My first home built stereo made the dishes fall out of the kitchen cabinets... three rooms away. The speakers weren't monkey coffins, they were gorilla coffins.
My main system now uses 8" two-ways with exterior size about 1.2 cubic feet. Of course I consider these to be "small" speakers and a compromise. There was a visitor at my house who couldn't get over how huge my speakers were. She said they were "ridiculous" and "don't you know they're building small speakers now?" DUH I didn't know that.
One young person appreciated them and called them "small for hi-fi." This guy was under 30 so maybe there's hope. He's a brilliant young man and he just started medical school.
One young person appreciated them and called them "small for hi-fi." This guy was under 30 so maybe there's hope. He's a brilliant young man and he just started medical school.
I'm running Energy RC70 along with a 15" passive sub powered by a 1kW Yorkville... Surprisingly, I've only had one noise complaint in 10 years.
I have a two times 20 W into 8 ohm amplifier with a clipping indicator, and two QUAD S-2 bookshelf loudspeakers (previously QUAD ESL-63 electrostats, until we got a cat who used them for climbing). The clipping indicator LED never turns on during normal use.
Some interesting thoughts on the whole Sound United PAC phenomenon by some random guy on YouTube
Bob Carver is alive, and according to Wkipedia he has parted ways with Jade Design.
The original Carver amp maker or facility is gone, and now whatever is sold is possibly out sourced. He does not own the company.
I feel it did not sell in the volumes that the Japanese did in the USA, and due to import duties in India, it was in the Rolls Royce and Bentley class, only very rich people could afford an expensive stereo..that is another story altogether.
Carver, Macintosh valve units... all audiophile and exotic here.
I have no idea of sales and popularity of those Carver units in markets outside North America.
The original Carver amp maker or facility is gone, and now whatever is sold is possibly out sourced. He does not own the company.
I feel it did not sell in the volumes that the Japanese did in the USA, and due to import duties in India, it was in the Rolls Royce and Bentley class, only very rich people could afford an expensive stereo..that is another story altogether.
Carver, Macintosh valve units... all audiophile and exotic here.
I have no idea of sales and popularity of those Carver units in markets outside North America.
Although I saw the announcement back in May it was in Japanese and I didn't pay huge attention and read it as restructuring rather than bankruptcy.
Well, that's a shame. I just visited the website and it is gutted. A few home theater receivers, that's it.
Though the writing was on the wall going back 15 years if not longer. The mismanagement of Onkyo was clear, and its fate was quintessentially Japanese.
Onkyo, like all the Japanese electronics companies, had it great for decades, from the transistor radios of the late 50's and 60's through the monster stereo systems of the 70s, right up through to the tailing end of the bubble, about 1995-2000. Then things went pear-shaped. Or more truthfully: Apple shaped. Apple released the iPod, audio shifted to computer/ headphone/portable, and interest in consumer home audio components faded.
Onkyo had 20 years to figure out a response, and they blew it. Management paralysis combined with being almost comically out of touch. I remember being frustrated that all the mini-systems Onkyo sold back in 2008 or so still had minidisc players. They added ipod docks only for everyone to move to iphones and bluetooth speakers. They were forever playing catch to already passing trends, dabbling in portable audio players and computer soundcards, as well as online music downloads while still shipping CD players and turntables. Come to think of it they even made a bluetooth speaker, the SAS-200. I have one, it's really nice and my wife uses it every day even now. None of these products were terrible, many were pretty good, but they were either niche at inception or so far out of date that few people wanted them. Despite some flagship products, Onkyo was always mass-market driven and I think that value-driven philosophy ran deep at the company. They didn't have a focus point to rally around, no specific "onkyo" product stack they could successfully retreat upmarket with. Faced with diminishing interest in their core product ranges, they were forever trying to break into new markets and forever being beaten to the punch by younger, more nimble companies with better marketing and smarter product design.
I'll miss them. The core technical expertise was excellent, and they were my go-to brand. My speakers are Onkyo, the bluetooth speaker I mentioned above, and my soundcard was too for many years. As a company, though, they were managed by incompetents.
Well, that's a shame. I just visited the website and it is gutted. A few home theater receivers, that's it.
Though the writing was on the wall going back 15 years if not longer. The mismanagement of Onkyo was clear, and its fate was quintessentially Japanese.
Onkyo, like all the Japanese electronics companies, had it great for decades, from the transistor radios of the late 50's and 60's through the monster stereo systems of the 70s, right up through to the tailing end of the bubble, about 1995-2000. Then things went pear-shaped. Or more truthfully: Apple shaped. Apple released the iPod, audio shifted to computer/ headphone/portable, and interest in consumer home audio components faded.
Onkyo had 20 years to figure out a response, and they blew it. Management paralysis combined with being almost comically out of touch. I remember being frustrated that all the mini-systems Onkyo sold back in 2008 or so still had minidisc players. They added ipod docks only for everyone to move to iphones and bluetooth speakers. They were forever playing catch to already passing trends, dabbling in portable audio players and computer soundcards, as well as online music downloads while still shipping CD players and turntables. Come to think of it they even made a bluetooth speaker, the SAS-200. I have one, it's really nice and my wife uses it every day even now. None of these products were terrible, many were pretty good, but they were either niche at inception or so far out of date that few people wanted them. Despite some flagship products, Onkyo was always mass-market driven and I think that value-driven philosophy ran deep at the company. They didn't have a focus point to rally around, no specific "onkyo" product stack they could successfully retreat upmarket with. Faced with diminishing interest in their core product ranges, they were forever trying to break into new markets and forever being beaten to the punch by younger, more nimble companies with better marketing and smarter product design.
I'll miss them. The core technical expertise was excellent, and they were my go-to brand. My speakers are Onkyo, the bluetooth speaker I mentioned above, and my soundcard was too for many years. As a company, though, they were managed by incompetents.
An audio enthusiast can still buy good sounding equipment, but they have to opt to buy professional equipment from shops intended to sell to musicians, performers and music event organisers. I remember, I wanted two good/high quality speakers that at least sounded as good as vintage HIFI speakers: I bought two public address speakers by Wharfedale (Titan 12 inch) which I still use. I was told they are entry level for professionals, but using them, I am quite satisfied with the sound. About a year ago, I found two 250W RMS speakers by Yamaha at the same outlet and bought them.
This shows the enthusiast still has a choice: it is audio equipment for professionals and it is manually controlled unlike what the masses want.
This shows the enthusiast still has a choice: it is audio equipment for professionals and it is manually controlled unlike what the masses want.
I don't know what's exactly meant by enthusiast but pro equipment is often no better performing in the areas that matter for home use.
On the topic here, Voxx could be worrisome, with their history of killing every home audio brand they buy not named Klipsch. Actually to be fair we'd have to look at a timeline because i think it was Klipsch buying and killing a lot of those brands before Voxx bought Klipsch.
But signs for PiOnkIntegra are positive so far IME. Onkyo under Voxx has the premier room correction software in its AVRs and the best HDMI 2.1 compatability among the major brands. Although some here might not consider those features to fit their particular definition of "enthusiast" performance, they certainly are enthusiast features on the cutting edge of audio reproduction in the home (just like vinyl once was). It's unfortunate that it's so difficult to combine these features with cutting edge performance once we leave the digital domain.
There's plenty to criticize with modern CE/home AV discouraging DIY and encouraging waste via licensing restrictions (HDMI, Dolby decoding [DTS seems a smidge better]) and difficulty of repair.
On the topic here, Voxx could be worrisome, with their history of killing every home audio brand they buy not named Klipsch. Actually to be fair we'd have to look at a timeline because i think it was Klipsch buying and killing a lot of those brands before Voxx bought Klipsch.
But signs for PiOnkIntegra are positive so far IME. Onkyo under Voxx has the premier room correction software in its AVRs and the best HDMI 2.1 compatability among the major brands. Although some here might not consider those features to fit their particular definition of "enthusiast" performance, they certainly are enthusiast features on the cutting edge of audio reproduction in the home (just like vinyl once was). It's unfortunate that it's so difficult to combine these features with cutting edge performance once we leave the digital domain.
There's plenty to criticize with modern CE/home AV discouraging DIY and encouraging waste via licensing restrictions (HDMI, Dolby decoding [DTS seems a smidge better]) and difficulty of repair.
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I have an Onkyo TX-8020. It looks good and sounds satisfactory with PSB tower speakers. I always pry open any audio equipment to see how it's made. The 8020 has one layer boards with lots of jumpers much like amps from the previous millennium. I guess their designers are conservatives who stick with what they know. At least it has tone controls with an optional bypass switch. The NAD 3045 does not.
It seems then that Onkyo was a brand under an umbrella brand, and the facilities for production may have been shared with other brands..
The decision to withdraw the brand may have been due to declining sales.
With designers retiring, there are few young engineers willing to work in this field, particularly in Japan.
So, like Sansui, another famous name gone.
RIP.
The decision to withdraw the brand may have been due to declining sales.
With designers retiring, there are few young engineers willing to work in this field, particularly in Japan.
So, like Sansui, another famous name gone.
RIP.
I've recently come back to audio after a decade without a system- I'd been getting by with bluetooth speakers at work and an old Bose Wave Radio that served as an AVR in my living room, partnered with a projector. I was recently gifted some components, which led to me starting build up a proper hi-fi system and I've had a few experiences recently with confirm this. I wanted to slave an amp to my AVR to drive a 2nd pair of front channel speakers for 2 channel listening, but I was getting some hum from the RCA cables I had and needed improved cables. "No problem," I thought, "MicroCenter is around the corner from my office". The last time I was In MicroCenter, they had an extensive hi-fi section with ample components and accessories- they even had a high-end room with McIntosh amps & Klipsch Heritage speakers and what not. I was amazed that that had all been converted to televisions and sound bars. their cable area was a shelf section that was about 4 feet wide by 6 feet tall and was primarily low quality RCA to 3.5mm adapters. Alrighty then! It's out of my way, but I'll just stop at Best Buy on the way home. That was even more demoralizing: they had a single, 12' x 4' row of entry level AVRs, no speakers, apart from surround systems in boxes. They had an even poorer selection of cables than micro center. The sales clerk just stared blankly when I remarked, "you guys really don't do Hi-Fi any more, do you?"
Theres a hipster kid that works at the micro brewery around the corner from me, as well as the neighborhood coffee shop that also doubles as a record store. He's in his 20s, listens to good music and plays in a few bands; I kinda regard him as a spiritual descendant of mine, as I was not entirely unlike him when I was in my twenties and I've had some great conversations about music with him. I stopped in to pick up a four-pack of beer on my way home from work, and since we'd frequently discussed music, I mentioned that I'd just resurrected a pair of vintage Klipsch speakers that sounded fantastic and was in the process of building a nice little low budget hi-fi system... Not only did I receive the same blank stares as when I was in MicroCenter and Best Buy, but when he made a comment in response, when he used the word "hi-fi," there was more than a hint of scorn, as if I was some pretentious Chad with a space-age bachelor pad, moving in on his girl. I'm not one to dump on younger generations, but it does seem like we've lost just about anyone under the age of 40 with regard to truly good sounding audio; heck, I was nearly lost, Im only 52- Up until recently, I thought the wave radio was perfectly fine for my needs...
It's funny, I was at Best Buy looking at cell phones (YUCK) and when I mentioned how Best Buy used to have hi fi stuff I was met with obvious but veiled disdain. I guess in the bigger picture we're oddballs. And the clerk was annoyed that I wasn't a typical 20-something that wanted a cell phone that does every-frikkin-thing. I told him how much I HATE Apple phones (I bought one and couldn't even figure out how to use it) and he had zero sympathy that I'm visually impaired and that I'm relearning how to do EVERYTHING because of it. I guess visual impairment isn't acceptable in society any more. I went to a brick and mortar store to GET HELP from a REAL PERSON because I was having trouble finding a phone that I could actually use. So my question is this - what's the point of having a clerk in a store if they won't even help customers?
My neighbor stops by regularly to stream his music on my system. He loves my system, but even he says I design and build stuff that nobody wants. I gather from talking to people that they expect a "system" like the Bose Wave Radio to do everything a full size system does, which would obviously violate the laws of physics. Or worse, they think it does.
But I'm the stupid one, right?
My neighbor stops by regularly to stream his music on my system. He loves my system, but even he says I design and build stuff that nobody wants. I gather from talking to people that they expect a "system" like the Bose Wave Radio to do everything a full size system does, which would obviously violate the laws of physics. Or worse, they think it does.
But I'm the stupid one, right?
While Best Buy was a step or two below the boutique audio stores of days gone by, in my memory, I regarded them as a stereo store- I recall them having multiple aisles dedicated to many makes of receivers priced from $100-$2000, plus dedicated listening rooms for speakers and high-end audio, taking up 30-50%. Now, I'd estimate that at least %50 of their floor space is dedicated to Phones and phone accessories, while perhaps 1-2% is devoted to audio, both home and car.
Best Buy still sells some low to middle end hi-fi in Canada: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/collec...mp=global_event_icon_homeaudio_boost_20221007
I've never referred to my system as "hi-fi". To me, a Hi-Fi is a piece of furniture that sounds like crap.
I have a stereo system.
I've never referred to my system as "hi-fi". To me, a Hi-Fi is a piece of furniture that sounds like crap.
I have a stereo system.