Harbinger of the future of 2-channel?


I just looked at the Sunfire website and noticed that Sunfire no longer makes 2-channel amplifiers. The minimum number of channels you can purchase from them is a 5-channel amp.

I remember when Apple came out with the I-Mac. It did not have a floppy drive. Even though I hadn't used a floppy in years, it still made me a little nervous that the machine didn't have one. It turns out that Apple was right on the money by eliminating the floppy. Email had rendered it useless.

Is home theater pushing 2-channel closer to the brink?

Does anyone think that the bulk of amplifier mfgs will follow suit and concentrate on multi-channel amps? I see that Audio Research has a new multi-channel preamp in its lineup.
128x128mitch4t
Stereo was a huge improvement over mono.
Three channels are a big improvement over two.
Five channels are an improvement, some of the time.
Seven channels, well maybe.

Reactionaries can always mix down to stereo, or even mono.
Sunfire didn't check with us before reaching a decision not to sell two channel! Audiophiles represent a small segment of the population so Sunfire must be appealing to the masses to sell more boxes.
Reubent is right. My nieces and nephews (8 of 'em, ages 12 through 24)don't even care about 2 channel. They all use I-Pods for music (you can barely call cheap earbuds 2 channel music) and, increasingly, cell phones for video. Not one of them cares a wit about home theatre. Any home music system is either a small jam box or similar type thing with detachable speakers stuffed into opposite corners. And all of them are in upper middle class homes.

Funny, just a few years ago everybody wanted a big screen TV, now kids don't care if they watch on 2" ones.
Reubent:

Reubent
iPods are 2-channel. nuff said......

What about that special edition iPod with seven channels and seven ear buds, supplying three and a half humans with mediocre sound :^).
Albertporter,

It must really suck for that half person that only gets one earbud!

TIC
Three, Five or seven channel systems reproducing 2 channel music sound like ass, even in two channel mode.
Then the one person with one earbud will be reduced to mono,which some 'still' enjoy.
Hey, we're forgetting the true future of music reproduction - the cell phone ring tone! I hear them everywhere and it seems everyone I know has at least one. A guy at the gym has bunches of songs on his phone. I bet there are 20 times as many people interested in ring tones than multi-channel music.
David99,

If the one "leftover" earbud is downmixed to mono, he's in luck. If he's only getting one channel of a 2-channel track, he'll shortly revert to the "ring tone" method of music delivery!

Enjoy,

TIC
Shambles...That would only be true if the two channels were inferior equipment. My (three) front channels are exactly what I would have if multichannel had never been invented (and the rears, on their own, would represent a respectable 2-channel system). Your comment reflects the unfortunate fact that many multichannel systems have been constrained by budget to inferior equipment.
Eldartford- Point taken... but I don't have $, space or juice for five more Mac 501's.
considering selling 2 channel amplification is getting harder and harder, carver knows where his bread is buttered. lots of multi channel stuff sounds just fine even only using 2. some fine 2 channel amps have mono switches...and so it goes.