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Return of Stereo and Hi-fi?

I might try to ckeck out the show in Orange County. However the people in the LA and OC Audio society are the types who believe in designer power cords.... :laughing-rolling:
 
My system in my guest room is strictly stereo (and I wanna keep it that way) I like multi channel music in my great room, but to me it's more of a novelty, but when I get down to serious listening, I sit in the sweet spot of my guest/office room, turn on my Denon 4802 (discrete stereo mode all video processing off to get higher end audio out) hooked up to my 80's Kenwood Citation 16 stereo amp with huge transformers inside, hooked up to my AV123 Strata Minis (which I loved but Flint hated....no accounting for taste huh Flint :teasing-neener: ) put on some good CD's and just relax, sitting on my bed with my eyes closed enjoying music the best way in stereo.
 
A few years back I was thinking about replacing my speakers and buying some high quality ones. So I sold my surrounds and my center speakers and kept my mains and my sub for now. I have not missed the missing speakers at all. In fact I'm thinking of skipping 5.1 with my next purchase.

6
 
Ever since I bought the La Scalas, it has been 2.1 channel for music! SACD's and DVD-A are played in High Resolution Stereo and I've never heard better sound! I'm not saying there isn't better systems, but the La Scalas are the most amazing/dynamic speakers I've ever owned.

As Matt mentioned, when it comes to "Serious Listening", the lights go out, the volume goes up and I've never experienced anything like it. Pure Stereo Bliss!


Dennie :romance-cloud9:
 
I did recently "downgrade" my HT from 7.1 to 5.1 and moved the back surrounds upstairs for a stereo setup. It's not ideal since the bed, etc. is in the room.

I love my HT, but I do wish I had a spare room for a killer two channel rig. All I would have for input sources would be a Squeezebox, a DVD-A/SACD/CD player, and a decent turntable. I can picture the back wall as a shelf unit with my music collection and only a single chair in the room for me with my speakers and gear up front.
 
I don't think stereo music listening has declined at all over the past 40 years. In fact, I would argue that the percentage of people who really, really love amazing musical reproduction experiences has expanded over the past 40 years.

What I believe is happinging is that there is always a pop-culture element to any personal entertainment technology which has always been shifting. From 1950 until the mid-80s having what was culturally recognized as a "high-fidelity" stereo system was considered a sign of success, made you more appear intellectual, and was a modern variation on asking a girl to come upstairs to "look at your engravings" (look it up). At a certain point in time, the cool technological toy to own shifted from a killer stereo to a primitive HT (BetaMax, LaserDisc, 25" Color TV) to eventually full surround sound systems, to today I believe it is the iPad and iPhone (I see more people bragging about their iPad and showing it off in public than I see people actually using them in public). That is the fate of technologies.

So, while the popularity of stereo waned when the pop-culture, want to be part of something, desperate for validation, trying like hell to get laid crowd shifted to video, big screen TVs (I remember listening to people brag about the total diagonal inches of their projector screens), pagers, mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, etc., --- I think those who have learned to love stereo music are a growing crowd.

Music can become so incredibly enlightening to the soul. It can provide solace, joy, peace, and lift one up and out of the day to day stress of work, life, and trying to get by in the world. It is accessable to all and no one class has ownership of its pleasures. When a popularity seeker buys his first iPod (or whatever cool technological music whiz-bang gadget is popular at that moment), he is exposed to something amazing. At first it is attention he craves, but over time having an experience with the music replaces trying to annoy all the other cars on the road by having the loudest subwoofers. Finding the spiritual escape becomes more important than the angry lyrics of a rapper or the boom, boom, boom of a synthesized nuclear explosion. Music collections shift from being tools to show off and impress others (and ourselves) to being methods of ethereal flight.

Yes, no matter how we got here - those of us who truly love music and the only true method for experiencing the raw, unadulterated forms of music (Stereo) ---- no matter how we discovered it: through the angst of youth, through the power and control of boom cars, through the whiz-bang excitement of technology, through whatever means --- however we got here, we love to stop the daily grind, forget about life and worries for a few hours, and get lost in a universe which only exists in sound, patterns, rhythms, melodies, poetry, and gorgeous connections with God.
 
One of the girls I work with sits with Ben and me during our breaks (yes, we still got game) and often she'll jokingly poke at us whenever Ben and me "geek out" on this hobby. She's often asked us what justifies that this "overpriced" stuff is better than the black boxes at Walmart for hundreds of dollars less.

I think she's beginning to see the light, but I also don't expect her to ditch anything she has now and put together something nice to enjoy her music better. At the same she does seem to try to understand what ben and me are talking about and not rolling her eyes about it. I got to giver her credit for that.


But I agree about stereo music listening in general not declining. I get where I listen to it more than than ever before (I'm listening now while posting here). There's been many times, I'll have the boy sitting on the couch listening to music and he seems to really enjoy it as much as I do. That's makes me very happy.
 
Listening to stereo music as a sole form of entertainment has indeed declined drastically over the years. More people "listen" to stereo, whether through a home system or through an iPod, smart phone or whatever, but it is overwhelmingly done as background while they are doing something else. Almost nobody sits down and does nothing but listen to music in stereo. Far more people peck away at their smart phone than entertain themselves by listening to music on their stereo systems. We are a tiny minority; while stereo listening may be making a "comeback" of sorts, it will never make as strong a penetration as it was before there were so many other diversions as we now have.
 
Flint said:
I don't thing stereo music listening has declined at all over the past 40 years. In fact, I would argue that the percentage of people who really, really love amazing musical reproduction experiences has expanded over the past 40 years.


Yes, no matter how we got here - those of us who truly love music and the only true method for experiencing the raw, unadulterated forms of music (Stereo) ---- no matter how we discovered it: through the angst of youth, through the power and control of boom cars, through the whiz-bang excitement of technology, through whatever means --- however we got here, we love to stop the daily grind, forget about life and worries for a few hours, and get lost in a universe which only exists in sound, patterns, rhythms, melodies, poetry, and gorgeous connections with God.

:text-bravo:
 
I've got 2.1 and a 2.0 system. I think about surrounds but when I did it just recently I hardly used it and didn't really care a whole bunch. 2 good speakers does pretty damn good, and the sub still gives me fun stuff. Watching Tron over Bats made me realize I don't care about surrounds any more.
 
I got "into" HT in 1998 and finally got a 5.1 system.... So I basically started with a 5.1 system and now when I listen to music it's strictly stereo.
 
Agree also, great post Flint.

I tend to gravitate to a good movie for the full sight and sound. 5.1 is for me.
When I do drop a music CD, I do switch to 2.1 and play the music with lights dimmed and a good drink in hand.
 
````````````````
Great post, Flint . . . Well done.

I maintain a 5.1 system, but the majority of the time it's set to 2.1
for music listening.
I like and enjoy it all, but my ultimate preference is stereo.
`
[ read first line of my signature ]

` ` ` `Music make the world go 'round
` ` ` :handgestures-thumbup:
 
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