What was the Golden Age of Hifi? Why do you think it was/is the 'Golden Age'? I would be very interested in your replies. 
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The late 70's.
Great looking gear with silver fronts, VU meters and solid heavy build quality.
Alu knobs were made of alu, not plastic covered with some shiny stuff.
And really good sound!
Great looking gear with silver fronts, VU meters and solid heavy build quality.
Alu knobs were made of alu, not plastic covered with some shiny stuff.
And really good sound!
The golden age is NOW. The internet means that more information and support is available than ever before. You can still buy the old stuff and restore it but there are so many recent advances in storage and streaming that means you can do music the way you want it. And more music available.
You'd have to be a real curmudgeon not to think so.
You'd have to be a real curmudgeon not to think so.
Yes, the golden age is now...you can still get a classic JBL 4350 studio monitor, considered top of the seventies heap, but you fawned all over a single LP you just bought new. And after a 45 minute session, you sat back & admired what you just heard...& then what?
Now we have content, anything & everything you ever heard can be found somewhere...in my case, I found a moving peice circa 1963, a soundtrack for Outer Limits, "A controlled experiment". A dozen or more years ago, I never would have heard, experienced that music again..now it all is at our fingertips. Enjoy!
------------------'--'----'---'-Rick..
Now we have content, anything & everything you ever heard can be found somewhere...in my case, I found a moving peice circa 1963, a soundtrack for Outer Limits, "A controlled experiment". A dozen or more years ago, I never would have heard, experienced that music again..now it all is at our fingertips. Enjoy!
------------------'--'----'---'-Rick..
The golden age of recording might be a better question. With the loudness wars still raging, 80% of listeners using earbuds (and I'll bet some engineers use them to mix now) its certainly not now. Late seventies, early eighties?
Western Electric , Klang-Film , old Goodmans for example was the " golden age " stop at the 60´s , half 70's.
Today modern time is great for DIY.
Today modern time is great for DIY.
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Hey, when you are right you are right. How's that for a profound statement.😀
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Depends what is meant with "Golden Age". The old stuff was built sturdy and it was mechanically very appealing. I still reuse old cases for new equipment and make new front covers as I like the look and feel of the old stuff. Todays equipment has way more possibilities and today music can easily be found. Solid state got a new meaning, I got a 512 gb SSD for my mediaplayer and remembered what my teacher used to say: there will be a day that you can bring a whole album on memory of some kind ! How right he was, he was even more right that he thought as hundreds of albums can be stored on an SSD.
No moving parts, no noise, no mechanical wear out, no laser that stops working, no heat and no latency. Wonderful ! I stopped using CD's many many years ago and LP's were long gone however good they may sound. Hard disks are also a no no. For me equipment should be built nice, small, power efficient, noiseless, fanless, easy to operate with not one button or switch too much and it should be very nice sounding with solid state playback. Install and forget, as opposed to what I see with computer audio enthusiasts. So it seems that the Golden Age is now for me but is also seems that I have to build stuff myself 🙂
If only recordings would be as good as the equipment...
No moving parts, no noise, no mechanical wear out, no laser that stops working, no heat and no latency. Wonderful ! I stopped using CD's many many years ago and LP's were long gone however good they may sound. Hard disks are also a no no. For me equipment should be built nice, small, power efficient, noiseless, fanless, easy to operate with not one button or switch too much and it should be very nice sounding with solid state playback. Install and forget, as opposed to what I see with computer audio enthusiasts. So it seems that the Golden Age is now for me but is also seems that I have to build stuff myself 🙂
If only recordings would be as good as the equipment...
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I have to agree. The equipment available to everyday consumers was never better. By 1990 or so, many of the prestigious brands (like Marantz) were bought out, and the equipment sold under the brand name was nothing like the equipment that built the brand's reputation. Anyone ever repair or scrap an early 90s Marantz receiver? They're nothing special.
Of course, today is the golden age for DIY hi fi. I hadn't done hardly anything DIY hi fi for at least 20 years, but when I browsed what's available today, dream op amps and transistors, etc, I realized that I'd finally be able to do some of the stuff I had dreamed of in my 20s. What's available today is off the chain!
Also, there is still a lot of the good old 70s/80s equipment around. It is easy to repair, refurbish, and improve these gems. Well worth it if you can DIY. Even some of the early 90s stuff can be easily upgraded; while the built in graphic equalizers that were trendy are truly terrible, some of the power amps in those receivers are pretty good - dare I say better than the earlier equipment. They are typically "Blameless" variants. Wire around those stinky equalizers and those receivers are pretty good. Put your own tone controls in there.
Some great replies!
Interesting many see ~now~ as the golden age of hifi. What I was referring to, and most usually also refer to as a 'golden age' is a time of great nostalgia, for whatever reason. Some think golden ages are often best perceived with the perspective of time.
Might not future ages bring more advances? Make more products and equipment, more technologies, more knowledge, more prevalent than previously? So now might be the BEST time for hifi, or DIY, or whatever audio interest, so far - but a golden age?
Interestingly, and on a mostly unrelated note, now is a 'golden age' of woodworking handtools. That's right - woodworking hand tools. Hand saws, hand planes, chisels, and so on. This is because there is quite a renaissance right now in woodworking. Great public interest, many great classic tool designs, and modern metallurgy and engineering have all combined to make the FINEST hand tools EVER made available right now. And the same applies - maybe it is just the BEST time for hand tools. But a golden age? Time will tell. One thing that is pretty cool, is the idea of having great nostalgia for the time you're in. That sounds very exciting!
I agree the 70's was a golden age of hifi, for exactly many of the reasons given. The thing is though, that I also feel the 70's golden age of hifi was the death of the 50's-60's golden age of hifi. The 50's-60's was a golden age of hifi for very different reasons than the 70's. In the 50's-60's Hifi became widely available for the first time, technological advances made that possible in the first place, and the design and construction principles have never been equaled, IMO, because of the many classic designs and principles that are still looked back to for inspiration from that time. The greatest generation came home from the war and they wanted the good life - and they got it, by and large.
Being an older gentleman, I hold particular fondness for the 50's-60's golden age of hifi - not because I'm actually that old (though when I was in the military in the 80's I actually did work on tube equipment from that era), but I certainly do appreciate it. That said, I've had some experience with that era of hifi, and it had plenty of flaws too. It used many stock electronic parts - there were no stepped attenuators or ultra low noise op amps in those days, except in laboratories. And the speakers, while the best were revolutionary for any time, lacked low bass, and tweeters tended to be weak, highly directional, and burn out at the slightest provocation.
I feel modern electronics can do many wonderful things, but I also feel with the death of the 50-'s-60's golden age of hifi, that something was lost. I think many do, that is why tube amps and vinyl still tend to be so popular. I know that's true for me. For me, a new golden age would consist of the best of the old and the new. I think now we have the opportunity for that, but I rarely see it, IMO. I hope to see it more.
Interesting many see ~now~ as the golden age of hifi. What I was referring to, and most usually also refer to as a 'golden age' is a time of great nostalgia, for whatever reason. Some think golden ages are often best perceived with the perspective of time.
Might not future ages bring more advances? Make more products and equipment, more technologies, more knowledge, more prevalent than previously? So now might be the BEST time for hifi, or DIY, or whatever audio interest, so far - but a golden age?
Interestingly, and on a mostly unrelated note, now is a 'golden age' of woodworking handtools. That's right - woodworking hand tools. Hand saws, hand planes, chisels, and so on. This is because there is quite a renaissance right now in woodworking. Great public interest, many great classic tool designs, and modern metallurgy and engineering have all combined to make the FINEST hand tools EVER made available right now. And the same applies - maybe it is just the BEST time for hand tools. But a golden age? Time will tell. One thing that is pretty cool, is the idea of having great nostalgia for the time you're in. That sounds very exciting!
I agree the 70's was a golden age of hifi, for exactly many of the reasons given. The thing is though, that I also feel the 70's golden age of hifi was the death of the 50's-60's golden age of hifi. The 50's-60's was a golden age of hifi for very different reasons than the 70's. In the 50's-60's Hifi became widely available for the first time, technological advances made that possible in the first place, and the design and construction principles have never been equaled, IMO, because of the many classic designs and principles that are still looked back to for inspiration from that time. The greatest generation came home from the war and they wanted the good life - and they got it, by and large.
Being an older gentleman, I hold particular fondness for the 50's-60's golden age of hifi - not because I'm actually that old (though when I was in the military in the 80's I actually did work on tube equipment from that era), but I certainly do appreciate it. That said, I've had some experience with that era of hifi, and it had plenty of flaws too. It used many stock electronic parts - there were no stepped attenuators or ultra low noise op amps in those days, except in laboratories. And the speakers, while the best were revolutionary for any time, lacked low bass, and tweeters tended to be weak, highly directional, and burn out at the slightest provocation.
I feel modern electronics can do many wonderful things, but I also feel with the death of the 50-'s-60's golden age of hifi, that something was lost. I think many do, that is why tube amps and vinyl still tend to be so popular. I know that's true for me. For me, a new golden age would consist of the best of the old and the new. I think now we have the opportunity for that, but I rarely see it, IMO. I hope to see it more.
I should add that my favorite piece of equipment*, sadly awaiting a full rebuild is my 1965 Radford valve amp. I used to have the matching pre but lost that in a move. I still remember the first time I powered it up. It was also very good for putting bread on to rise. 🙂
*For the definition of favorite being will sell last
*For the definition of favorite being will sell last
It depicts the human tendency to think things "those days" have a kind of emotional value. What older guys see as nostalgia (LP's, tube stuff and record players) is mostly unknown for todays generation. What older guys see as standard stuff (CD players, cassettes, vintage amps etc.) is interesting to the youth. What older guys see as irrelevant (MP3, streaming etc.) is standard for todays generation with their smart phones....Todays generation will think the same when they have kids, a mortgage and a nagging wife. They will cherish their old MP3 files if they find a USB stick when moving houses. They will need an adapter to play the files as interface XXX 5.0 has become standard for some years now. They will start up their instant-on 128 bit pc's with Windows 12 and feel the same some of us are feeling now.
Essentially we always want what we can't get, plus what we had and lost is golden. Secondly we could not afford stuff when we were young and now we have the money it has become irrelevant.
Today we can find cheap electronics and have it sent over from the other side of the world for free, we can buy good sounding 6.99 $ amplifiers. We can have SSD's, FDA's, high speed digital electronics, 24 bit 192 kHz music etc etc and we are still not satisfied ? I admit that when i heard an installation that had no physical source I was uncomfortable, it just can't be that even the source is virtual ? I can adapt to many different techniques but I would like to see simple practicable devices that don't need tinkering by the user, better user interfaces, no need to renew stuff when a new codes comes out, simplicity, more attention to the actual use than the techniques and useless features, no internet necessary devices, not more than 2 loudspeakers etc. etc. Yes, I want the simplicity of the old stuff with the possibilities of the new stuff 😀
Essentially we always want what we can't get, plus what we had and lost is golden. Secondly we could not afford stuff when we were young and now we have the money it has become irrelevant.
Today we can find cheap electronics and have it sent over from the other side of the world for free, we can buy good sounding 6.99 $ amplifiers. We can have SSD's, FDA's, high speed digital electronics, 24 bit 192 kHz music etc etc and we are still not satisfied ? I admit that when i heard an installation that had no physical source I was uncomfortable, it just can't be that even the source is virtual ? I can adapt to many different techniques but I would like to see simple practicable devices that don't need tinkering by the user, better user interfaces, no need to renew stuff when a new codes comes out, simplicity, more attention to the actual use than the techniques and useless features, no internet necessary devices, not more than 2 loudspeakers etc. etc. Yes, I want the simplicity of the old stuff with the possibilities of the new stuff 😀
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I like the way you describe things Jean-Paul. I think you have good insights.
One thing I like about the old hifi is that it is still around. You're absolutely right, today's technology is SO transitory. With today's smart phone cameras more pictures are being taken than ever before in history - but how many of those will be seen 100 years from now, especially compared to pictures taken 100 years ago?
But vinyl has been made for over 50 years, and last year it was the highest grossing music media. Forbes Welcome
I worked in the repair industry for 20 years. Something that is 10 years old today is considered absolutely ancient, and for good reason. The cheaply made components are worn out, and the chips are no longer available, even if you had a BGA machine to replace them. Yet by just replacing a few power supply capacitors in my Fisher 500, it keeps on working. And even if it does break down, that era of equipment is made on a human scale, and is far easier to repair.
Yes, today's electronics can do some amazing things, but the truth is they don't last long. There is a lot to be said for simplicity and stability. I think the old hifi and vinyl is popular because people see how long it has been around and are comforted by it, are glad it's not something they will have to constantly update and tweak - and that it sounds great. Again, they had their shortcomings - but like you, I would so much like to see the old quality and simplicity with today's acoustic and media capabilities.
One thing I like about the old hifi is that it is still around. You're absolutely right, today's technology is SO transitory. With today's smart phone cameras more pictures are being taken than ever before in history - but how many of those will be seen 100 years from now, especially compared to pictures taken 100 years ago?
But vinyl has been made for over 50 years, and last year it was the highest grossing music media. Forbes Welcome
I worked in the repair industry for 20 years. Something that is 10 years old today is considered absolutely ancient, and for good reason. The cheaply made components are worn out, and the chips are no longer available, even if you had a BGA machine to replace them. Yet by just replacing a few power supply capacitors in my Fisher 500, it keeps on working. And even if it does break down, that era of equipment is made on a human scale, and is far easier to repair.
Yes, today's electronics can do some amazing things, but the truth is they don't last long. There is a lot to be said for simplicity and stability. I think the old hifi and vinyl is popular because people see how long it has been around and are comforted by it, are glad it's not something they will have to constantly update and tweak - and that it sounds great. Again, they had their shortcomings - but like you, I would so much like to see the old quality and simplicity with today's acoustic and media capabilities.
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LP's came in around 1953 and were overtaken in the late 80's. That's about 35 years.
CD's came in around 1984 and is only now in the process of being overtaken. That's about 30-35 years. Hmm. Not transitory.
Who knows when downloaded/streaming music will be overtaken?
Vinyl is barely 5% of music media, and even that is terribly biased by the overly high prices.
And IIRC the biggest selling turntables are USB decks. Play your LP once, then listen to it in virtual space. Now why does *that* appeal?
You must be kidding. Vinyl is popular because owners don't have to tweak it? You must have missed the whole tweakofest vinyl era. That should be why CD is popular. Or streaming.
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