2. misc-audio
  3. 161049-141440

1st Post Intro & Ramblings

Hi all, I have been a member for about 10 years and never posted anything although I do read a lot. Figured at some point I would, 10+ years later......

 Profession, Audio Visual Tech 22 years. I mostly work in house corporate, conventions and trade shows. Spent some time building clubs, worked a few concerts and home audio has been more of a hobby for a very long time and I have designed and built a few very high end setups years ago. I always hated working professionally on home audio, the customers and sales people are either to cheap or knee deep in marketing and cannot take advice from professionals. My experience has led me to be more aware of the budget, a vast majority cannot spend $10-20k on a stereo and yet some of us spend that on a just 1 component. 
I think that will suffice as an introduction, next I will post some of what I have learned along the way. Keep in mind, most of my recommendations come with a budget mindset instead of $$$ all out performance $$$.
kreapin
kreapin OP
42 posts
 
Researching a product is important but I think researching the who is more important. Speakers have been around a century, anyone can buy the loudspeaker cookbook and build something pretty decent. The sound engineers training,  experience and knowledge play a big part in the overall performance and this is more important than the badge on the front. 
mesch
3,394 posts
 
I have a dedicated tape measure, dedicated SPL meter, 3 dedicated lines all dedicated to my bedroom which is dedicated to my audio system, to which I am dedicated. :-)
ejr1953
895 posts
 
I'm from the "baby boom" generation.  It's a terrible thought, but as people in my generation leave this world, I believe the high-end audio business will shrink, substantially.

The thirty-somethings I know, who now have the funds to spend on the hobby are not following in our footsteps.  Many of them have bought powered speakers that connect to networks and stream from their phones or iPads to the speakers.  I suspect more of these speakers will become available in the future, maybe ones with DSP capabilities to better adapt to the room acoustics.

The only thing I can think of that might slow the shrink in the business is that younger people seem to be attracted to vinyl.  But I suspect that digital and streaming will continue to dominate the market.
kreapin OP
42 posts
 
Erj1953 I agree. I got into different kinds of music because of the sound systems and quality of the recordings, it still amazes me what some of this stuff can do. But a large majority of the music presently available sounds horrible when you sit down and listen. This is in part due to the lack of experience. Experience that starts at home with a quality setup. You cannot dial in the sound if you do not know what you are looking for. So much misinformation and poor quality equipment permeates the market. This has made the sound engineer of yesterday a dying breed. This will continue.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I must be a baby boomer in the future my system consists of active speakers with DSP and a streamer. I had to remove some acoustic treatment as it interfered with the speakers DSP. 
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