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American Audio

Even if audio is a global thing, good ’ole USA is still there:

PS Audio -not terribly expensive, excellent-sounding gear
Benchmark, Sanders -innovative amps, no nose-bleed prices
Cables/cords -Transparent, High Fidelity, Synergistics, Cardas, Kimber, Audioquest. More brands than anywhere on Earth.
Klipsch, JBL -still after 75 years, horns no longer ’sound’ like horns
Emerald Physics/Spatial -new takes on horn/waveguides. Like Klipsch, all-American incl parts
Vandersteen, Joseph, Ryan -the cone speaker keeps getting better
Component/speaker stands -Symposium, Critical Mass, Star Sound
ASC -room acoustics

It’s a confusing world of ear-buds, computer & car audio. And tech-general like the internet. But quality 2-chan audio is around and it’s more than I thought....

jonnie22

Showing 2 responses by jonnie22

jonnie22 OP
42 posts
 
Add Acoustic Geometry to room acoustics..
jonnie22 OP
42 posts
 
Hi-fi had two beginnings -the late 40s/early 50s (gear-Marantz, HK, HH Scott /Corner horns /LP low surface-noise).

Then the early 70s when these brands went mass-market -or went out of business. Luxury-looks and higher prices were the feature. No advance in SQ, except the panel speaker w/ its greater transparency.

But IMO, it’s now questionable whether the panel was an advance over the prior best -horn for stereo (not corners). Like the Altec’s that Art Dudley used in the last 7 years of his life or the Klipsch Lascalla/Cornwall. Holt would say that the horn was the reference, as of the early 70s.

Of course, by the mid-70s he and Pearson went completely for the panel. But the panel seemed to have too many negatives, until Roger Sanders improved (the ’stat) around 2007-08. Magnepan got better too and more clean-power further improved these designs.

IMO, high-end of the 70s+80s greatest achievement was the discrete-circuit output-stage. For solid-state, this replaced the horrible-sounding op amps from the 60s. More voltage and much better sound. But since most high-enders used classic tubes in the 70s, they didn’t ’notice’ this advance until the 80s, when SS gear got more respect.
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