When Was The Audio Golden Age?
I looked at the Vintage section here for the first time. It made me speculate on what other forum users would view as the best era in Audio. For me it is the present. The level of quality is just so high, and the choice is there. Tube fanciers, for example, are able to indulge in a way that was impossible 3 decades ago, and analog lovers are very well set. And even my mid Fi secondary systems probably outshine most high end systems from decades agoHowever when one hears a well restored tube based system, play one speaker from the mid to late 1940s it can dazzle and seduce. So what do others think? Are we at the summit now, or did we hit the top in past and have we taken a few steps down?
you have described what most people would give as the answer. A time of innovation, new products, and while your post doesn’t address it, a consumer audience that was motivated. Do you think that from a purely sonic perspective that the gear from 1960-75 can compete with the quality available today? |
I was graduating University of Michigan in 1980 when a friend got a job as a salesman in a high end audio store. I remember a wall stretching to the ceiling filled with McIntosh components. He let me bring a few records in and listen for a few hours after closing time. From then on I was seduced by the high end but it was a quarter century before I had disposable income to spend on anything but mid Fi (Graduate School and Family obligations disposed of anything previously). How that stuff would compare to my current gear is anyone’s guess. My rose colored glasses aren’t known for improving my visual acuity. But that night was an awesome memory |
The last 2 posts have been especially thoughtful. They both emphasize the paradox that while the the access to music, and the sheer skill in playing it back, has never been higher; yet the general interest in sound quality amongst the general public has never been lower. The bricks and mortar stores had their flaws-most seasoned audiophiles probably had at least one bad experience in their lifetime- but just the fact that they even existed seems from today’s vantage like a miracle. Imagine enough people in the world caring enough about sound to want to visit multiple locations, or to spend time in a given store, and to support an entire industry. My genre preference will show here, but as one of the posters noted, pop music played a big role in dumbing down standards. It’s very ubiquity as background music creates a numbness to nuance. It’s processed, canned nature makes the relationship of instruments and voices to each other almost irr. Yes, Classical and Jazz are much more demanding on sonic reproduction, and their listeners more discerning. |
I didn’t start reading Audio magazines until the early 2000s so I can’t comment as to what their contribution was in the historical sense. I also gave up on TAS when they became a shill for MQA but that is another story . And lately I’ve stopped buying Stereophile and others unless I’ve been alerted in this Forum to an interesting article. I’ve found that after a few decades even the best written audio prose can’t really tell me what something sounds like better than non professional reviewers. However a few people here have singled out the impact of TAS in helping launch a Golden Age of Audio. I am not intending to disrespect those who state this, but I’m skeptical. Can a magazine have created an industry, as opposed to simply reporting on it? What was the peak circulation of TAS? I suspect that most people who bought systems in the sixties and seventies had never heard of it. Stereo Review,otoh, was fairly ubiquitous then. I also suspect that the relatively small number of Audio Connoisseurs that were strongly influenced in their formative years by TAS are likely to be posting on a site like this |
There might be more total listeners for the higher quality sq than in previous years, but in the past it seemed like more people prioritized having a mid Fi system or better. While there are exceptions, the younger generations simply don’t prioritize it, and most of the people previously mentioned that cared in the past no longer care |
@gbmcleod +1 |
