Have your say & ask the experts

A bit early that one - more like below-- why did they make buttons so big???

Ma petite biche is more normal.but it is still darling. MPB instead of BDP. 

 

Nooby:

Well I've notched up 58 years and the trouble and strife thinks I've lost my marbles. When I crank up Raconteurs, G n R etc it is a living nightmare to her (Bless) The best sessions occur when she goes out LOL

Not really a techy but love a wide variety of music and it is great to hear Jethro Tull and John Mayall in a way which wasn't possible for most people in the 60's

 

All the best

Mike

I'm with Nooby on this. Same age, big Mayall and Tull fan. My signature is not a joke, I do indeed have a Dansette and a 78 wind up player.  

I'm more than content with CDs, and as far as PC stuff goes I can rip/burn and am also quite happy to drop music files onto memory sticks and use them.  But when it comes to topics about Streaming, FLAC, DACs, spotify etc. then my eyes glaze over and I quickly lose interest.

Oldest rocker in town

dvdaudio:

just wondering, no pun intended, who is the oldest audiophile out there
and do you find all the new stuff like downloading wireless networks streamin and all the new formats
very hard to understand,i say bring back shellac does anyone remember that 78rpm only kidding - - as i think
its become a bit to daunting all this tech stuff its has taken a lot of the enjoyment away from music..

 

What I find hard to understand ( as one in a similar age bracket to some of the other posters) is

a) why we are being swept along by the tide of mediocrity (mp3, reduced dynamic range) that is being driven largely by "yoof" and their inability to function without wires coming out of their ears, and

b) why the implied assumption that if it doesn't have a handle to wind it up, the older audiophile will not be able to cope.

Ravey Gravey Davy:

A bit early that one - more like below-- why did they make buttons so big??? 

No central heating in those days, so you had to be able to work it in sheepskin mittens...

Andrew Everard:

Ravey Gravey Davy:

A bit early that one - more like below-- why did they make buttons so big??? 

No central heating in those days, so you had to be able to work it in sheepskin mittens...

That'll be the undarned socks then.

 (no 4 yorkshiremen continuation please)

jc.com:

What I find hard to understand ( as one in a similar age bracket to some of the other posters) is

a) why we are being swept along by the tide of mediocrity (mp3, reduced dynamic range) that is being driven largely by "yoof" and their inability to function without wires coming out of their ears, and

b) why the implied assumption that if it doesn't have a handle to wind it up, the older audiophile will not be able to cope.

25 years ago in the early 1980s you could have said....

"a) why we are being swept along by the tide of mediocrity (CD, clinical harsh sound) that is being driven largely by "yoof" and their inability to function without a remote control and a Sony Walkman hanging out of their ears?"

You are just suffering from "rosey tinted past" syndrome. I remember back then the market comprised 95 percent cheap 'tat' masquerading as stereo or hifi back in the 1970s and 80s. Only a small fraction of what people used was what we now think of as good classic gear and most 'yoof' could not afford the good stuff (as they cannot today).

I know that an iPod Nano sounds 10 times better than the average Sony Walkman from 30 years ago. (And I am not talking about the Walkman Professional) and a decent pair of active PC speakers will sound light years better than a 1970s Amstrad or Fidelity 'rack system' and probably won't set fire to themselves either!

It is false to compare really great classic hifi from another era to what kids are buying today. You have to compare with what kids were buying back then and it was (mostly) pretty dire stuff.

For every Thorens/SME/Quad system there were 100s of people using something like a cheap Sanyo music-centre with an arm only  tracking it's worn stylus courtesy of a 2p coin blu-tacked to the headshell and radio reception from a wire hanging down the back of the 'sideboard'. 'Yoof' would be using something like this.

8009514:

Nooby:

Well I've notched up 58 years and the trouble and strife thinks I've lost my marbles. When I crank up Raconteurs, G n R etc it is a living nightmare to her (Bless) The best sessions occur when she goes out LOL

Not really a techy but love a wide variety of music and it is great to hear Jethro Tull and John Mayall in a way which wasn't possible for most people in the 60's

All the best

Mike

I'm with Nooby on this. Same age, big Mayall and Tull fan. My signature is not a joke, I do indeed have a Dansette and a 78 wind up player.  

I'm more than content with CDs, and as far as PC stuff goes I can rip/burn and am also quite happy to drop music files onto memory sticks and use them.  But when it comes to topics about Streaming, FLAC, DACs, spotify etc. then my eyes glaze over and I quickly lose interest.

Me too - I'm 59 and next summer I get the bus pass - I like LPs, have a wind up 78 player, can downoad and burn, and I do do Spotify - but prefer the quality of LPs and CDs - I bought my 1st LP 46 years ago when I was 13 (it was "With the Beatles") - but I don't know as much as many of the people here - My best sessions are also when the wife goes out and I listen to Mayel, Peter Green, The Beatles etc etc.

chebby:

jc.com:

What I find hard to understand ( as one in a similar age bracket to some of the other posters) is

a) why we are being swept along by the tide of mediocrity (mp3, reduced dynamic range) that is being driven largely by "yoof" and their inability to function without wires coming out of their ears, and

b) why the implied assumption that if it doesn't have a handle to wind it up, the older audiophile will not be able to cope.

25 years ago in the early 1980s you could have said....

"a) why we are being swept along by the tide of mediocrity (CD, clinical harsh sound) that is being driven largely by "yoof" and their inability to function without a remote control and a Sony Walkman hanging out of their ears?"

You are just suffering from "rosey tinted past" syndrome. I remember back then the market comprised 95 percent cheap 'tat' masquerading as stereo or hifi back in the 1970s and 80s. Only a small fraction of what people used was what we now think of as good classic gear and most 'yoof' could not afford the good stuff (as they cannot today).

I know that an iPod Nano sounds 10 times better than the average Sony Walkman from 30 years ago. (And I am not talking about the Walkman Professional) and a decent pair of active PC speakers will sound light years better than a 1970s Amstrad or Fidelity 'rack system' and probably won't set fire to themselves either!

It is false to compare really great classic hifi from another era to what kids are buying today. You have to compare with what kids were buying back then and it was (mostly) pretty dire stuff.

For every Thorens/SME/Quad system there were 100s of people using something like a cheap Sanyo music-centre with an arm only  tracking it's worn stylus courtesy of a 2p coin blu-tacked to the headshell and radio reception from a wire hanging down the back of the 'sideboard'. 'Yoof' would be using something like this.

When I was growing up (80s/early90s) most of my contemporaries were listening on Bush midi systems, Sharp ghetto blasters, and a variety of tape based personal stereos, many of those also made by Bush, Alba and the like. A few managed to have a better quality Sony Walkman or Panasonic personal stereo (they made some cracking ones) but only one or two had anything you could possibly refer to as decent.

I would agree that things have probably got better in many ways. An iPod or Sony Walkman can sound pretty good through a decent pair of ear/headphones, and some of the active desktop speakers out there are not at all bad either.

What has definitely got worse is the standard of engineering and production in recording studios, but that is another story.

I'm 31 by the way.

John Duncan isn't it?

 

JoelSim:

John Duncan isn't it?

You gone blank again Joel?    You said the same thing on the 1st page of the thread.

 

JoelSim:

John Duncan isn't it?

 

No it isn't.

Well it made me laugh anyway

 

chebby:

JoelSim:

John Duncan isn't it?

You gone blank again Joel?    You said the same thing on the 1st page of the thread.

Who is John Duncan.Oh yeh- Blue Peter.

Just one tablet tonight ,nurse.

Ravey Gravey Davy:

chebby:

JoelSim:

John Duncan isn't it?

You gone blank again Joel?    You said the same thing on the 1st page of the thread.

Who is John Duncan.Oh yeh- Blue Peter.

Just one tablet tonight ,nurse.

Legendary