When are speakers considered Hi-Fi and not Mid-Fi???
What determines the status of "Hi-Fi?" I was recently considering a pair of Klipsch Heritage Cornwall speakers. They get rave reviews, have almost a cult-like following, no longer have harshness from the horns, and are very resolving. Other than not reaching down too low into the bass as some speakers do, why are they not considered Hi-Fi? They can clearly reproduce the full range of sound with an incredible image and are not missing any capability in person or on paper. Seems when we follow a thread on here about most any speaker at any price there is always a contingent that feels to need to post that the certain speakers under discussion are Mid-Fi not Hi-Fi. I only use the Klipsch Cornwalls as an example to start. Budget is not an issue, and cost should not dictate. I was also looking at the Magnepan 20.7 for another example, and they are $13k more than the Klipsch, but low and behold someone within seconds pops up and says these are Mid-Fi speakers. I kind of bet I could ask about a Sonus Faber Aida at $130k and within a few seconds someone will pop in and call them Mid-Fi as well. When do we reach "Hi-Fi" these days? Is it simply an endless and baseless dick-measuring contest? Seems like it. If we were talking cars we always have the guy who brags about the 0-60 times of certain cars, but it's clear that the 0-60 time alone does not qualify a car to be a "supercar" as there are so many other things the car must have and do to make it into that class, and like speakers there is not always 100% agreement on what the factors are. When do we reach Hi-Fi status for speakers???
I respect you a lot. But this does not make any sense. Plenty of products in “the rags” at all price ranges / tiers. I sincerely hope we are all adults here and can figure out what we can afford or not. As I always said, pay the utilities bills first before you buy any audio equipment 🤷♂️
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If I was to try and put a definition on low-fi vs mid-fi vs hi-fi I'd probably start with something like the following: low-fi: audio products focused on price point and features over sound quality. These types of products might top out as the mid range offerings at a place like Best Buy. Even people that don't care about audio own these. mid-fi: audio products where sound quality is a more significant factor while still being widely available. These types of products might start as the top end products at places like Best Buy and extent into the more entry level products at hifi vendors like Music Direct. People that either care about audio or just have enough money to get upsold tend to own these. hi-fi: audio products where sound quality is the most significant factor and availability is limited. Only people that are actively seeking quality audio tend to own these. There's going to be a lot of grey areas of course and it's all relative. In my mind, Klipsch Cornwall and Magnepan are clearly both HiFi speakers. Klipsh that you find at Best Buy are LowFi or MidFi and sometimes people unfairly judge a brand based on its most entry level products.
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@bluorion Wrote:
I agree! Mike |
My point was to take a tongue-in-cheek perspective on the fact that price plays an overly large perspective on what we consider hi-fi or not, and also that the rags focus (IMHO) far too much on gear that is too expensive for the value. If you read me at all here on A’gon you’ll know how funny I really am. 🤣 I’ve also been accused of being a literary arsonist here, but those arguments never made any sense to me. 🤷♀️ |
