State of the industry - Roy Gregory Editorial
- Thread starter Elliot G.
- Start date
At least 6moons is transparent about it. Their policy is stated for all to see on their website. If you want a review, you'll need to buy an ad. It's simply the only way (for him anyway) to make it financially viable. There may be exceptions to this with other publications...
How is this related to the golden Age of Audio? By the time Fermi formulated his famous problem one in each five families in Chicago owned a piano. Was it the Golden Age of pianos?
Audio is as popular as ever. As the quality of lower price products improved a lot, the conventional high-end is being pushed to smaller numbers, creating also an expensive niche. The ultra-expensive creates SOTA sound quality, surpassing previous limits. These results will leak sooner or later to lower price products.
Yes, it was often debated. HP reported it in the issue I refer and even Gordon Holt uses a preamplfier with a passive input volume control - a potentiometer and no extra gain before it. The typical line sensitivity of the 60's and 70's was around ..3 to 1V. Cassete tape machines and tuners had typical outputs around .5V . Many machines has a maximum output of 0 dB - .775V. The 2V output of CD players was a new standard.
Many people bought passive line attenuators - a male and female RCA plug assembly with two resistors inside, reported to improve significantly sound quality.
Interesting.
J Gordon Holt was incredibly positive in his 1983 review of the first Sony CD player:
https://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/193/index.html
And he cast aside his remaining doubts in his follow-up from August 1983:
Sony CDP-101 Compact Disc Player Follow-Up Review
A Follow-Up review appeared in August 1983, Vol.6 No.3 The five classical CDs I received [with a second sample of the Sony CDP-1O1 CD player] included a Decca, a Sony/CBS, and three Deutsche-Grammophons. The DGs sounded consistently rough and slightly veiled, rather like what I heard from the...www.stereophile.com
We must look at the period. At that time LP pressing quality was very low and people were tired of poor sound quality due to it - many people become fascinated with the absence of vinyl defects. I quote from GH review. " No marginal mistracking, no subtle VTA-error distortions, no disc-resonance smearing, no feedback-induced low-end boom or mud, no ticks or pops or pressing grumbles even at the highest listening levels. And there was no analog-tape flutter or modulation noise or transient-rounding or print-through or hiss." We can't forget these were preliminary findings, at a time there were only a few CD's. IMHO the key sentence of this review is "there is no doubt in my mind that this development will ultimately be seen as the best news serious music listeners have had since the advent of the LP."
BTW, since long I prefer a well recorded digital piano to the analog version - IMHO it is closer to the real instrument.
For me the pinacle of CD players is still the dCS Vivaldi stack. I could easily survive
with my previous set up - the Meronome Calypso Reference (the sucessor of the Kalista) and the Metronome C8+. Several people still consider that the current Kalista's are the best CD players.
I will defend my friends particularly those that are deceased and cant defend themselves from those who didn't know them.
Listening is a skill that's is learned and can be learned to do better. There are no perfect audio systems and at that point we all make our own choices. Marty, Mike etc. have great systems but are far from the same in any way gear wise. Yet they both search for the music the music that they love. This is to me what it is all about not about that X is best or better than Y because someone that owns it wants to protect their opinion and needs positive reinforcement to enjoy it. WBF should be better than that but alas the internet is what it is...
I am reminded again, as we discuss what influences the hobby, what Camille Paglia (feminist and social critic) said about Hugh Hefner—that what he tried to bring to american men was some sense of style and refinement to the art of seduction. I recall specifically she mentioned, at that time, it would include getting a woman back home and dropping the needle on “a fine stereo system”, mixing a cocktail, etc.
So there was, at the time a general sense that having a nice stereo was somehow “sophisticated”. here and there in television you still see it, the hotshot lawyer in “suits” had a turntable and record collection in his spanky office. Harry “Bosch“ in that tv series was a jazz lover and spin vinyl. (Perhaps an effort by the writers to give his personality a deeper, sophisticated layer?)
Has hookup culture, Wokeness, and radical feminism killed the stereo?
So there was, at the time a general sense that having a nice stereo was somehow “sophisticated”. here and there in television you still see it, the hotshot lawyer in “suits” had a turntable and record collection in his spanky office. Harry “Bosch“ in that tv series was a jazz lover and spin vinyl. (Perhaps an effort by the writers to give his personality a deeper, sophisticated layer?)
Has hookup culture, Wokeness, and radical feminism killed the stereo?
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I don't think anyone seriously doubts the dynamic prowess of some horn-loaded speakers, even though not all are equally dynamic. But they are not the only ticket to great dynamics.
Francisco, You’re very fond of saying the hobby is about personal preference and taste and it all depends.
Your post above is full of declarative statements and assumptions. You present them as fact when each is open to debate and is opinion.
Expensive does not necessarily mean state of the art. Sound quality and presentation seems to change over time, but I’m not convinced absolute sound quality has improved in terms of what is possible and in terms of getting close to the experience of live unamplified music. My opinion of course based on my preference and taste.
Peter's horns, very dynamic. Volti Rival, very dynamic. Two different Klipsch, not so dynamic, even though still nice.
Maybe there are super dynamic horns out there that surpass everything else in dynamics, but great dynamics, judged on their own, can be achieved by other means too. I don't think the dynamics of my own speakers are any less than the two very dynamic horn systems listed. People visiting often comment on the dynamics of my system.
Peter's horns are corner speakers... Volti are modern horns. Don't know if they are any good can't comment, but they don't look full range
so you have not heard the main full range horns
As I said, maybe there are super dynamic horns out there that surpass everything else in dynamics. I'll believe it when I hear it. I don't take anyone's word for it. We are planning some NY state horn tour at some point, should be fun.
Indeed should be fun theoretically ........ untill you post negative on them on WBF , lol
Ps I would like to hear those Superlarge bass horns though
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Sure. But based on your experience stated in the earlier post so far you haven't heard any proper horn but you have made a few comments on this thread about horns and vintage experience.
Listening to Peter's system and a volti at shows is like a non audiophile listening to one or two standamounts and generalizing on all speakers. most of the horn lovers I know dislike a large number of horns and love certain ones, plus many are more different from each other then they are from cones
For your own benefit try to hear them for your own self. The posts will automatically follow. Right now you are not interested in listening just in posting.
One thing going for us is the popularity of mid-century modern culture. Mad Men unleashed something in some of us. Bosch’s stereo was so exciting to see as a jazz and vinyl fan. Harry was a complex character. It made being a jazz lover and audiophile cool. We need more of this.
Agree on the horn speakers. While nit entirely my cup of tea, I have heard some terrific horn-based systems.
Partly agree on digital especially when great stuff like MSB, dCS, and Wadax are sources. I say “partly” because digital and vinyl both have their own set of distortions.
Maybe where I agree most with people on the merits of vintage sound is with reel to reel. It is simply astounding to me how good a tape can sound.
What i miss in the industry / dealers to be more specific is experimentation with room acoustics .
Trapezium shaped listening rooms ( tapered sidewalls) , tapered ceilings that kinda stuff , play with reflections without absorbing the musical energy
Some dealers have really nice gear , but they could do a lot more to show it at their best.
Some have just really crap rooms which is a shame altogether
Trapezium shaped listening rooms ( tapered sidewalls) , tapered ceilings that kinda stuff , play with reflections without absorbing the musical energy
Some dealers have really nice gear , but they could do a lot more to show it at their best.
Some have just really crap rooms which is a shame altogether
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