Death of the Stereo

[durango dude]

Background:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/27/tech/i...html?hpt=hp_c2


I bought my first stereo at age 17 ------ I'd saved up for awhile (about $2000)

The thing I remember most was the beautiful walnut Dynaco A-25 speakers.

I also had a Lafayette receiver that was built in a really nice wood case (cherry?).

These days, my 17 yr old kid spends $25 on a cute little plug-in speaker that puts out just as much sound. If he's feeling serious about tonal quality, he puts on a pair of $50 headphones.

His music source (Mp3) player is for all practical purposes - disposable.

[atgcpaul]

My college roommate was an audiophile. One summer he didn't want to bring his floor standing speakers and receiver home to TX from PA so he asked if I would babysit them for the summer. Man, that was a good summer. My sister next door didn't appreciate it, though.

I would love nothing more than to wire up my living room for sound, but with little kids pulling on everything and the wife wanting to keep a minimal look, I've been reduced to a crappy soundbar under the TV.

[JimD]

My kids listen to tunes on their phone or tablet or ipod with headphones. But when we watch movies, they like the sterio turned up. None of the little devices can reproduce the low frequencies like a good sub-woofer. They can hear the difference too. But none of us want to slow down and sit in the great room and do nothing but listen to music. It's OK to listen as you drive or run or walk but not as your only activity.

But receivers are still the practical way to have a home theater, so I think they will continue to have a place. But it is clearly different than when I was in college.

[dbaudo1]

I knew very little about audiophile sound when I was younger. Thought the listening rooms at the local circuit city had the best stuff. One day I met a former co-worker who convinced me to buy a set of speakers he had which were about as old as I was (Acoustat 1+1). when I picked them up from him I hadn't realized what I got myself into and once I got them home I had to check to see if I could stand them up in my house as they were 7'-11" tall! those electrostats were amazing and I wish I never would have sold them.

[BigguyZ]

Yeah, I was hoping that SACD would take off back in the day, but not so much. It's still around, and you can now get full quality multi-channel SACD audio for cheap, and through a single HDMI cable. But no one seems to care about audio. My brother spent $1200 on a projector and we built a 90" screen, but when it came to sound he balked at $200 or so for a receiver, and he uses in-wall speakers (for both cost and footprint).

Me, I have large speakers, and a 46" TV. I got into WWing when I built my own pair of DIY speakers. Pretty much, all of my WWing time so far has been building a shop, making pens, and making speakers. I haven't made a single desk, table, chair, cabinet, or box yet (some day when I have more time).

But overall, as we move to a more and more digital environment, it'll be hard to think that many people will know enough to realize just how poor most MP3s are.

[wardprobst]

It has other connotations for music, live performance is less frequent, unless you count karaoke. I notice it particularly in my business where many people have trouble discerning the difference between pianos and keyboards. Performers frequently go for electronic side men to save a buck. I know I sound just like my parents in the sixties but for me the day the music died is a real everyday thing.
Sigh,
DP

[JimD]

I really do not think that digital files are an issue. High rate MP3s sound good to me and have fared well in blind tests. But playing a good digital recording through a little MP3 player and it's tiny headset introduces a LARGE amount of distortion. A good headset sound really good but it is also bulky so it is rarely what is used.

I am a mechanical engineer and I did senior projects on loudspeaker and tone arm design. I transfered my vinyl to digital files last year. But there is still no way to fill a room with sound other than loudspeakers. I am firmly convinced that the best speaker setup is realatively smaller two ways coupled with a sub woofer. The reason is that it is only frequencies below about 100 hz that need a really large speaker. And really large speakers cannot move fast enough to accurately reproduce speakers in the voice range. But a little 6.5 inch speaker with a tweater can cover almost the full range with a sub covering about 100 Hz down. I currently use a ported 6.5 inch with piezio tweeters for front and center channels and some cheap outdoor speakers for the rear channels. Rears are not used much so I go with lesser speakers there. The piezios do not need a crossover so I avoid another source of distortion.

I had 2 foot by 2 foot by 4 feet tall speakers in college. 15 inch woofers, five or six inch mids and small tweeters. I had a mid catch fire in a party one time. I put it out, bypassed it in the crossover and put the music back through it. They weren't great speakers but they could put out some sound.

Jim

[bmyers]

I miss my DAHLQUIST DQ-10's. Wife made me sell them when we started having kids.

[phrog]

None of the little devices can reproduce the low frequencies like a good sub-woofer.

Great music should be felt as well as heard.

[Pappy]

I still run my stereo through Bose speakers. 301's in the living room and 161's in the bedroom. Since I don't push a lot of volume, the 301's are plenty. The little wall mount 161's produce amazing sound for their size.

[LCHIEN]

I still regard hi-fi audio as a thing to behold.
My downstairs "music" stereo has Vandersteen 2ci speakers and a Rotel 200W amp bi-wired.
Rotel preamp, NAD 5000 CD deck and even have recently bought some aftermarket stylus replacement for my Shure V-15 type II and Shure SME tonearm on a Throrens TD-125 turntable - planning to break out some vinyl one day soon. I have several Sheffield direct to disc recordings that go on eBay for hundred of dollars.

My upstairs media room, besides the projector and 80" screen has a Yamaha 7.1 100wpc AV receiver; the fronts are 4 1975-era Advent speakers in two stacked Double-Advent pairs - original to me (redid the woofer surrounds twice!) and the sub is a SVS 300W 12" unit ported to allow full response down to 16 Hz. Believe me you can hear AND feel the cannons in something like Master and Commander.... right after several minutes of nearly dead quiet when they are calling out the sounding depths and looking for an enemy ship in the fog - that's a wake-up call!

For me the sound in a media room setup is as important as the video.

The Double Advents are described in the landmark ca. 1975 article that brought it to great fame: http://www.kallhovde.com/advent/doub...ent-system.pdf
If you do a google search for Double Advents you will find a great number of threads today discussing and comparing against them. The original Advents had response flat down to 32 Hz - something few speakers have today.

I have been known to excercise these systems periodically. Usually when the wife is out. She says she can hear it coming up the driveway.

[gsmittle]

I still regard hi-fi audio as a thing to behold.
My downstairs "music" stereo has Vandersteen 2ci speakers and a Rotel 200W amp bi-wired.
Rotel preamp, NAD 5000 CD deck and even have recently bought some aftermarket stylus replacement for my Shure V-15 type II and Shure SME tonearm on a Throrens TD-125 turntable - planning to break out some vinyl one day soon. I have several Sheffield direct to disc recordings that go on eBay for hundred of dollars.

LOVE the Vandys! I wish I had a pair. Right now I'm using Paradigm 5es and Luxman electronics.

g.