HiFi vs MidFi

Midrange knob was to tease those great lyrics out of Dylan LPs. 

Many average consumers just simply wanted what they wanted. I like bass...give me more bass. If I can't turn up the bass, no good.

The idea of "the absolute sound" or recreating the recording space was far more of a radical niche concept in those days. Or at least the internet didn't exist to let those in the niche connect 24/7 like we do here.  

Bell and whistle features for marketing benefit is nothing new nor unique to audio. We still have it today. How many us have DACs with 7 filters but always use the same one that the reviews concluded was best? Cheers,

Spencer 

When I purchased my very first high end system to replace my Pioneer Elite receiver, I went with a Rotel combo preamp and amp which was the RB1080). I was told countless times by people including dealers that my Rotel was good “mid-fi” stuff.  I bought Def tech BP30 speakers and was told that was mid-fi too. At the time I took it to mean the brand and price. 

plus 1 millercarbon....thanks

It is all relative. To someone spending tens or hundreds of thousands on gear, MidFi is stuff selling for mere thousands.
To me, MidFi is gear selling for low hundreds like Best Buy receivers and stuff. I think calling it LoFi would be too derogatory.
Think most folks have MidFi. 

Hi bigtex

late to respond but ok.

Hi-fi High Fidelity ... we are living in a golden age of High Fidelity.  The "mid-fi' stuff is just fine.  It is more than just fine.  
The thing is this:  There is some music and what is the meaning of that music?  This is important despite the fact that I cannot tell you what it is.  Why?  Because music is music, it is not words.  So can have excellent verbal descriptions of paintings or music but music has musical meaning.  

How do we get that musical meaning?  Well by listening with open minds (and maybe some training and experience but that is not all that important).  Does the equipment impact on this?  Well actually no.  No!  If you break down a concerto into its components; the melody remains the same whatever the gear is.  The key does not differ either.  The harmony is not different.  Pretty all the music is the the same.  You want good hi fi gear : well you will get better timbral accuracy (ie a violin will sound closer to a real violin).  This is good and yeah I go for it.  But if you have mid-fi gear will you enjoy music less? No.  
But back to my point about a 'golden age'.  My giddy aunt!  Marantz, Onkyo, and Yamaha and others will give you a truly superlative amplifier for peanuts.  Goodness knows how many great budget speakers are out there.  And when I say budget ... let me add my personal experience: I have $20K speakers but my earlier 1K speakers delivered the music.

And don't get me started on sources.  

Dude:  Welcome to the world of Hi-Fi.  It is really great.  There will be tons of people who are zealots and pronounce "it is the music man ..."  I say they are kinda right  ... actually they have to be right by definition but you have come onto a hi-fi forum and the way I see it is that the gear is fine tuning.