When Was The Audio Golden Age?

Today is the current peak with computer modeling, testing, measurements, and materials engineering plus the ability to analyze and compare results quickly has improved so many manufacturing practices.  The improvements in fuel efficiency and horsepower/weight improvements in cars is amazing.

I would expect that improvements in hifi would continue with advancements in modeling and engineering.

The term Golden Age has traditionally referred to the 1050’s and 60’s, when the KLH 9, Quad ESL, Klipschorn, Bozak, and Hartley loudspeakers were state-of-the-art (along with the Hartley 18" subwoofer)---with the new AR-3 nipping at their heels, powered by either Marantz or McIntosh tube electronics, and a Thorens TD-124 or Garrard 301/401 turntable fitted with an SME 3009 arm and a range of cartridges. These were all products of the WWII generation of hi-fi engineers, who got to work after returning home from the war.

The next era began at the dawn of the 1970’s, with the appearance of Bill Johnson (Audio Research Corp.), Jim Winey (Magnepan), and countless others whose new products replaced those listed above. But those 50’s/60’s products held their value, and are now of course considered classics, in general more so than those of the 70’s.

Then there are the recordings and resulting LP’s, primarily the RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence. They were brought to the attention of 70’s-era audiophiles by Harry Pearson and his colleagues in The Absolute Sound Magazine, and thereafter rose dramatically in value.

I agree regarding the 60’s and 70’s. Huge gains in speaker technology, turntables, and then you had the receiver wars. I would compare all the monster receivers of the 70’s to the muscle car era on the 60’s and early 70’s. They can’t outperform modern vehicles but great lookers and still a lot of fun to own and use.  Every town had at least one local stereo shop and a decent size city had multiple.
 

Then you have the dark ages. Started with the near death of vinyl due to the cd and the invention of 5 channel surround. You could hardly find anything that wasn’t black  and the  focus was running 5 and then 7 channel systems that ran double duty for movies and music play back.

We are now in another golden age though. Great speakers, huge gains in digital, tons of options for high end audio whether from the companies that weathered the storm and recovered or new boutique manufacturers. The only thing missing is you have to go to a large metro area to see great audio. We have your Best Buy’s etc but the small local shops are long gone. That’s a metro area of about 1m. Hard to compete with the internet.

"And I'm surfing on a wave of nostalgia for an age yet to come" - Buzzcocks 1978

@tylermunns 

 In the sixties people were happy with AM transistor radios and jukeboxes.  I remember car radios being blasted for all they were worth.  Idiots that can’t appreciate how to reproduce music properly, or are interested in using music to assault others, have always been with us