Golden age of Audio - Past???

vegasdave · « **Reply #20 on:** 20 Jun 2012, 08:07 am »

Quote from: Rclark on 20 Jun 2012, 04:05 am

Golden age past?

Given the new technologies available now and on the horizon I would more aptly call these the dark ages.

Dark ages? Why?

Rclark · « **Reply #21 on:** 20 Jun 2012, 08:16 am »

Well look at what digital technology is doing right now in amps, crossovers, measurement, digital active accoustic room treatment, QOL, etc, and you have to imagine there will also be continued advancement in speakers and surround technology too.

We move away from chicken bones and brass bowls strategically placed and magic crystals above the amp.

ptmconsulting · « **Reply #22 on:** 20 Jun 2012, 11:05 am »

I believe I can postulate the following 2 points:

- equipment and technology is better now than it has ever been, with lots of new discoveries and improvements coming each year in all aspects of audio
- the audience for audio is shrinking, the record companies are generally not concerned with high quality soound, the cost of audio products is higher than it has ever been

It is an elitist game these days, but fortunately I am older (and wiser) and have some extra discretionary cash to enjoy this hobby. And there are always forums like AC with plenty of people in them to help stoke my appetite for all things audio.

It might not be "golden", where everything sounds good and the audience is large and products are affordable, but then that's the Big Rock Candy Mountain. It is an interesting time in audio if you are not personally out of a job and sunk into the depths of this bad economy.

michaelhigh · « **Reply #23 on:** 20 Jun 2012, 12:42 pm »

Quote from: JohnR on 18 Jun 2012, 12:41 pm

The term "Golden Age" is not often applied to the present. It just doesn't work that way. However, I would agree that "the best time to be an audiophile" is now. After all, we can enjoy what we have now, and still have room to set up a system using components from the 50s or 60s that we can enjoy for what it is! What could be better?

I agree, and I could never have afforded the rig(s) I have now when the individual components were new. So rather than build one system I have various components I mix and match for synergy and performance. I have a complete PA, a nearfield rig, records and turntables, 2 computers full of lossless files, hundreds of CD's, a SET integrated, a few receivers and speaks of all flavors/levels of sensitivity, and I liken it to solving a jigsaw puzzle. I take my time auditioning combinations and the right systems emerge out of the experimentation. When I take ownership of my home I'll have really nice systems in every room.

Waker · « **Reply #24 on:** 20 Jun 2012, 06:58 pm »

Wnen I compare my best system of the '70's to what I have now, there is none. I would rather have the system I have now and the hearing I have now, even. I hear the same music I loved then so much better now, I have to say that now is the Golden Age of audio. With the resurgence of tube amps and now DIY materials that are better than what is supplied off the shelf, now is the time. Looking back for some better time in audio is like saying the Golden Age of computers was in the '80's or '90's. There may have been more excitement back then for whatever was new, but the quality is now.

vegasdave · « **Reply #25 on:** 20 Jun 2012, 08:09 pm »

Quote from: Rclark on 20 Jun 2012, 08:16 am

Well look at what digital technology is doing right now in amps, crossovers, measurement, digital active accoustic room treatment, QOL, etc, and you have to imagine there will also be continued advancement in speakers and surround technology too.

We move away from chicken bones and brass bowls strategically placed and magic crystals above the amp.

Ok, I see your point.

vegasdave · « **Reply #26 on:** 20 Jun 2012, 08:10 pm »

Quote from: Waker on 20 Jun 2012, 06:58 pm

Wnen I compare my best system of the '70's to what I have now, there is none. I would rather have the system I have now and the hearing I have now, even. I hear the same music I loved then so much better now, I have to say that now is the Golden Age of audio. With the resurgence of tube amps and now DIY materials that are better than what is supplied off the shelf, now is the time. Looking back for some better time in audio is like saying the Golden Age of computers was in the '80's or '90's. There may have been more excitement back then for whatever was new, but the quality is now.

True, the quality and technology is better now.

PRELUDE · « **Reply #27 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 01:32 am »

I got the believe the golden age is now and no wonder that the gold is high now because nothing left out there.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/the-%E2%82%AC5000000-speakers-made-of-gold

a.wayne · « **Reply #28 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 08:10 am »

Audio peaked and started declining 20 yrs ago , the only things better now are simulation technology due to Better software . Their is very little new in audio today, the best era was during the 60's-70's where the brightness minds were focused on designing analog systems . Yes digital has brought us forward on the storage front , but nail dragging analog LP's and tapes are still with us today and the preferred voice for those in the know.

So I would Peg the golden era of audio from 1970- 1990 , what we have today, is nothing but repackaged hash from an bygone era ...

spinner · « **Reply #29 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 06:34 pm »

Perhaps you need to listen more to updated digital technology.

rmurray · « **Reply #30 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 06:37 pm »

Bravo to that.

srb · « **Reply #31 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 07:00 pm »

I believe the analog equipment of today is also better performing and a better value (adjusted for inflation).

Steve

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #32 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 07:11 pm »

A Wayne, hi. For those of us in the know? Did you intend to razz our digital enthusiasts with that? I can see everybody's eyebrows go up. Musicwise, I tend to agree with you. Rock music was exploding at the seams in the 60's (everybody had taken LSD) and 70's. So was jazz. The ECM label introduced us to Scandanavian and European players that are superb and we knew little about. Solid state became the new frontier. The Japanese invasion began. And the worst part to me, clubs began closing. I'm not a fan of large venues. Bummer, dude.

werd · « **Reply #33 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 10:21 pm »

Quote from: a.wayne on 23 Jun 2012, 08:10 am

Audio peaked and started declining 20 yrs ago , the only things better now are simulation technology due to Better software . Their is very little new in audio today, the best era was during the 60's-70's where the brightness minds were focused on designing analog systems . Yes digital has brought us forward on the storage front , but nail dragging analog LP's and tapes are still with us today and the preferred voice for those in the know.

So I would Peg the golden era of audio from 1970- 1990 , what we have today, is nothing but repackaged hash from an bygone era ...

I would say it was over in the early 80s. CDs wrecked it. The industry has gotten better at filtering semiconductor noise and punching out a good analogue signal from a dac but the music doesn't compare to 70s in fm charts. Jazz is as good now but everything has a touch of digital glare including the vinyl rigs playback. There is just too much noise polluting our ac. It's just sounds different then I remember.

SteveFord · « **Reply #34 on:** 24 Jun 2012, 02:22 am »

I've been thinking about this thread for the past few days and everybody has made some really great points.
I'm with JohnR on this one: mixing and matching old and new technology has brought me sound quality that I never could have had in years gone by. Sound from an FM tuner from the early 1960s coming out of speakers made in 2012 is far better than anything I could have purchased ten or twenty years ago, digital has gotten better and turntables, cartridges and phono stages have certainly progressed over the years, tube gear (if not the tubes themselves) has gotten better as has solid state.

The quality of the recordings and the music itself, well, there's good and bad like there always was.

I believe that the quality of audio gear will continue to improve over the years and that the golden age lies both ahead of and behind us just as it does now.

a.wayne · « **Reply #35 on:** 24 Jun 2012, 04:33 am »

Quote from: spinner on 23 Jun 2012, 06:34 pm

Perhaps you need to listen more to updated digital technology.

Ok I will throw out my DCS .....

werd · « **Reply #36 on:** 24 Jun 2012, 04:53 am »

Quote from: a.wayne on 24 Jun 2012, 04:33 am

Ok I will throw out my DCS .....

What you say here and your orig. statement don't jive some how.

a.wayne · « **Reply #37 on:** 24 Jun 2012, 05:03 am »

How is that , did I say I didn't have digital ? I was describing what I consider to be the golden era, there are no new discoveries in audio beyond the time frame I listed , the great scientific minds of past are no longer involved , many still favor speakers designed many decades ago or their modern re-hash ..

Regards ,

a.wayne · « **Reply #38 on:** 24 Jun 2012, 05:05 am »

For the record I use and listen to all formats, Spinner needs to get out more often

Darac · « **Reply #39 on:** 3 Jul 2012, 06:53 am »

The golden age of audio is behind us. The design and topology have been developed to 80-ies. Technology has advanced production equipment, but the real question is the price and reliability. When realistic consideration of things, we might notice that today's high-end production is well done as is equal to the former middle class, with the difference that the prices have gone into the stratosphere.