View Full Version : Is this Us?
Have things changed really...?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=515&v=T9o_eZGaaMk
RobbieGong
04-07-2019, 21:32
:)
Superb video, Gaz! The bit with them moving around to find the 'sweet spot' with the Tannoys was hilarious:lol:
I think it also showed that valves are more fun;)
Marco.
No it doesn’t seem that things have changed that much. I was amazed at the beginning that the man with the victrola in the carriage suffered no skipping as he went down the road?
Russell
Yes it is sadly. I even recognised a younger version of myself in the video. I am the chap with the dark goatee beard!:)
Primalsea
05-07-2019, 06:15
It was the sarcasm laced in the narration that had me. Right at the beginning we saw the forerunner to the iPod, the iPerambulapod. A whole 0.00000000001 Gb of storage extendable to 20 times that if you had the shelf installed underneath.
Spectral Morn
05-07-2019, 08:09
Have things changed really...?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=515&v=T9o_eZGaaMk
Yes that is still accurate, music, and equipment has changed, but that is all.
All very dramatic! Loved the "Steareo" demonstration! :lol:
The guys in the hif-fi shop at the beginning reminds me of this...
https://youtu.be/TxQqWSnsHoA
Martyn Miles
05-07-2019, 12:17
Well, I was there somewhere as I once owned a duffle coat...
hifinutt
05-07-2019, 13:18
You wouldn`t be able to walk along with a turntable in a pram now with all the pot holes !! lovely video though
Minstrel SE
05-07-2019, 16:18
Theres a few still on this forum that were in that film :)
I cant see the real harm in wanting nice hi fi equipment. I have been in love with the equipment and always will be to a point.
I just think you need to take a step back when things get too obsessive.
RobbieGong
05-07-2019, 16:19
I do like this but would love to see something covering the 'audiophile' in the 70's hey day, the kit, the stores, the full systems and juicy high end Japanese kit all laid out, as they used to be on many a high street
Along side flairs, 'tashes and big collar shirts that would have arrived in Escorts, Cavaliers, Marinas, Capri's and Cortina's :)
Firebottle
05-07-2019, 17:31
... they would have arrived in Escorts, Cavaliers, Marinas, Capri's and Cortina's :)
Yes it's amusing how some of the kit then was certainly better than the cars of the era :eyebrows:
stairpost
05-07-2019, 21:40
Brilliant!
All very dramatic! Loved the "Steareo" demonstration! :lol:
The guys in the hif-fi shop at the beginning reminds me of this...
https://youtu.be/TxQqWSnsHoA
I’ve been in shops that were nearly that bad. What’s worse is when I know more than the salesman, but he continues to be condescending anyway!
Russell
It was the sarcasm laced in the narration that had me. Right at the beginning we saw the forerunner to the iPod, the iPerambulapod. A whole 0.00000000001 Gb of storage extendable to 20 times that if you had the shelf installed underneath.
I suppose the way audiophiles are perceived by the general public hasn’t changed either?
Russell
Great! Must listen to a game of ping pong sometime:lol:
I suppose the way audiophiles are perceived by the general public hasn’t changed either?
Russell
The general public don't have any idea that such a thing as an audiophile exists and only a vague notion that there is such a thing as hi-fi. I had a work colleague come round once to pick up a television. She saw my set up and says 'Why do the speakers have to be so big? That's ridiculous.'
Maybe the BBC should do another documentary now it is 60 years on? record shops should bring back those booths too. I remember Eastern Block in Manchester used to have a row of Technics SL1200s all set into a long console all with headphones attached so you could have a listen. I don't even know if that shop is still there.
Spectral Morn
06-07-2019, 09:24
I’ve been in shops that were nearly that bad. What’s worse is when I know more than the salesman, but he continues to be condescending anyway!
Russell
I worked in a place that at times had this nasty dismissive attitude re Linn, Naim and Kenwood.
Customer comes in asks for Naim. Hold a mo Sir while I get our Naim expert. Vanishes and returns with expert. What do you think of Naim? Expert scratches chin and looks thoughtful. Expert replies, well they make excellent door stops and if you had enough you could build a garage out of them. Re Linn it was, well the platter makes a good Piza dish. Re Kenwood it was, well they make very good food mixers Sir.
These two thought it hilarious. Ironically said dismissive expert ended up working for a Linn, Naim dealer and after that his arrogant attitude regarding the stock the shop I then worked in was, the A-Z of HiFi no one wants. His arrogance and BS eventually got him fired.
I don't ever recall anyone doing what those two do in the Not the Nine O'clock sketch, but the attitude re Linn, Naim was nasty. Part of that was down to that store sending where I worked false demo bookings, and trolls to piss about in the shop, but still my view was that the customer asking about Linn, Naim etc should have got a demo, then went and heard what they asked for, at least then they could have decided if Linn/Naim was for them, instead they walked away thinking the place I worked in was run by assholes. In fairness there were issues, which could fall under that, but bad mouthing other products was the least of it.
I tried my best but no doubt from time to time may have been an ass about other kit. I only recall one such instance which I was reminded about at an audio show. Many years later I was pulled up, and rightly, by an old customer of the shop who after I had mentioned using a Technics 1200 he reminded me that I once told him, after he said he had one, why would you want one of those :doh: Sorry Steve.
Its interesting to know Audiophile is an old word and not as modern as some might think.
Spectral Morn
06-07-2019, 09:48
good story Neil
:cool:
montesquieu
06-07-2019, 10:34
Yes it is sadly. I even recognised a younger version of myself in the video. I am the chap with the dark goatee beard!:)
I thought that was Peter Qvortrop?
paulf-2007
07-07-2019, 15:28
Great! Must listen to a game of ping pong sometime:lol:
Listen to bubbles by yosi horikawa
Given that it was made in 1959, I thought it was a reasonably accurate portrayal of the newly emerging interest in hi fidelity. Flanders and Swann had a similar take on it with their 'Song of Reproduction': https://www.bing.com/search?q='A+Song+of+Reproduction'&form=IE10TR&src=IE10TR&pc=EUPP_CPNTDFJS
The more recent 'Not The Nine o' Clock News' sketch reminds me of the bad old days in the '90s with the Linn/Naim hegemony seriously distorting the advice of dealers at the time. I had to lie to a dealer in Bristol in order to purchase a Linn Asak cartridge, who would only sell me one if I used a Linn turntable!
Given that it was made in 1959, I thought it was a reasonably accurate portrayal of the newly emerging interest in hi fidelity. Flanders and Swann had a similar take on it with their 'Song of Reproduction': https://www.bing.com/search?q='A+Song+of+Reproduction'&form=IE10TR&src=IE10TR&pc=EUPP_CPNTDFJS
The more recent 'Not The Nine o' Clock News' sketch reminds me of the bad old days in the '90s with the Linn/Naim hegemony seriously distorting the advice of dealers at the time. I had to lie to a dealer in Bristol in order to purchase a Linn Asak cartridge, who would only sell me one if I used a Linn turntable!
That’s crazy! I’ve run into some serious attitudes, but I’ve never seen anyone who wouldn’t sell something. A man of his convictions! No doubt.
Russell
Pepperamip
16-07-2019, 06:53
I always get so what is it? As if Im going to say one word like Bose or Sony. I end up saying well its a mixture of different brands some of which you probably haven't heard of.
I'll only go into more detail if asked but often by then they've lost interest and replied with a "Oh ok" or something similar :)
I blame the rise of the wireless speaker for this unholy ignorance..... Sinners all of them.
Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk
IME civilians invariably used to think that either Technics or Bang & Olufsen was the best money could buy. Now they just ask why you're not just using your 'phone to listen to music like everybody else does. According to a young colleague her Alexa thingammyjig 'sounds brilliant' and there's no need for anything else. What can you do?
It is apparent to me that although the SQ from many small Hi-Tech speakers is very good and clear, it must by physics, be of limited bandwidth.
The result of the ubiquity of usage of these things, is that restricted bandwidth is now becoming the social norm, and so when using a wide bandwidth system, speech is often unintelligible because of recorded but missed proximity mic. effects.
Much R4 and TV speech is very difficult to understand unless heard on restricted bandwidth speakers., often cheap ones.
Age will play a part as well, most of us are in or approaching the 'Speak up, sonny!' phase of our lives.
walpurgis
16-07-2019, 11:06
Age will play a part as well, most of us are in or approaching the 'Speak up, sonny!' phase of our lives.
I've reached the stage where I need strong specs to make out who I'm telling to speak up! :rolleyes:
I've reached the stage where I need strong specs to make out who I'm telling to speak up! :rolleyes:
I'm getting there with that too.
Was watching 'Air Force One' the other night and was getting pissed off with the actors mumbling their lines. You'd think that would mean I could make do with a lesser hi-fi but it doesn't seem to work like that.
Pigmy Pony
16-07-2019, 18:57
I'm getting there with that too.
Was watching 'Air Force One' the other night and was getting pissed off with the actors mumbling their lines. You'd think that would mean I could make do with a lesser hi-fi but it doesn't seem to work like that.
If we're failing to hear some sounds that ARE there, how can we trust our judgement with nuances like 'leading edges of instruments' and 'timbre'? Makes a mockery of our search for audio 'truth'*. Maybe we should just concern ourselves with 'what sounds good to us'.
*I don't include myself in this. As a (not so) proud owner of two cloth ears with a nice tinnitus interweave I subscribe to the audio version of "I know bugger all about art but I know what I like".
If we're failing to hear some sounds that ARE there, how can we trust our judgement with nuances like 'leading edges of instruments' and 'timbre'? Makes a mockery of our search for audio 'truth'*. Maybe we should just concern ourselves with 'what sounds good to us'.
*I don't include myself in this. As a (not so) proud owner of two cloth ears with a nice tinnitus interweave I subscribe to the audio version of "I know bugger all about art but I know what I like".
You can't really argue with that as it the argument against high-definition, highly resolving, analytic and forensic systems which I prefer, but to many can be unsettling to listen to and far from relaxing. In turn I may well find their systems too lush and cosy, with (to me) unacceptable levels of second harmonic distortion.
Each to their own. :)
. Maybe we should just concern ourselves with 'what sounds good to us'.
That's the reality of it anyway. Everything else is just talk.
I agree about hearing loss and I also have tinnitus, but there has also been a dialectical change in enunciation - to a lack of it, and also the ubiquitous use of those lavalier mics with their 'under the chin' placement.
Listen to some Pathe News to see, but on occasions 'old school' announcers appear.
I agree about hearing loss and I also have tinnitus, but there has also been a dialectical change in enunciation - to a lack of it, and also the ubiquitous use of those lavalier mics with their 'under the chin' placement.
Listen to some Pathe News to see, but on occasions 'old school' announcers appear.
Or anything spoken by Bob Danvers-Walker or Alan Whittaker.
I think the 'problem' with clarity and enunciation is the deliberate (political?) move away from the use of BBC Received Pronunciation.
I couldn't agree more Barry, though why the BBC has done it is obscure, maybe PC inclusiveness, but it as a general mode, it allows those they talk to in interview to get away with lack of clarity of expression, and hence thought, so we end up with numerous interviews which serve no purpose because nothing is revealed.
I find it really hard to believe the difference in speech SQ now, on my ADAM Betas, compared with that in the Bush House control room circa '72 on LS10s and BC1s.
Lawrence001
17-07-2019, 17:34
I couldn't agree more Barry, though why the BBC has done it is obscure, maybe PC inclusiveness, but it as a general mode, it allows those they talk to in interview to get away with lack of clarity of expression, and hence thought, so we end up with numerous interviews which serve no purpose because nothing is revealed.
I find it really hard to believe the difference in speech SQ now, on my ADAM Betas, compared with that in the Bush House control room circa '72 on LS10s and BC1s.
I agree it's important that the vast majority can actually understand presenters and interviewers, but I can't agree that those who don't speak in received pronunciation give inherently bad interviews with a lack of thought or clarity.
Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk
I'm not saying that lack of thought or clarity are inherent, but rather may be facilitated.
I was reading in a book of letters somewhere about how modern actors can't enunciate properly, so it's impossible to make out what they're saying. When was the book written? (totters over to bookcase) ah, yes, 1957.
IME civilians invariably used to think that either Technics or Bang & Olufsen was the best money could buy. Now they just ask why you're not just using your 'phone to listen to music like everybody else does. According to a young colleague her Alexa thingammyjig 'sounds brilliant' and there's no need for anything else. What can you do?
I recall reading an article where one of the Audio Reviewers was on a train, speaking with a young man listening to headphones. He spoke about full, uncompressed downloads, and how they sounded better. But all the young man could say was, his phone could hold 70,000 songs! Like that was far more important than sound quality. He asked him, “Do you have 70K songs?”, and having one thousand songs that actually sounded better may be preferable. To which the young man replied, “but mine will hold 70K songs!”.
When I moved some dozen years ago now, I had nowhere to set my stereo up. So I gave my entire Adcom system to my daughter and her now husband. They blew it up. However! They are now hooked on better sound quality! And my son in law has a rather nice system, including a $2k record player. Mission accomplished
Russell
"I was reading in a book of letters somewhere about how modern actors can't enunciate properly, so it's impossible to make out what they're saying. When was the book written? (totters over to bookcase) ah, yes, 1957."
That seems to suggest that it is the relative shift in dialect which is a problem, that occurring across one's lifetime perhaps, (and is a universal problem like the other post on Hi-Fi fanaticism from the 50s). This means it is in the 'personal software' of the individual that the problem lies.
I also remember well my late great aunt complaining about enunciation in about '67, she born in 1895.
Preferring a higher number of songs at lower quality may well be a reflection of the paucity of real content they have, like a hungry animal searching the rubbish for something vaguely nutritional.
I had great difficulty this morning listening to R4 - the reverend's (from Bronski Beat), programme.
"
like a hungry animal searching the rubbish for something vaguely nutritional.
.
Brilliant.
"I was reading in a book of letters somewhere about how modern actors can't enunciate properly, so it's impossible to make out what they're saying. When was the book written? (totters over to bookcase) ah, yes, 1957."
That seems to suggest that it is the relative shift in dialect which is a problem, that occurring across one's lifetime perhaps, (and is a universal problem like the other post on Hi-Fi fanaticism from the 50s). This means it is in the 'personal software' of the individual that the problem lies.
I also remember well my late great aunt complaining about enunciation in about '67, she born in 1895.
Preferring a higher number of songs at lower quality may well be a reflection of the paucity of real content they have, like a hungry animal searching the rubbish for something vaguely nutritional.
I had great difficulty this morning listening to R4 - the reverend's (from Bronski Beat), programme.
I find the Reverend Cole's enunciation to be very good indeed. Not only that, he always has an interesting take on things which he can express in a most articulate manner.
dave2010
09-08-2019, 18:19
Is this relevant?
https://youtu.be/EL5SzTSMxLU
Yes Barry, the reverend Richard Cole is articulate and enunciates well, but there is something ingratiating about him which jars with me.
I also find it incongruous to think that only a few years ago he was playing keyboard with Bronski Beat, and for the song "Ain't Necessarily So".
We are all barking mad - I am thinking of changing my speakers again.
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