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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??? 

dean_palmer

Showing 3 responses by deep_333

deep_333
1,909 posts
 

@thyname 

"But I have to say: whoever says a cheap box store $50 pair of speakers sounds just like a $50,000 pair of speakers, or some cheap headphones for 50 years ago… I want to have what you are smoking."

Since this thread is about midfi or hifi, it would be safe to say that the $50 boombox or bluetooth wonderball falls in the low-fi, shite-fi, etc category.

However and IME, there are many doofus (midfi at best) $50,000+ speakers that are simply "carried" by high-end/pristine sounding electronics. In fact, this has been going on for ages. When some 5k to 10k-ish speakers  get the same privilege of pairing with such high-end/over engineered electronics, the results can be shocking to many.

 

 

deep_333
1,909 posts
 

HIFI-ish and Midfi-ish speakers can be found at almost any price bracket. However, Klipsch heritage speakers have enough design flaws that they can't be considered hifi in comparison to other speakers in similar price brackets.

deep_333
1,909 posts
 

@kokakolia , I, for one, won’t be buying anything from some guy tinkering with a piece in his garage (no-name Joe companies) with non-existent service in a couple of years. I would put it in the same category as Chifi though Chifi, at the least, is very affordably priced unlike the former. I am sure there are guys who buy stuff like that because it makes them feel elusive. I am not in that camp.

 

Klipsch crap aside, JBL’s higher end Synthesis line or even the HDI series is very good stuff. Yamaha, Marantz, Pioneer (back in the days) make extremely well engineered, great sounding hifi components with extreme bang 4 the buck and future proofed service for years, if anything ever breaks (they rarely ever break). TAD’s line of Pioneer wouldn’t be considered extreme bang 4 the buck, but still is top tier great value for the hardcore hifi enthusiast. TAD has extremely good resale value and you never see it in the used market because guys who have it hang on to it for dear life. I can see why this category of companies are very popular with the guys who don’t have bottomless pockets or otherwise.

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