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End of Days [message #54516]

Sat, 24 September 2005 16:12

Manualblock
Messages: 4973
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (13th Degree)

Interesting post on the end of Black Gate caps. You know this hobby is pretty old in terms of hobbies. Look back into the 30's and shortwave guys; 50's and Hi Fi, 60's and stereo onto the present time. I know I posted sometime ago about the crop of hi fi guys getting older; poorer; and less interested. The dwindling of printed resources and the dwindling of posts on internet sites.
The circle turns and sheds participants as it spins. There really only is a small change in sound between the most modern and well engineered equipment and the stuff built in Fisher's old factory; or Harmon & Kardon. The ultmate judgement goes to the most musical then that change grows even less significant.
Guys who pursued the hobby by scrounging junk box transformers and parts did it out of a dedication to getting sound that wasn't available any other way. Now there are DIY'ers building equipment for more money than you can buy it in some web based retailer. When an amp costs over 1k and you had to build it? Where's the point?
Then another aspect I have noticed is the shrinking music man. Back in the day there was a picture of a cartoon guy on the Playboy masthead smoking a pipe and listening to his reel-to-reel; usually jazz of an extremely high calibre. Now I swear many of the post's on the audio sites; the people don't even listen to music; or they are so limited they use up their musical knowledge in two sentences. When the purpose of any hobby is no longer gaining expertise in the objective; but becomes simply an excersize in twiddling variables; well..whats the point?
This is good; the hardcore music lovers will continue in the backwaters trying to improve on their listening experiences and the hustlers and shuksters will fade away into some other potentially lucrative enterprise. Hopefully.

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