Will Technology Kill the Audiophile Hobby?


Imagine audio technology in 2,000 years.

Maybe your stereo is the size of a deck of cards. Speakers are invisible. Cables are not used. Active room treatment built into the walls.

Is that the end of our hobby and fascination with audio gear? 
Is our identity in the big blocks of metal and wood? What happens to us?
Best,

E
erik_squires

Showing 4 responses by michaelgreenaudio

I hope everyone is staying safe during this time. I haven't been up here in a while but I think about the future of HEA all the time of course. Well not so much HEA (boat anchors) but listening systems in general.

I received another PM yesterday from an Agon member who made the switch from HE to Low Mass and is still amazed at what he was missing for so many years looking at his stacks of equipment in the middle of his soundstage as compared to his Low Mass equipment on Platforms. His system (electronics) is about a foot off the floor now, instead of the 3-5feet of filled racks that he has removed "never to return to". "Listening to my soundstage is more enjoyable than staring at those boxes of metal".

What I sometimes am amazed at is how many people in the hobby are still placing their components right in the middle of their soundstages completely messing with the speaker/room/ear relationship. For this reason alone I choose the small components. The other reason is when you hear an amp costing 100bucks totally beating up on a $30,000.00 amp it makes you giggle (maybe cry) just a little at the guys still buying into a mistake, or at least the past.

stay well

michael

The future is pretty easy to figure out actually and some have already built it into their dwellings. Future versions of this will be more automated but the blueprint is already done.

The between now and then is pretty cool too.

As far as the big boxes, they began their painful death as soon as they were made.

Michael Green

another great thread EriK

LOL, Erik by the responses maybe you should have said 10 years from now. Sometimes I forget it's Agon.


mg

Well, I'm going to pull back a little here and mention the future "now" is coming on quickly. How quickly this forum may not even be aware.

I believe the days of big amps is almost gone. To follow will be high mass speakers. The small Class D amps are simply blowing the doors off of the big amp designs with 2.1 or 2.2 setups. To stay in context I tune and don't use these amps with their chassis.

mg