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Thread: Is home HIFI dead ???

  1. #46
    Dang. Amateur speakerdave's Avatar
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    A build for the Klipsch Shorthorn is detailed in Badmaeif and Davis pp 111-13. Very simple. Through a one-inch slot, which also tunes the enclosure, it feeds a horn formed by the sides of the cabinet and the corner of the room. At 10 1/2 inches the front projection hole is undersized but also recommended for 15" or 18" woofers.
    "Audio is filled with dangerous amateurs." --- Tim de Paravicini

  2. #47
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jblguy View Post
    What a shame but not surprising to me. Stuff is harder to sell nowadays.
    The NEW generation knows nothing of these early speakers nor do they care. Who's JBL, Altec, Ev etc to them?
    The sad thing is we are a dying breed here really. The world has moved on from the stuff we all love. Unfortunately the great speakers of the past are just not many folks cup of tea. What we consider valuable most folks find objectionable. VERY few folks want the sort of speakers many of us have here. Sad but true. IMO most of us will have a hard time selling or even passing on some of this fine equipment.
    Home audio may not be dead but it sure isn't running many laps down at the track anymore.
    as we've discussed elsewhere here sound bars and HT are what folks want now.
    Not big old wooden antique looking boxes in their modern homes.
    Sort of... there is still a demand for the outrageously cool. Here is a local hipster coffee house. They have a pair of very nicely restored A-5 bass bins with 805B sectorial horns. These are not your kid's bluetooth wonders.


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  3. #48
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    Isn't that cool! I wonder how it sounds in there with all those hard echo-y looking surfaces. Have you been in there? Did you hear it?
    Make ya wonder if it influenced anybody to find out what those are.
    Do they have the big Altec stickers on the sides? I can't really tell from the pics. Hopefully they do. The mighty "Voice of the Theater !
    Has anybody else seen any retro speakers in establishments anywhere. Sadly for me the answer is "no"
    A outdoor football stadium in Kitchener still has big altec Multi cell horns hanging way up on poles. They have been there and outside for at least 50 years. Winters and all. I can't believe they would still work. But yet they don't take them down either.
    You don't see many multicelled horns anywhere around here anymore.

  4. #49
    Senior Member Odd's Avatar
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    Has anybody else seen any retro speakers in establishments anywhere?

    You will find photos here.

    And here.
    43XX (2235-2123-2450-2405-CC 3155)5235-4412-4406-4401-L250-18Ti-L40-S109 Aquarius lV-C38 (030) 305P MkII

  5. #50
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    Now, I wouldn't say "hipster" coffee bar. Those folks look pretty clean cut and well dressed. I don't see any lumberjack beards, plaid wool shirts, or anyone carrying a fixed gear bicycle.

    I imagine any volume above a whisper from that system would be annoying. Actually, I imagine it's hard to place an order with the Barista if it's crowded in there.

  6. #51
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    I have spent a fair amount of time here… the beverages and treats are awesome… the room’s acoustics are predictably rough, but the Altecs sound fine at background music levels.

    I am sure these speakers were chosen entirely for aesthetic reasons. The same millennials who buy a lot of vinyl and have turntables in their systems and have tube headphone amps are driving the decisions here. Some may cite audio performance, but I imagine aesthetics are the real motivators.


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  7. #52
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    Oh cool....ya gotta have the stickers. Sweet
    I'm sure they get a lot of attention. They are rather obvious visually and sonically. I love that look.

  8. #53
    Senior Member 1audiohack's Avatar
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    There is a place like Widget portrays in Portland Oregon who’s owner has been after me to buy my RCA9462 Ubangi’s for their space.

    While it would be cool to see them in use in public again I just can’t part with them.

    Barry.
    If we knew what the hell we were doing, we wouldn't call it research would we.

  9. #54
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    Where I live there just no higher end shops anymore. So no place to go to listen and look

  10. #55
    Senior Member DerekTheGreat's Avatar
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    Looks like a lot of aging hipsters in that place, probably where the motivation to have the old gear came from. In the words of Dr. Evil, "There's nothing worse than an aging hipster."

  11. #56
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DerekTheGreat View Post
    Looks like a lot of aging hipsters in that place, probably where the motivation to have the old gear came from. In the words of Dr. Evil, "There's nothing worse than an aging hipster."
    When I am there, the age demographic bumps up… the average age depends on the time of day. There is a high school across the street and at times clusters of kids pop in. Overall the clientele is pretty diverse.


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  12. #57
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    Not that I've been but in Japan they have some cool listening places. With some cool big ass speakers stuffed into small rooms. Like a small bar or lounge I believe.
    They still appreciate high end and vintage there more than here.

  13. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by jblguy View Post
    Not that I've been but in Japan they have some cool listening places. With some cool big ass speakers stuffed into small rooms. Like a small bar or lounge I believe.
    They still appreciate high end and vintage there more than here.
    Hi jBL Guy,


    I like your humour and your right.

    Way back in normal normal 2008 I spent two weeks in JP with our friend Steve K who guided me around the HiFi mafia of Electric City.
    Most of the evenings were spent embracing something close to the most pure alcohol but we did sneak in some jBL time.

    One bar we visited was old school with barely room to move. On the bar they had a pair of Pass Aleph 2's. A match made in heaven pumping 140 watts of glorious SE power through a pair of gorgeous 4343's soffit mounted. It was all vinyl and really cool Jazz being played back then. Verbal speaking was forbidden....An amazing experience. No chatting.

    To sum it up they know their music and they know their hifi. If you think you've got you head around hifi or the high end in the USA that's cool. We all have our journey that's for sure.

    But its all about style if you've got deep enough pockets. I visited several high rise hifi establishments while in the hifi district and its not uncommon for the President of Toyota apparently to arrive in a convey and spend several hours listening to a system with the whole top three floors to himself and then raising his eye brows. The transaction is done.

    An important decision. No waf to be considered.

    It's a whole different level of understanding to appreciate what hifi means to them. It's deeply embraced in symbolism and its spiritual. They worship their sound systems. I do too and so do you and this is why a JBL system is the peak of the mountain to them. Keep improving the 4343's as JBL did.... both in the USA and in Japan and it reaches the peak of their mountain. That's what JBL did. A decade later the S9800 arrived. Greg Timbers was their god without any doubt. Greg had their absolute true which is a really big deal in the Japanese culture.

    Back down on planet earth you can make any system sing within reason if your put the effort in for long enough.

    Unfortunately, in recent times those bar's have declined because things change. It's pretty sad. And that is why when someone NEW turns ups up HERE and no matter how crazy their ideas are I try and help them because they are the future of this legacy. Isn't that our cause? No question is too difficult. At the start we all knew nothing. Fuck all.

    It's not about you and its not about me. It's about nurturing the next generation and the generation after that. What's the big difference with JBL? Why? And helping fulfil their experience with JBL. Their journey might take 20 years just like it did yours and mine and then they will pass on what they've learn't and experienced.

  14. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by jblguy View Post
    What a shame but not surprising to me. Stuff is harder to sell nowadays.
    The NEW generation knows nothing of these early speakers nor do they care. Who's JBL, Altec, Ev etc to them?
    The sad thing is we are a dying breed here really. The world has moved on from the stuff we all love. Unfortunately the great speakers of the past are just not many folks cup of tea. What we consider valuable most folks find objectionable. VERY few folks want the sort of speakers many of us have here. Sad but true. IMO most of us will have a hard time selling or even passing on some of this fine equipment.
    Home audio may not be dead but it sure isn't running many laps down at the track anymore.
    as we've discussed elsewhere here sound bars and HT are what folks want now.
    Not big old wooden antique looking boxes in their modern homes.
    I agree perception is 9/10 of reality. But it’s a fools paradise to generalise over an opinion based on an opinion.

    Hifi loudspeakers have been getting smaller for decades but it’s not a 100% market case study.
    There are retro players in the market like Peachtree Audio and Klipsch who are very very successful.

    Take a snap shot of the Gen x Gen x and Millenials.

    They move out into an apartment and are lifestyle seekers. Small or compact is good.

    Then they eventually rent a larger home or buy an apartment and start a family. It’s from the mid 30’s with that better job and a dual income that the dude starts to explore his Man toys.

    HT fits in the bucket list some where too.

    By the time he hits his early 40’s he’s actively seeking out the real deal. That incidentally was most of us 20-25 years ago. Given your 1% rich there’s a big market for how to have your cake without it costing a fortune = diy and then you have JBL. Dynaco did it, Hafler did and Pass has popularised diy.

    There’s still a lot to be had from 40 year old drivers. Just ask Ken Haerr.

    If it was me l’d be resurrecting Zilch’s econwave or looking at Rob’s excellent work in JBL vtx wave guides. Stick a 2118 in a compact enclosure with a vtx wave guide and pair it with a sub and it’s the entry point for a diy new comer.

    Talking shit to death doesn’t change anything. You need to act.

  15. #60
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    Very good and right on comments Ian. You have much more experience world wide than I do for sure.
    Yes here in our town the new construction is of some pretty big houses. Nuts prices too. Anyway to cut to the chase. These larger homes must be hard to fill. I mean how many great rooms and HT rooms does one need? some of these homes are massive. Stupid big imo. What does one do in all that house?
    Anyway I think to myself as I see these behemoths wouldn't these folks like some crazy nice sound systems to fill at least one room in there?
    Obviously they have some substantial monies to build a house like that. And after you do all the usual stuff in there, what's left? A great music system seems appropriate. They must have a least one great room left to do that in ....lol.
    I always wondered if there was not some kind of market for really big and awesome setups in these homes. I mean if you own several nice cars and all the other toys, get a big ass stereo system to go along with it. Impress all those you're already trying to impress with such a stupid big house. If I had a house that big I'd bet you for certain that I'd rarely even visit or go in some of those rooms. I'm only one guy and a wife. Some of these homes are so big they make no sense to me as a home to live in. They must be big cold places.
    So I thought if these folks saw some really nice setup they might bite.
    But as we all know high end shops are not as plentiful as they once were. I guess you'd eat your shirt trying to run one these days. Or are we in a time of such great wealth (for some) that maybe it would work? These houses exist so somebody has the money to buy what they want.
    I'd love to have a store show casing the best of the best to see if anybody bites. Ya right eh? Sometimes though folks don't buy until they see it for the first time.
    Some just don't understand what is possible in sound. Once they hear it maybe they will be more open to better sound.
    Somebody out there is still buying high end as evidenced by some of the companies that exist making crazy nice and expensive gear.

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