Tír Na HiFi

Prices like the above though and the voodoo that Lars peddles isnt doing the hifi industry any favours at all. I tried to encourage a few guys at work during the week to pop in and have a look but mostly they sniggered at hifi in general, their gripe being mainly the silly prices, the voodoo tweaks and pseudo science that surrounds some but certainly not all of hifi.
One of the biggest issues that I see with the hifi industry is their failure to address the issue of an ever ageing customer base. How can they attract newcomers to hifi? Certainly not with voodoo, high prices and the like! That only alienates people and makes the hobby seem either unobtainable, silly or both.

Anyway, I think the hifi brands are missing out on an opportunity to really show what hifi can do at an entry level. Cut out all the bullshit and leave newcomers in no doubt as to what can achieved with a system that's good value yet has quality. That will get them on the path. Advertise in non hifi mags, do something to promote hifi. Ask anyone not familiar with hifi what they think hifi is and they'll most likely say Bose or B&O probably because they've come across them in other mags.

Of course there is also the way mainstream music is these days, with it being manufactured, packaged and listened to on the go through ipods and the like.

So is hifi going to get even more smaller, more specialised, more elitist?

This is probably a rant for another thread! :-)

Diapason wrote:On the thread about the show, DaveF said:

Prices like the above though and the voodoo that Lars peddles isnt doing the hifi industry any favours at all. I tried to encourage a few guys at work during the week to pop in and have a look but mostly they sniggered at hifi in general, their gripe being mainly the silly prices, the voodoo tweaks and pseudo science that surrounds some but certainly not all of hifi.
One of the biggest issues that I see with the hifi industry is their failure to address the issue of an ever ageing customer base. How can they attract newcomers to hifi? Certainly not with voodoo, high prices and the like! That only alienates people and makes the hobby seem either unobtainable, silly or both.

Anyway, I think the hifi brands are missing out on an opportunity to really show what hifi can do at an entry level. Cut out all the bullshit and leave newcomers in no doubt as to what can achieved with a system that's good value yet has quality. That will get them on the path. Advertise in non hifi mags, do something to promote hifi. Ask anyone not familiar with hifi what they think hifi is and they'll most likely say Bose or B&O probably because they've come across them in other mags.

Of course there is also the way mainstream music is these days, with it being manufactured, packaged and listened to on the go through ipods and the like.

So is hifi going to get even more smaller, more specialised, more elitist?

This is probably a rant for another thread! :-)

I agree that this deserves its own thread, so here it is. I don't have time to contribute at the mo, but let's just say I agree with most of this, and disagree with some of it.

Anyone else like to wade in?

dhyantyke wrote: Um...yeah. To me the hifi scene really can seem a bit opaque and therefore elitist: But, I think that's inevitable to some degree when you have, on this forum for example, people who have obviously a huge degree of experience and understanding of the field..........

I got a reply from Fran in recent post re digital audio which was helpful in breaking into simple language/logical progression what the options were....I imagine to others that would read like describing the wheel. And I'm keen to get the best sound I can to my ears .........

DaveF wrote: I mean how do you show people with an interest in music what hifi can do and what they are missing out on due to ipods etc. Will they even care?

Ivor wrote:

dhyantyke wrote: Um...yeah. To me the hifi scene really can seem a bit opaque and therefore elitist: But, I think that's inevitable to some degree when you have, on this forum for example, people who have obviously a huge degree of experience and understanding of the field..........

I got a reply from Fran in recent post re digital audio which was helpful in breaking into simple language/logical progression what the options were....I imagine to others that would read like describing the wheel. And I'm keen to get the best sound I can to my ears .........

this is something that comes up every now and again and needs to be addressed immediately and in the clearest possible terms. Since it's inception this forum has deliberately, and by its very nature, been non elitist. There are members here with high end systems and there are members here with very modest systems. There are experts here and there are people like myself who are learning all the time. There is no snobbery here, no sneering (except at BOSE) and no preaching.