Out goes the Old, In comes the New!

Oh also if I may I'd like to reference this thread

http://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/the-truth-about-modern-class-d

An excellent thread!

Michael Green

Hi AMG

I see the Audiophile world as strong and growing. I see vintage audio as having a great following. Gaming is exploding in the theatre setting.

What I don't see is the next generation with huge amplifiers sitting in front of them with an audio rack in between a set of super expensive speakers. If HEA was going to turn the corner of luxury audio it would have done it by now.

Here's my point of reference. When you say Mercedes, everyone knows what your talking about. When you say Audio Research, no one has a clue what that is. High end audio hit a peak in the 60's, 70's, 80's even, that hasn't carried through to today. When was the last time we saw a TV ad for a high end audio component?

Remember when every town had a stereo store, and bigger towns had several, and one or two of them were high end shops? When you take that away it's like a town not having a car dealership. In time the buzz looses it's sting. That's not a bad thing, it's just the modern audiophile is not going to be looking for the same things that were appealing back in the 70's and 80's, past the collectables. It's like when TVs went from tube to flat screen.

Michael Green

Hi Roberjerman

I remember a time when almost everyone I knew had a set of 4312's either in their studio or home. Musicians of course. JBL is one of those companies that crossed over into the mainstream. If more of the HiFi companies would have made the crossover I believe HEA would be mainstream. The closest I ever saw was a few years in the late 80's when HEA was across the street from the CES. It continued into the 90's and then took a weird turn when leaving the Sahara hotel.

Several of my designer friends and reviewers agreed this was the markings of the end. Richard Beers made a good go of it but you could see the numbers drop and HEA drifted further away from the every day listener.

MG

Hi AMG

I hope your feeling ok, btw!

HEA will never disappear. It will always have a chapter in the Audiophile world. How big the camp remains depends on how many younger folks follow in the same footsteps of our generation. Gaming is already a much bigger hobby than in-room stereo listening, as well is AV.

AV is so different from when we were doing home theatres. Now you can pick up a projector around a hundred bucks, paint your wall, set up your computer (smart phone), do your acoustics and speakers with simple amplification and surf the net. Back in our day we did FM and it was a big deal visiting with our friends. Today’s visiting is the same in many regards except the net is now their FM. A big record collection means nothing to the new generation of kids (up to 35) hanging out.

Last year and this year I set up 3 of these systems close by me and was actually pretty impressed. They were using my speakers (and subs), RoomTune, my cable and all the stuff you would normally see with one of my setups except the front end and simple amps. Very impressive I might add, and the appearance was pretty cool too.

I know for a lot of high end audio folks it was kind of weird going from a living room full of listeners hanging out on a Saturday night to being the only one in the room. It’s not that people all of a sudden stopped visiting, it’s that the types of gatherings changed socially. It’s not even any of the types of systems and rooms changing, it’s simply a matter of there being more choices now. Dad or Grandpa enjoy their private listening room and the gathering enjoys a newer form of media. HEA audiophiles thinking the next generation are going to follow in that idea in our minds of massive amplifiers and components in front to stare at is probably going bye bye in the next few years and dying off with us for the most part. But I think maybe that's the way things should be.

MG

Hi Roberjerman

I could not agree more on both counts! I love HEA, I really do, regardless of me being so tough on them. But, companies like JBL and Crown have seriously got their acts together, I’ve been a big fan of both for many years.

You know, I might just have to pick up a Crown and tune it up and see how it does. I keep looking at them thinking I’m going to do it but I think you have given me the inspiration to pull the trigger.

you said

"I bet it would embarrass any multi-kilobuck audiophile amp!"

It certainly looks like it could. You sold me, I’ll take the plunge and let you know what I think.

MG

No thanks bdp24, I like to do my own reviewing. As well I have plenty of EEs around me. You can hang out with the teenage boys in LA, not my scene obviously. "Spoilers, Hondas"?

I'm impressed by Crown's innovative and modern designing.

Michael Green

http://www.michaelgreenaudio.net/

I get a kick out of some of the words used by forum folks when they get upset at others. Charlatan, snake oil and alike. I, in the last couple of years, have learned that this is yet another (more legit) forum term "troll".

Internet trolls are easy to spot. They’re the guys who come up a shout that something can’t be done because they themselves have not explored enough to become knowledgeable through practical application. Of course the audio signal is tunable and has been so since the very beginning of the audio chain itself.

It’s more fun to be a walker than a talker I have experienced. And the more walking that is done the more we learn about the audio signal and pathway. I’m more into "doing" the possible. It seems to me that Crown is as well, we’ll see.

Michael Green

Roger is one of my favorite designers, as well a great guy. I was a dealer of Roger's and have enjoyed owning many of his products.

I obviously disagree with your premises above concerning Crown and Tuning, but that's ok.

As far as misusing parts, I'm in total agreement. I usually won't get near a "mod" unless I trust the source and have put the unit through my own evaluating.

I also don't trust measurements. One of my jobs for Turner's crew was testing equipment calibrations. Meaning testing the test equipment as well the components. This is maybe one of the reasons you don't see me talking techno-babble. I've worked with real engineers and was trained by them. It's pretty easy to spot the talker from the walker, and that's ok too. Everyone has their own experiences both professional and non. My gig is "doing" and fluff means very little to me.

Michael Green