Have your say & ask the experts

Do you think equipment is any better now than it was 10 years ago.

If you read 10 year old reviews, the comments are pretty much identical as today.  They always seem to be discovering a new "best".  How is this possible?  What makes HiFi today any better?  What advances have their been in electronics and speakers?

jaxwired:

Do you think equipment is any better now than it was 10 years ago.

If you read 10 year old reviews, the comments are pretty much identical as today.  They always seem to be discovering a new "best".  How is this possible?  What makes HiFi today any better?  What advances have their been in electronics and speakers?

Yes. For the average budget - mid band system very much better than 10 years ago. (Better than 20 or 30 years ago too). Better value, better performance and better reliability. (Although the recent RoHS compliance to lead free solder and the associated risk of 'whiskering' may come back to bite us all in a few years time.)

Higher up the price/performance scale?  Not sure. Some things better and some not. (DACs in CD players have come on in leaps and bounds for instance.)

I would exempt turntables, arms, cartridges and speakers from this though. Vinyl replay technology pretty much levelled out a long time ago. Speaker technology is better but (relatively) more expensive nowadays and I honestly don't think a great modern speaker is going to be very different to a great classic speaker from 20 years ago.

my whole system (except interconnect) is vintage and sounds fine to me, and works flawlessy ... even my cdp never misses a beat and reads all cd's

nice thing about good vintage gear is that you can buy it at the fraction of the cost of a brand spanking new system ... and should things go pear shaped, it does not cost much to repair/refurbish

I've listened to a lot of used kit in the last few years as well as some newer items and the difference doesn't appear to be as "night and day" as you might think. Maybe I just listen to the wrong kit, or just have poor hearing. Perhaps entry level hifi is better than that of 20 years ago and it is easier to find good sounding kit thanks to the benefits of technology trickle down, geater affordability, etc.

the record spot:

I've listened to a lot of used kit in the last few years as well as some newer items and the difference doesn't appear to be as "night and day" as you might think. Maybe I just listen to the wrong kit, or just have poor hearing. Perhaps entry level hifi is better than that of 20 years ago and it is easier to find good sounding kit thanks to the benefits of technology trickle down, geater affordability, etc.

no, you don't have wrong kit or poor hearing ... it all boils down to matching the correct components and you have done a fine job by combining the Marantz SA7001 KI, Sansui AU-217 and  Mission 752 speakers ...

take the price you paid, and see what you can get new .... dont think you will find anything close to your system that costs 4 (or more) times more

dim_span:

the record spot:

I've listened to a lot of used kit in the last few years as well as some newer items and the difference doesn't appear to be as "night and day" as you might think. Maybe I just listen to the wrong kit, or just have poor hearing. Perhaps entry level hifi is better than that of 20 years ago and it is easier to find good sounding kit thanks to the benefits of technology trickle down, geater affordability, etc.

no, you don't have wrong kit or poor hearing ... it all boils down to matching the correct components and you have done a fine job by combining the Marantz SA7001 KI, Sansui AU-217 and  Mission 752 speakers ...

take the price you paid, and see what you can get new .... dont think you will find anything close to your system that costs 4 (or more) times more

You're never going to get a definitve answer, for every 10 people who say modern stuff is better, you'll get another 10 saying it isn't.

if you're going to compare on price, then i don't see how new kit can compare with vintage - or even with ex. demo new kit.  not a fair comparison.

 

Craig M.:

if you're going to compare on price, then i don't see how new kit can compare with vintage - or even with ex. demo new kit.  not a fair comparison.

 

suppose you are right, but for many it boils down to 'bang for buck' ... and I would rather have a good sounding vintage system than a brand new rubbish system for the same price

many people are realising that the good quality older items are still very good compared to modern day equipment ...

can be seen with speakers ... example: LS3/5A ... now fetching riduculous prices on ebay ... some selling for £1500 or more and becoming collectors items and are very favoured by the Japanese/far east market ... you could get those for £150-£200 a year ago ...

Quad electrostatic speakers and IMF speakers have also become very collectable and sought after and prices are rising

same goes with good quality vintage amps ... compare the prices a year ago and you will see that good quality ones are fetching much higher prices and prices are going up daily ...

could be beacause they are becoming rarer? ... but at the end of the day, they still sound very good compared to modern equipment (if matched with the correct ancillaries)

 

Interestingly, in a reply to a reader's query letter in this month's (whisper it) Hi Fi World, Noel Keywood mentioned that the cost of putting a system together, of good standard and last for the forseeable future (allowing five years say), you'd spend around £2k on the Leema Pulse amp at £1100, the Q Acoustics 1050i at £350 and a source (he quoted a Stello DAC, but you could put in a £600-odd CD player, as you will).

This struck me as being pretty interesting in the distribution of funds and also that you can snag a good sub-£500 floorstander that will perform with much higher quality electronics. The Q1050i is an intriguing choice in that, if anything, it's more reminiscent of a bygone speaker age in terms of sound quality; a big, sumptuous, near analogue kind of sound and hugely dynamic.

Again, I'm not so sure about improved, there's been an evolution, but with so much kit out there sounding "lean" (Cyrus, Cambridge and some KEF speakers are but three brands I've heard this point levelled against), I'm not completely convinced it's all for the good.

dim_span:

no, you don't have wrong kit or poor hearing ... it all boils down to matching the correct components and you have done a fine job by combining the Marantz SA7001 KI, Sansui AU-217 and  Mission 752 speakers ...

take the price you paid, and see what you can get new .... dont think you will find anything close to your system that costs 4 (or more) times more

Thanks for the kind words d_s, it's not bad is it!

Let's see, amp £33 (fully serviced at that), CDP £300 (sale, way too good to pass up), speakers £80 - £413. Allow £50 for the interconnect and the same again for the speaker cable and we're up and running at £500 all in say. Would I put this up against a comparably priced system now? I reckon it'd run a good race.

well i've stated it before, but I auditioned a £3600 system approx a week ago ... cambridge audio equipment with a pair of mezzo 8 speakers ... both my wife and I were not impressed (when comparing to our system)

could it be that my system is rubbish, and we have we become used to the sound produced? ....

not sure, as many favour the combination of the cambridge audio gear and the mezzo 8's 

the record spot:

dim_span:

no, you don't have wrong kit or poor hearing ... it all boils down to matching the correct components and you have done a fine job by combining the Marantz SA7001 KI, Sansui AU-217 and  Mission 752 speakers ...

take the price you paid, and see what you can get new .... dont think you will find anything close to your system that costs 4 (or more) times more

Thanks for the kind words d_s, it's not bad is it! Let's see, amp £33 (fully serviced at that), CDP £300 (sale, way too good to pass up), speakers £80 - £413. Allow £50 for the interconnect and the same again for the speaker cable and we're up and running at £500 all in say. Would I put this up against a comparably priced system now? I reckon it'd run a good race.

my system:

pioneer sa-9800 amp= £275; B&W speakers = £50; Marantz cdp=£130; silver high breed interconnect=£30; soundstage 5 rack stand=£70; speaker cable = £8

total spent= £563 (and that includes the hifi stand) ...

 

Speaking as one of those 'Quad people' I would say that that it hasn't really improved in the last 50 years

CologneBrit:

Speaking as one of those 'Quad people' I would say that that it hasn't really improved in the last 50 years

read a quote somewhere (cannot remember the exact words, but is something to this effect): speaker technology has improved vastly over the past 30 years, but sound quality produced from these new speakers has not