When Was The Audio Golden Age?
I looked at the Vintage section here for the first time. It made me speculate on what other forum users would view as the best era in Audio. For me it is the present. The level of quality is just so high, and the choice is there. Tube fanciers, for example, are able to indulge in a way that was impossible 3 decades ago, and analog lovers are very well set. And even my mid Fi secondary systems probably outshine most high end systems from decades agoHowever when one hears a well restored tube based system, play one speaker from the mid to late 1940s it can dazzle and seduce. So what do others think? Are we at the summit now, or did we hit the top in past and have we taken a few steps down?
You are not wrong! Yesterday i entered ectasy with my Sansui alpha from year 1980 and my AKG K340 from year 1979... Ratio S.Q. /price impossible to beat ! Every night is golden! 😊
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@erik_squires wrote:
I believe they entered the market in ’84 and were replaced by the A/IIIi’s a few years later, if memory serves me correct. |
For me it was 70’s -90’s. I call it the Audio Center days. I recall 6 dedicated audio salons on Oahu. 2 "high end". Hanson’s place in Kahala and super underground Alston. Lafayette, Holiday Mart, Shirokiya and tv repair shops had their stereo corners. I don’t know if the military PX still sells stereos. Lots. LOTS of military were into stereo. From high mass market high fi, went crazy. The "Power Wars". Then this guy Mark Levinson shows up with a 25 Watt power amp. I don’t remember $2500 pr. or $2500 per channel. Stax, Magnepan, Audio Research, IRS, HQD, Hill Plasmatronics, Luxman, Wilson Audio, Koetsu, Linn... came on the scene. However, I recognize and appreciate the advancements of audio today. But not as exciting for me as it was back in the day. |
