems strong though i wonder how long it can last?

[Firebottle]

It amazes me Steve how many manufacturers there are worldwide, so it begs the question as to whether the customer base is growing or shrinking?

[Haselsh1]

I have become of the opinion that since I became obsessed with hi-fi as opposed to music the overall interest has dropped considerably so that hi-fi as we all know it is now very much a niche thing. I also know that history is destined to repeat itself as it frequently does. Where the future lies I have no idea but like many who share this passion for music reproduced in a certain way, I shall carry on with what I have apart from maybe my speakers. I became obsessed with music first and foremost not really involving myself in hi-fi until I had lots of spare money but my first system cost a maximum of around £350. Maybe I should have left it there and just concentrated on the music as seems to be the case now..?

[struth]

I have become of the opinion that since I became obsessed with hi-fi as opposed to music the overall interest has dropped considerably so that hi-fi as we all know it is now very much a niche thing. I also know that history is destined to repeat itself as it frequently does. Where the future lies I have no idea but like many who share this passion for music reproduced in a certain way, I shall carry on with what I have apart from maybe my speakers. I became obsessed with music first and foremost not really involving myself in hi-fi until I had lots of spare money but my first system cost a maximum of around £350. Maybe I should have left it there and just concentrated on the music as seems to be the case now..?

trick is to blend both, but not losing sight of the music comes first. if your stiving for things hifi then you often lose interest in music you like over what sounds best

[YNWaN]

I often wonder if the interest in Hi-Fi/audio is finally starting to wain? It is of course an pastime/interest/hobby of people from a bygone era. This is born out by the fact that there are sites popping up on social media and the net in general for those of us interested in vintage equipment. The Hi-Fi industry as a whole still seems strong though i wonder how long it can last?

I’m afraid I find your logic fatally flawed. Just because there is an interest in vintage audio doesn’t mean that there is waning interest in modern equipment. Lots of people love vintage cars but the motor industry isn’t in collapse! In addition, my own experience completely contradicts your suspicions - it certainly isn’t from a ‘bygone era’!

[montesquieu]

I have become of the opinion that since I became obsessed with hi-fi as opposed to music the overall interest has dropped considerably so that hi-fi as we all know it is now very much a niche thing. I also know that history is destined to repeat itself as it frequently does. Where the future lies I have no idea but like many who share this passion for music reproduced in a certain way, I shall carry on with what I have apart from maybe my speakers. I became obsessed with music first and foremost not really involving myself in hi-fi until I had lots of spare money but my first system cost a maximum of around £350. Maybe I should have left it there and just concentrated on the music as seems to be the case now..?

Can't relate to that at all, the better my kit gets the more I want to listen to it, and the more varied music I want to listen to as well. I buy as much if not more music now than I did in my uni days as a music student - half a dozen LPs yesterday from Oxfam in Wokingham, good stuff too. The biggest issue is where to put them!

I actually find it a big source of amusement that when I was in my teens and early 20s, 'fun' was generally defined as going round to my mates' houses with a bag of records (or have them come to mine), listening intently to the music with a bit of chat alongside some tea, biscuits and (if it was in the evening) alcohol. The hifi wasn't really the thing as most of us were too skint to afford anything but absolute budget gear, but it was hugely enjoyable and nobody spent time fussing about cartridge settings cos there was no way to set them!

Fast foward 30-40 years and what's some of the most fun you can have? Go round to your mates' houses with a bag of records, listening intently to the music with a bit of (admittedly often hifi-related) chat, + refreshments. In fact I did that for much of yesterday at Westlower's place (report on his new Tannoys to follow).

In the middle of course was wife, kids and family life and all that that for so many years consumed every penny and most of my attention, but now that both cash and attention are a bit more free, it's a lovely thing to get back into, and hifi forums have certainly helped with that over the last decade or so. (Though it turns out that one of my mates from the old days in Scotland has moved a few miles from me so we go to gigs again now.)

For me there's a wonderful symmetry to the whole thing.

[speedracer]

You have to put the horse before the cart, music should always be the thing that draws you into our hobby of high fidelity surely? Even as a young boy I can remember being moved by music so much, despite hearing it through less than ideal replay systems, my mum was a massive Beatles fan so I always had something to play the records on & at the time never thought for a second about how to improve the sound, I just loved it for what it was. I have an interest in vintage radios, especially valve ones, & just loved hearing live broadcasts on them, as I still do, low fidelity or not. Technology brought more sophistication into music reply as i grew older, & I welcomed it heartily, striving always to improve what I could hear within my budget, but not once has it ever occured to me to stop listening on radio or car stereo, music is music.

[Floyddroid]

You have to put the horse before the cart, music should always be the thing that draws you into our hobby of high fidelity surely? Even as a young boy I can remember being moved by music so much, despite hearing it through less than ideal replay systems, my mum was a massive Beatles fan so I always had something to play the records on & at the time never thought for a second about how to improve the sound, I just loved it for what it was. I have an interest in vintage radios, especially valve ones, & just loved hearing live broadcasts on them, as I still do, low fidelity or not. Technology brought more sophistication into music reply as i grew older, & I welcomed it heartily, striving always to improve what I could hear within my budget, but not once has it ever occured to me to stop listening on radio or car stereo, music is music.

Yes i would agree.

[Floyddroid]

I’m afraid I find your logic fatally flawed. Just because there is an interest in vintage audio doesn’t mean that there is waning interest in modern equipment. Lots of people love vintage cars but the motor industry isn’t in collapse! I’m addition, my own experience completely contradicts your suspicions - it certainly isn’t from a ‘bygone era’!

There was no logic or fact about what i had written at all. Hence me beginning with i often wonder! Perhaps too had i added the word based in a bygone era this may have suited your critique a little better.

[Pharos]

There was a confluence of events, 2nd WW technology fed into commercial Hi-Fi, the young had more money and music became culturally more important to them.

The 60s was a massive change and recordings became political and the use of new techniques and sounds demanded better equipment to extract the new subtleties. I remember well the excitement of hearing more with a new cartridge.

But the Hi-Fi is a vehicle through which the art travels, a facilitator, and it is the art which is really the original core of the human excitement. I would hate to think that equipment fetishism had taken over, and that the music was secondary.

If Hi-Fi is in the doldrums relative to the past, the music itself may be the cause because it 'speaks ' to so few people.