What is HiFi ?

I was chatting with a friend who recounted an argument that he had had with an associate ...it went something like this.

Ass... I don't believe any speakers that cost less than £25K can be classed as HiFi
Fr... What do you mean ?
Ass.. Well ...there are no speakers bellow that price point that are any good
Fr.. What about x y and z [various speaker makes]
Ass.. None are anywhere near perfect they are all compromised either by design or manufacture just look at the specs ....
Fr..... silence [lost for words]

ok so you get the picture if the Ass.. is out there I've paraphrased and shortened the acrimonious exchange.



Firstly does this have adherents ?

and if thats the case maybe we should be looking to rename the gear we have into the following ....!

No Fi.......less than £1k
Lo Fi.......less than £10k <£1k
Mid Fi.....less than £25k < £10k
Hi Fi ......any thing over the £25k

Which neatly puts all my gear into the No Fi and Lo Fi



As an aside ...

When was the term HiFi first used ......I've seen mention in books going back to 1958, but it must have been about earlier?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fidelity

 

When I periodically catch an expensive case of itchy upgraditis (from hanging around somewhere public, usually) it relieves the itching if I remember that the "hi" in hi-fi is short for "high" not "highest". If my goal were "highest" I'd never get there, but "high" is attainable. It's a bit like what satisficing means.

 

Hifi is not an absolute; any equipment, however costly, represents a compromise or set of compromises. The trick is to jump off the upgrade escalator at a point where your system is 'good enough' and/or before bankruptcy looms.

 

I'm not sure that money spent has much if anything to do with it.

 

It clearly has something to do with it, otherwise a £60 mini system might qualify as hifi, but I agree to the extent that cost is not an automatic guarantee of quality.

 

I agree.

 

I've listened to one or two six figure systems over in America which would give me considerably less pleasure/involvement than I get listening to my Hacker kitchen radio. High price is no guarantee of anything.

 

If the said £60 mini system reproduces playback "accurately" then what's the issue? I also agree that money is a guarantee of quality.

 

Tesco sells HiFi systems starting at £17.97 here ... you even get 17 club points as well.

 

out of stock tho...

 

you are right. You would have to push the boat out and get one of these. A whole 2 quid more though.

PS. Pete, are there any speaker systems at any price that aren't some sort of compromise? Which over £25k speaker systems did this chap think were perfect and UNcompromised I wonder.

 

I think it is also a different matter with speakers than electronics.

 

I'm sure that's why they created "reference"... although I know of a lot of mountain bikes that have "professional" written on them

 

Is "reference" better than "signature" then?

 

:baby:

 

I had a discussion with a friend of mine once....

We came to the conclusion that anything that exhalted it's superiority in it's actual trade name clearly wasn't... for example...

"quality hotel'' is likely to be anything but

"best quality jam" probably cheap shit with loads of chemicals etc

 

Hi fi is short for High Fidelity. So anything with high fidelity can be considered Hi Fi. Its high end that defines our stuff. The inexpensive combos, low end, Sony recievers and the like Mid Fi.
I believe it was Harry pearson of the Absolute Sound who created the term High End. Great for business bad for us.
The concept of the "High End Shop" is just that very expensive stuff.


rollo

 

but what I'm asking I suppose, is can we consider even the modest systems sold by tesco hifi and if not when does such then become hifi....what barrier do they need to cross ?

I dabbled with the t amps at £20 each these were in the right circumstances better sounding than a £600 amp I had around at the time.

Are we saying that the argument that no speakers under £25k are hifi [ worth listening too] is facile..in the extreme, which it is in my opinion?

 

I suppose it depends how big an arse Ass is.
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