Does anyone else find it funny

A

Andrew Male

Power User
I was born in 1980, and all through the 80s and 90s I remember every house I went to having a Hi-Fi or "separates" system, with some big meaty speakers attached, it would take centre stage with the TV in a living room, people took pride in their audio equipment and would show it off to friends and family. Roll on the 2000s, the big speakers become less for music, more for "home cinema", then to now, where I don't think I've ever seen speakers dedicated to music in any house I've been to for a long time (apart from musicians).

Just thought I'd ask if anyone else feels the same and also, why?
 
Hi Andrew,

Yes - I've noticed that too. My thoughts are that many (the majority) really aren't that fussed about good sound. Now, as long as theres a subwoofer going thump, and some soundbar with a bunch of 2 inch drivers, people can watch netflix and have music in the background. It's even hard to listen to, and compare speakers nowadays unless you are spending ten grand in a boutique hifi shop.
Bad sound drives me mad, but my daughter can live with it. I feel for her, and she feels for me haha.

Thanks
Pauly
 
Coincidently, I went out yesterday and bought a pair of 5" studio monitors to complete (middle ceiling) a 5.1.2 Atmos setup in my guitar mancave for music listening (and maybe some multi-wdw on guitar also). Sounds glorious. I'm an exception these days tho - an old curmudge who remembers fondly back to the 70s and my good/better/best Realistic system with massive speakers. Those days are gone mostly other than for the hi-endy audiophile crowd.
 
I think it's because the music of today is shall we say less than desirable for listing to in that setting. Today it seems that most of the music is overly compressed and reduced to rudimentary elements.

Unless you have purposefully built a system for Hi Fidelity listening and have that type of music to listen to it's bluetooth speakers and mp3's of Dance Monkey! It's no longer popular to do so and your average person isn't going to bother with it.
 
On different occasions friends have sked if I had any recordings of my songs or even covers. when I ask them what they would need, like CD, thumb drive, MP3, etc most have replied "my Laptop"????? Yes times have changed.
I still have a small, but nice stereo in the living room. nice Klipsch speakers, 25 year old Kenwood amp\tuner etc and 2 dvd players. Couldn't live without it!
 
I have been that person you described... had the 'components' system in the 80's: Bought a Technics stereo with, what was quite new then- a CD player, then later even upgraded my speakers to a pair of Advent floor units. Friends would come over, we'd imbibe a bit, and kick back and blast Dark Side Of The Moon (the very 1st CD I bought, btw.) It sounded amazing, and I used it for about 20 years.

Then home theater started making inroads, with 5.1 surround, so I bought a new system, still with components, but now it was a DVD player, 5 small 'cube' speakers and a sub. I'd put on Pulse on DVD and enjoy concert-quality sound, at home. And that served me well for about 15 or so years. But later on, listening to music like that sort of took a back seat.

I mean, my phone with a pair of earbuds sounds fantastic, and the pair of Logitech desk speakers with a small sub on the floor also sounds great for listening to stuff on my computer. Oh, and the stock stereo in my F250, with a sub under the back seat also sounds killer! And at work, I'll sometimes break out my Bosch work radio and run Pandora through that. That's enough for me.

But a good friend of mine has an actual Home Theater in his basement, complete with 8 tiered reclining seats, a huge screen, and subs that are out of this world ferocious! Watching concert DVD's at his house makes it really easy to give Ticketmaster the middle finger. :tearsofjoy:

So speaking for myself, I still enjoy lots of quality music. Sure, the way it's presented has changed..., gotten smaller, and bigger in some cases. It's just not as big of a focus for me any longer.
 
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Interesting thought. I have definitely noticed the absence of hi-fi systems for several years now (decades even). I think it's probably due to the rise of the cell phone and entertainment is now more of a personalized experience. Just got done watching a guy walk into a restaurant with his headphones on and people constantly walk around with air pods. There are several tangents I could chase down but people just seem to be less social (social media has been substituted for actual social engagement). I remember as a kid getting together with your friends to listen to whatever album someone had bought. That doesn't happen these days.
 
Agree to this...

Nowadays most people I know and especially the younger generation, listening music via smartphone and small bluetooth speakers and are consuming music instead of listening or "hear" music (Was it the movie "White men can't jump" or so, where Snipes said to Harrelson - "you listen to Jimmy, but you don't hear him" -or something like this).

I remember that I often done nothing else when listenting to my favorite records via good headphones or speakers, closed eyes and try to hear every instrument and note played.

I used my old sattelite-sub system from beginning of the 90s (in the 80s I got also this big floor-cabs for HiFi) until last year and now I use wall mounted active PA cabs with an 18" sub for HiFi and reactivated an 80s turntable for my Vinyls.
And my old sat-sub speakers are now mounted in the car :tearsofjoy:
 
Maybe it’s just me… but I feel like I don’t have the time to just listen anymore. The pace of life (and all the little irritations) has gotten to the point where I only listen to music when another activity allows it - e.g. driving to work…. Walking for exercise…. The rare mindless task. I’m glad there is “take with you” tech…. Or I’d never get to listen to anything anymore! I feel like we are really losing something pretty fundamental.
 
SJB said:
Maybe it’s just me… but I feel like I don’t have the time to just listen anymore. The pace of life (and all the little irritations) has gotten to the point where I only listen to music when another activity allows it - e.g. driving to work…. Walking for exercise…. The rare mindless task. I’m glad there is “take with you” tech…. Or I’d never get to listen to anything anymore! I feel like we are really losing something pretty fundamental.
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No, it is not only you.
That's true and because of this, I decided to do something.
So I've set up my turntable and Home HiFi and try to listen to music from time to time, without beeing busy with other things.
Because as you said right, we will loose somethig fundamental.
 
Its so easy nowadays to get lost in these fast routines, erverything has to be faster, better and so on...and yes, meanwhile I realize more and more that more and more people are really suffering from this. Beside the good parts of the ongoing development / process we loose something fundamental, like raccon and SJB said. I have no better words for this. You have to plan routines that gives a little peace and you have to do it consciously. There is no substitition for peace.
 
Andrew Male said:
I was born in 1980, and all through the 80s and 90s I remember every house I went to having a Hi-Fi or "separates" system, with some big meaty speakers attached, it would take centre stage with the TV in a living room, people took pride in their audio equipment and would show it off to friends and family. Roll on the 2000s, the big speakers become less for music, more for "home cinema", then to now, where I don't think I've ever seen speakers dedicated to music in any house I've been to for a long time (apart from musicians).
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I was over at a friends house playing pool in the basement, in 1976. My friend put an album on a Sansui turntable, connected to a Sansui amp., that looked a lot like this. You could just feel the quality when you flipped a switched or turned a knob. Just loved the strobe effect on the side of the platter, used to set the RPM's to 33-1/3.

1700743932903.png1700744057066.png

The amp. was connected to a set of Cerwin Vega speakers, like these.

1700744286762.png

The album and the first song I heard come out of those speakers....



There were no words to describe what I was hearing and feeling as the speakers moved in and out pushing the air. You could just feel it all over your body!
 
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Sold my large Sanyo receiver last summer for $750. I hadn’t used it since we switched houses 24 years ago! Sold my Bose 301 speakers as well

I still have my techniques direct drive turntable, since I own 600 vinyl albums, with my Audio Technica Shabata stylus, But it hasn’t been hooked up since I moved, Either.
 
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