All that is wrong with "HiFi"

This is a subject that has driven me crazy, especially since the obsessive drive for more "detail" has risen to insane proportions. But the departure from "musically correct" reproduction didn't begin there.

No. It actually began with the use of high feedback in the pursuit of vanishingly low harmonic distortion. This inturn led to the focus of designing solely by numbers as a dominating criteria instead of listening to what truly sounds good, and what doesn't. This has proven to be a mistake time and time again, but few have seemed to learn from it.

What I hear when I listen to the majority of modern hifi components and systems is a bright, hard and fatiguing presentation, often bordering on severe stridency while being harmonically distorted and/or threadbare, and noticeably lacking in musically engaging qualities. What you end up with is an over-hyped sonic microscope that is overly detailed and brutally revealing of everything that is wrong with the recording.

The problem compounding this is that nearly all of the so-called hifi components that I have heard over the last 40 years clearly displays one or more of the above traits to the level of distraction, especially since the majority of them often possess distorted and/or unrefined high frequencies. You may not be able to hear it as well as I do, but I am really sensitive to it.

To sum up this rant, I would like to say that I am looking to form a conglomerate of audio-oriented manufacturing associates with the goal of producing more musically correct components at reasonable prices.

 

It is a Philips…just branded Valvo.

Thank you. Weren't Mullard manufactured tubes also sometimes branded Valvo?

Did you ever compare the metal base 5AR4 to the fat base 5AR4?

 

Thank you. Weren't Mullard manufactured tubes also sometimes branded Valvo?

Did you ever compare the metal base 5AR4 to the fat base 5AR4?

If you look at mine and the internal construction, it’s a Philips.

No, never compared it to a fat base.

 

If you look at mine and the internal construction, it’s a Philips.

No, never compared it to a fat base.

So Mullard made the Mullard 5AR4 metal base, and the Amperex 5AR4 metal base, and the Phillips 5AR4 metal base and the Valvo 5AR4 metal base?

 

Where and who manufactured this tube is difficult to find out. Whether Philips in Brussels, or Mullard in Blackburn or Mitchum or Philips in Heerenlen netherlands.
Due to the construction, Philips design can be recognized by the features described here.
Rare tubes are from siemens ,munich

Tube Classics - Philips Audio Tubes

 

So Mullard made the Mullard 5AR4 metal base, and the Amperex 5AR4 metal base, and the Phillips 5AR4 metal base and the Valvo 5AR4 metal base?

As I said, by looking at the internal construction of the tube it is a Philips and not a Mullard.

 

Where and who manufactured this tube is difficult to find out. Whether Philips in Brussels, or Mullard in Blackburn or Mitchum or Philips in Heerenlen netherlands.
Due to the construction, Philips design can be recognized by the features described here.
Rare tubes are from siemens ,munich

Tube Classics - Philips Audio Tubes

Based on this website , mine is a RS1 55A.

 

Are today's uber-expensive pieces of gear a Veblen good?

"A Veblen good is a good for which demand increases as the price increases due to its exclusive nature and appeal as a status symbol. This runs counter to the prevailing circumstance of demand falling as prices rise. Thus, a Veblen good has an upward-sloping demand curve rather than the typical downward-sloping curve."

High end audio is hardly the only example of this trend. If you live in the Bay Area, as I do, housing is extraordinarily expensive, and if you want to live in trendy areas (e.g., near Palo Alto), be prepared to pay upwards of $5 million for a fixer upper. The higher the cost of housing, it seems, the greater the demand for it in the Bay Area. Given the runaway popularity of generative AI, new billionaires are being minted every month here, so lots of folks have money to splash about.

The Seventeen Mile Drive in Pebble Beach near Carmel is about an hour's drive from my house. Each year, they feature the most expensive collectible antique cars that are lavishly restored and sold at auction for frightening amounts of money (some in the tens of millions, and this is for a vehicle that no one in their right minds would actually drive, but stick in a posh garage). Compared to that, high end audio prices are really tame, IMHO.

And last but not least, my favorite example. The way you create a need for a product is to make sure it is really really hard to get one. Want a Birkin handbag, the ultimate fashion statement from Herme's. What's that, you want to just walk in to a Herme's store, and buy one? Ha! Well, perhaps if you are Taylor Swift. But for ordinary millionaires, you first have to shop at one of their stores. And shop. And shop. Each time, you get a little credit that you could eventually apply to getting one of these unobtaniums. Read all about it in the NY Time article.

Here is a piece of marketing advice for high end audio manufacturers. Want to create a demand for your product? Make it really really hard to get one. Want a Taiko high end server? Well, you can't just buy one, even if you have the money. Oh no, you have to shop at a Taiko shop for months, perhaps years, and then slowly build up enough Taiko credits that you may qualify for one of their servers. That's how you do it. High end audio has a lot to learn from other markets about pricing and advertising strategies.

They Failed in Their Quests to Buy Birkin Bags. So They Sued.

But fans of the famed Hermès accessory say that the exclusivity is the whole point.

www.nytimes.com

 

High end audio is hardly the only example of this trend. If you live in the Bay Area, as I do, housing is extraordinarily expensive, and if you want to live in trendy areas (e.g., near Palo Alto), be prepared to pay upwards of $5 million for a fixer upper. The higher the cost of housing, it seems, the greater the demand for it in the Bay Area. Given the runaway popularity of generative AI, new billionaires are being minted every month here, so lots of folks have money to splash about.

The Seventeen Mile Drive in Pebble Beach near Carmel is about an hour's drive from my house. Each year, they feature the most expensive collectible antique cars that are lavishly restored and sold at auction for frightening amounts of money (some in the tens of millions, and this is for a vehicle that no one in their right minds would actually drive, but stick in a posh garage). Compared to that, high end audio prices are really tame, IMHO.

And last but not least, my favorite example. The way you create a need for a product is to make sure it is really really hard to get one. Want a Birkin handbag, the ultimate fashion statement from Herme's. What's that, you want to just walk in to a Herme's store, and buy one? Ha! Well, perhaps if you are Taylor Swift. But for ordinary millionaires, you first have to shop at one of their stores. And shop. And shop. Each time, you get a little credit that you could eventually apply to getting one of these unobtaniums. Read all about it in the NY Time article.

Here is a piece of marketing advice for high end audio manufacturers. Want to create a demand for your product? Make it really really hard to get one. Want a Taiko high end server? Well, you can't just buy one, even if you have the money. Oh no, you have to shop at a Taiko shop for months, perhaps years, and then slowly build up enough Taiko credits that you may qualify for one of their servers. That's how you do it. High end audio has a lot to learn from other markets about pricing and advertising strategies.

They Failed in Their Quests to Buy Birkin Bags. So They Sued.

But fans of the famed Hermès accessory say that the exclusivity is the whole point.

www.nytimes.com

Herme's bags are much easier to get than Hermes bags.

 

Herme's bags are much easier to get than Hermes bags.

such a small purse for the price...

 

Based on this website , mine is a RS1 55A.

View attachment 142092

Good catch brad, merry christmas
my favorite gz 32 diffrent input voltage max 350Vac
Mullard made for telefunken( german army)

 

High end audio is hardly the only example of this trend. If you live in the Bay Area, as I do, housing is extraordinarily expensive, and if you want to live in trendy areas (e.g., near Palo Alto), be prepared to pay upwards of $5 million for a fixer upper. The higher the cost of housing, it seems, the greater the demand for it in the Bay Area. Given the runaway popularity of generative AI, new billionaires are being minted every month here, so lots of folks have money to splash about.

The Seventeen Mile Drive in Pebble Beach near Carmel is about an hour's drive from my house. Each year, they feature the most expensive collectible antique cars that are lavishly restored and sold at auction for frightening amounts of money (some in the tens of millions, and this is for a vehicle that no one in their right minds would actually drive, but stick in a posh garage). Compared to that, high end audio prices are really tame, IMHO.

And last but not least, my favorite example. The way you create a need for a product is to make sure it is really really hard to get one. Want a Birkin handbag, the ultimate fashion statement from Herme's. What's that, you want to just walk in to a Herme's store, and buy one? Ha! Well, perhaps if you are Taylor Swift. But for ordinary millionaires, you first have to shop at one of their stores. And shop. And shop. Each time, you get a little credit that you could eventually apply to getting one of these unobtaniums. Read all about it in the NY Time article.

Here is a piece of marketing advice for high end audio manufacturers. Want to create a demand for your product? Make it really really hard to get one. Want a Taiko high end server? Well, you can't just buy one, even if you have the money. Oh no, you have to shop at a Taiko shop for months, perhaps years, and then slowly build up enough Taiko credits that you may qualify for one of their servers. That's how you do it. High end audio has a lot to learn from other markets about pricing and advertising strategies.

They Failed in Their Quests to Buy Birkin Bags. So They Sued.

But fans of the famed Hermès accessory say that the exclusivity is the whole point.

www.nytimes.com

Recently in the UK there was a news story that there would be a shortage of Guinness over Christmas, brilliant marketing!