I read the following on barrons.com just moments ago and was shocked to think what folks are missing who have never had “industrial strength audio equipment”.
The 50th anniversary remix edition of the Beatles’ Abbey Road was just released. Even though I already own a pristine British pressing of the original vinyl LP and the 2009 remastered CD, I will buy a copy of the new version to examine further what is the apotheosis of the group’s work. And it will be through big speakers powered by a big amplifier, not through little white thingies dangling out of my ears.
All of which sounds anachronistic. As my former Barron’s colleague Joe Queenan writes, “Industrial-strength audio equipment vanished from the living room long ago.” Now it’s largely relegated to the so-called man cave, supplanted by spouse-friendly tiny smart speakers that emit sounds, but not music that engulfs you, as audio systems did when Abbey Road was released a half-century ago.
END
An mp3 player or smart phone may be convenient to listen to the music that helps you get through tedious jobs like raking leaves outside or cleaning the rain gutters that are beyond the range of an industrial strength sound system, but it will never replace the big sound of a serious system in my house.
Am I that out of touch with the present day that all folks want is a 192kb encoded mp3 played through tiny ear buds?
Every time I let someone listen to my system, they seem amazed.
It is likely that the general public has never heard any sound system better than the one in their car. Additionally, not many people other that us, actually sit and listen to music these days. Back in the 30's and 40's when radio was pretty much the only entertainment or diversion from life besides the Bible, those radios were not only functional but were works of art in themselves. Polished wood cabinets, etc. Then in the late 50's when stereo was "invented" those units replaced/upstaged the radios of the prior two decades. The same thing has happened with all this digital portable doodad stuff in replacing quality stereo music reproduction. It's anybody's guess what comes next; maybe implanted devices in your neck that will feed an audio or more likely an "instructional" signal directly to your auditory nerves. I can hardly wait.
vintage_health: "Am I that out of touch with the present day that all folks want is a 192kb encoded mp3 played through tiny ear buds?"
vintage_health,
Unfortunately, anyone who describes mp3 as 192kb encoded instantly demonstrates they are indeed out of touch.
While I agree with you about the pleasures of full scale music on a full-sized rig, I believe you're in need of some time devoted to increasing your knowledge of current audio technology. Continuing education is required these days for audio/video literacy. Please remember, becoming a curmudgeon is something to be avoided and guarded against, not something to relish in or admire. If you also find yourself often yelling " hey you kids, get off and stay off my lawn!", your curmudgeon affliction could be acute. I'm not going to claim your case is hopeless because there is a cure; taking some time and educating yourself.
I just wanna put top flight musical artists in front of me or, even better, put me into the recording studio, club or concert hall. It's an addiction. An obsession. "Virtual" is okay, too. I don't have to see them. I just have to hear them. I don't care about the mode of conveyance.
Only a minority has ever cared about sound quality! Most people have always thought that spending, say, $200 on a stereo system as extravagant! So table radios and department store consoles were common in most homes. Only the hi-fi geeks and the wealthy had separates! Today its home computers and big-screen TVs - and the ubiquitous phone with earbuds.
I guess I never thought a lot of the world was so much different than I.
Whenever I am invited to someone’s home for an event, I always like to at least see, or even better to hear, what kind of sound system they have. I think I have seen it all over the years. From all in one book shelf systems bought at J C Penny or Sears, to stellar setups that fill a room like I would imagine most folks who are reading this would own. As a musician myself for over 50 years and a retired semiconductor engineer, most of my friends own what I would consider a fairly state of the art sound system.
On one occasion, my wife and I were invited to a Christmas party at the home of my then supervisor. It was a pleasant evening and during a quiet moment, I asked my boss and his wife if they enjoyed listening to music. They said yes and I took the opportunity to ask to see, and if possible hear, his system. His wife was engaged in attending to guests, but he took me in to his office. There on his desk was an AM/FM Zenith table radio and nothing else. He noted that he also had one just like it in the family room and the bedroom so he and his wife could listen wherever in the house they may be. I gave it a listen, told him it sounded quite nice and we returned to the main event.
Sometime later, my wife and I had the opportunity to invite he and his wife to a dinner party at our house. At an appropriate time, I asked if he and his wife would like to move in to my sound room for some drinks and music. They agreed and we went in. His wife asked what all the equipment was and I said it was my music system. It’s where I come when I want to do some serious music listening. She said it looked like “a laboratory at NASA” and took up a lot of space. I asked what she and her husband liked to listen to and found something I thought was appropriate. Afterward, I asked him how he thought it sounded compared to his system. His response was, “about the same”. For a moment, I was a little taken back, (my wife said I had a look on my face akin to watching your best friend stepping on a land mine and being blown to bits) but I thanked him for his honest opinion and the evening moved on.
Later that night, as I lay in my bed, I thought to myself that maybe he was better off. After all, his three AM/FM Zenith table radios made him and his wife happy. They did take up a lot less space than my system and if I had the same, I would have room for a pool table or maybe a game room. In addition, I would also have saved a lot of money as I am positive that those table radios cost considerably less than my system, but then I thought to myself, no way!
I turned off the light and fell asleep comforted in knowing that my supervisor and I each got the music system that made them happy and I guess that’s what it is really all about.
Nice post with a good moral to the tale! I generally agree with the philosophy of 'whatever floats your boat' and that we all have our own priorities which are typically reflected in our music systems as well as other personal luxuries. But I can tell your boss likely isn't in charge of quality assurance at your facility. If he's an engineer, it's surprising how oblivious to, and non-discerning of, such wide variances in quality levels he apparently is. You can lead a horse to water, …..
I think young people appreciate great systems just fine and I think many of them will do their own systems in time. When I was a kid ear buds and MP3 players were not even a dream, car systems sucked and in order to hear the music right you had to have some sort of system. It was also easy to do a system on the lam. We had several kit manufacturers and the used market was very healthy. Things were much cheaper. Today kids have all sorts of inexpensive stuff so that they can listen, and face it, we may not like MP3 players but relative to the portable stuff we had back then these things are a miracle. Young folks will do systems when they have the money and the room. The love of music is certainly there.
I've demonstrated my system for quite a few people. Some were impressed with the sound quality. Some were impressed with the size of the speakers and the speaker cables. Not a single one was impressed with the SQ enough to spend a single dime pursuing it on their own and all of them thought me odd for caring and I'm not even a serious audiophile. So yes, I think we're out of touch. And yes, it is a loss for those who will never appreciate good music reproduced properly. When I was a teenager most boys my age wanted the best sound system they could get. And there was, at the least, a Circuit City in every city.
But it isn't just the fans. Production quality of new music tends to stink. Even bands who work hard on production in the studio are letting the dynamic range of their stuff get compressed to the point where no level of equipment is going to make it decent. I know beating up on millenials is a common cliche'. And I know I'm a typical old man even before my time.....but I think in most aspects of life and stuff in general they have lost the appreciation for quality. And when a generation doesn't know what quality is, or care about it even if they do.....then quality is no longer a marketable commodity.
For of the music of today a car radio is overkill . It's not the mass has bad taste , they have none at all . But will stand in line all night to drop a grand on 1phone version 25 which is just version 1 with cheaper build .
For of the music of today a car radio is overkill .
You do realize that car radios have tuning controls, right? I ask because it sounds as though you're listening to the wrong radio station for your tastes.
Duh , Its ,not a matter of taste , there is good taste and bad taste . In the US 90% of the population has bad taste and that is a conservative estimate .
schubert"In the US 90% of the population has bad taste and that is a conservative estimate."
The US is a nation in serious decay, decline, and collapse it is gradually becoming the laughing stock of the world and it's citizen's are being led down a path of lawlessness and what I believe is called in English "debauchery."
+1 dsper. Maybe we should call it detrumpery instead of debauchery. We need to at least preserve the separation of powers and specifically the House of Representatives check on Presidential powers. Any president denying the legitimate over-watch function of the House needs to face the Constitutional Authority of subpoenas, investigations and the possibility of impeachment for abuses of power. He or she needs to be held responsible for their misconduct.
Schubert, and I am sure you can't possibly imagine how Trump got elected. This is a big country with segments of the population that look at life quite differently. Music is not a matter of taste. It is a universal phenomenon and more a mater of what you grew up listening to than taste. There is great music in all genres. You don't like the blues, listen to Howlin Wolf do Smoke Stack Lightening. Don't like classical listen to Brahm's 1st symphony. Don't like country Listen to Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Don't like Jazz listen to Bill Evans Waltz for Debbie. What is good or bad music is a mater of taste. There is no definition of good or bad taste there is just taste. What I find interesting about us audiophiles is that we have records of music we really do not care for but we play them because the recording complements our systems. Our kids don't buy music because it complements their ear buds. There are more audiophiles today than ever. Just look at the Market. Somebody is buying this stuff or these companies would disappear and they seem to be doing quite well. Back in the 60's you could count the number of high end electronics manufacturers on one hand.
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