Stereo is dead - FT 18.11.2003

P14 of Tuesday's Financial Times carried an article entitled "The sound of the stereo fades into history".

Interesting facts from the article:

"Sales in the US of home audio components such as stand-alone comact disc players and stereo amplifiers were down by almost 30 per cent in the first half of this year according to the Consumer Electronics Association."

"In 1999, according to CEA figures, 270,000 stand-alone audio components were sold in the uS. This year the total is likely to be 20,000"

Talking abot Marantz "But even the company founded by legendary audio engineer Saul Marantz believes that two-channel audio will - like vacuum tube amplification and vinyl LPs before it - soon be a market only for enthusiasts."

Anyone interested can PM me for a copy of the full article - or maybe a moderator can contact the FT for permission to use it or provide a link?

 

I think there's no harm in providing a link allthough I think the FT site is password protected for subscribers only.

Michael.

 

http://search.ft.com/search/article...query=stereo&vsc_appId=totalSearch&state=Form

 

Thanks Paul - I wasn't sure if you were allowed to like to someone elses site without permission.

 

For anyone who grew up in the shadow of old-fashioned hi-fi, this means not only adjusting your shopping habits but also learning a new social etiquette. Gone are the days when chaps could bond by comparing pre-amps.



Ive just bought a new pre-amp.

Go ahead and bond - buck the system!!!!!! rage against it!

Them yanks!!! wrong about the gulf war, wrong about multi-channel! (well, in my little mind, and thats all that counts!!)

 

Technicaly you do need to get permision but its one of them laws that nobody cares about. The internet would not work very well if nobody linked to other peoples sites. Nobody really cares to be honest.

The only people that care are people like the BBC who will get permision before they include any external links.

I am not sure what the exact law is or anything though.

 

You actually need links to your site to get good search engine rankings with Google. As Google is currently the only search engine game in town, links are crucial. However, the links are rated according to the 'importance' of the site doing the linking.

Most web site owners are delighted when other sites link to their own.

 

People are using DVD players as CD players - 'tis as simple as that.

The figures arent showing that people are listening to stereo less - just showing that people (in the mainstream) are happy with CD's through TV speakers.

Bad news.

 

I think that there are a number of worrying implications for those, like us, interested in high fidelity two channel reproduction:

1) There will soon be no introductory path for the youth of today into decent stereo reproduction - no more Marantz, NAD, Technics, Pioneer, etc. separates systems

2) Although people may still listen to 2 channel through their music server or AV setup, they will do so whilst doing something else - no more sitting down to listen to a piece of music.

3) Yes, you can play CD's through a DVD player, but the focus there is always going to be the picture not the sound.

4) For anyone trying to start up a company manufacturing 2 channel components, it will be very hard to get funding.

5) The number of specialist manufacturers will decline, reducing our choise and reducung the resale/trade in value of any components we already have.

I believe that this trend is not unique to the USA - just look at the 'review' TAG McLaren is undertaking of its product line up.

 

We recently acquired a DVD player (a Panasonic S75 (I think, something like that anyway)). It lives in the same cabinet as No.1 Linn active system and the TV, and it's wired to play through the Linn. I tried it out as a CD player against the Mimik. There's no doubt, it's not as good as the Mimik - the presentation is "lightweight" in comparison - but on the other hand, it's not bad, and heard in isolation it would satisfy 99.9% of the population. Put it this way, if I had no basis for comparison, I'd be happy too. The FT might well be right.

 

low end hi-fi has been dying of for quite a while in the face of dvd and multichannel. however it would be nice to see the figures for those spending a bit more per component, the american electronics chain mentioned in the article is the equivalent of dixons, currys or comet. if one of these chains were to say that sales of their 'hi-fi' components was down how much would you worry? (or is that being elitist?)
if someone gets the hi-fi bug then they are going to want the best reproduction of the music in their library, that they can afford. at present this will be predominantly 2 channel and so there will be a market for 2 channel reproduction equipment. when a multichannel format appears that displaces cd as the dominant format, that's when the alarm bells will start to ring. if the dvd forum can get a cd compatible dvd-a (chumpf) and sell it for the same price as the cd then this may just happen.
cheers

julian

 

In Italy we have a big problem:the paper reviews.
They say that a terrificant Onkyo 600 is fine for music,excellent they say , and also better than to buy only a stereo,so these is where we go.
It's the reason that I push Chinese hi-end and low end fine products:the only possibility to demostrate the true value of stereo or multiple stereo also for Home Cinema
.

 

About marantz

No for Marantz is not true.
They made two fine products (in China)like cd 5400 and PM7200:these sure are fine for music and stereo.
What we have to promote is that is possible to make fine cinema systems using multiple stereo amplifiers,also economy amplifiers are better that HT integrated by far.