Stereophile Article - Holt telling it like it is.

Gordon Holt is saying that the audio hobby became the audio industry in the 1980s. The emphasis was moved from audio performance to sales performance. The components became products. The days when we cared more about sound than appearances are forgotten by most of us.
Our entire society has become commodified. Movie reviews, if there are any, are buried in the entertainment section but the movie grosses are front page.
So, as the audio industry matures, it becomes more mainstream. And, as it becomes more mainstream, it caters ever more to the median demographic. You guys have complained about music offerings declining in quality because of too little demand for quality recordings. This trend will continue to worsen. And you will eventually notice that it is happening to your hardware also.
The American corporation behaves like Pacman, gobbling up everything in its path. The only reason we haven't been gobbled yet is our meager dollar value. But just watch .......... Apple is coming. Computer audio is the future.

I am inclined to agree with the opinion that most modern recordings suck.Why do you suppose so many have gone the vintage route? Surely the opposite of what Holt is stating.
The vintage gear sugar coats the bad overly compressed and thin digital recordings we have today.The best of the new stuff only reveals all the warts.
The companies who may be guilty of trying to make silk out of a pigs ear of modern recording can not really be faulted. They are trying to make this dredge palatable.
I would rather listen to good old recordings on new gear than bad new recordings on old gear.
Two wrongs don't make a right.

The more I read the responses the more wide I see the gap in this hobby between two camps.
In one camp we have the "enthusiasts", who read the mags, check out the gear and tweaks and buy if it meets their own expectations, money is not always the deciding factor.
Then there are the "musiclovers" who scoff at the prices of todays gear, don't believe in tweaks and feel vintage gear is all you need to spend your money on.
At one time there wasn't so much polarization, even I could afford a top of the line CJ system ,Premier Two and MV75A-1 amp with an Oracle table and Acoustat 3, Janus sub system.Not so today.I can't even afford some of the entry level CJ stuff, so I can see where the vintage people's heads are at.They can achieve apiece of the dream. But that was the dream of 1985.There are a lot more good sounding components at entry level price points than there was in 1985.Back then if you wanted good sound you had to pay for it, and the only difference between then and now is that more people could afford the top shelf gear.
Sour grapes and not having the means to buy the "best"is at the core of the anti- Hi End movement.
Holt I fear has lost his hearing if he feels the trend today is to a lush sound.What he is not hearing is the distortions of those flawed systems of the past.

My music selections are based on desire when it comes to new fare. I look for re-mastered old fare. The Christmas music I have tell the story. Some discs containing old favorites, like Bing Crosby, are simply atrocious sounding. There is a re-mastered Nat King Cole that is amazing. Newer ones, like with Diana Krall are beautifully recorded to start with.

As for a warm lush sound, spare me please. Friends with all tube gear wonder why I don't wish to go there. It's simple. They want, "Beautiful." I want, "Real."

I don't have anything advertised in the main mags. I would not exchange any component I have with anything they do advertise.

I have, "Celtic Women Christmas," on now. Great recording, but the content gags me. :)

I disagree with Mr. Holt concerning today's equipment or even fine solid state gear from 25 to 35 years ago. My system has what in 2005-6 was moderately high priced gear (EAR 890/864/324/Acute now 25% higher priced) which sounds somewhat superior to much older equipment. My modified Dynaco 70 in my living room represents the best of older gear, about 85% as good as the 890. My speakers used are a bargain, the Legacy Focus (and Sig IIIs in the living room), usually found at $2,500 or less on Audiogon. HDs are relatively affordable when compared to top end speakers. Holt is wrong concerning front end gear with my VPI VI/modified SME IV/Benz Ruby 3 on a seismic sink (could by DIYed inexpensively) and the Acute CD player-they among the best for the price which isn't cheap.

The one item which almost didn't exist in audio equipment was interconnects and speaker wire. Designs continue to evolve from the 70s (Fulton), although prices bear little sense with value (I use Grover IC and speaker cable exclusively-relatively inexpensive 2007 SC 1 designs are at the low end of cost). The difference the speaker and ICs make on all of my systems, including my TV systems using Yamaha CR 620 & 1020 receivers is utterly amazing. So Mr. Holt doesn't see the fantastic improvements.

Every era has its dross and overpriced so called "improved" audio gear. The classics are great as are much of the present day gear.

My problem is with the recordings. My friends include Robert Pincus (Cisco) Kevin Grey (Acous Tech) & Steve Hoffman (formerly DCC). The recording technique of the past was superior. The new technology would allow for great recordings but in the case of mass marketed rock and pop, it's the producers that won't allow great sound. Compression is the name of the game as is the lack of good music. I now enjoy my wife's 70's and 80's rock with my good equipment but then about 1995, producers and music went downhill. More like pablum. The taste is missing. (Although I do get to hear great new classical music from lesser known currently alive composers and perform with an orchestra that dedicates itself to new music-mostly melodic, not 12 tone or weird stuff).

Mr. Holt, the problem has more to do with the lack of great music composition, even if it were simplistic (lot's of pop crap from the 20th C. is memorable because of the music line-a melody, harmonies, etc. with non-sense lyrics). Today's music is just boring. My friends say the same thing and my daughter's (teen-age) friends are always astounded when they hear earlier rock (forget the opera) and jazz on my various audio systems.

It's the music. The audio gear is mostly, just fine and has gotten better.

No, I don't like MP3s generally-compression is the reason. I do like CDs now, because I get so much music out of them when they use the master tape and don't erred in transferring (often, just misaligned tape heads or not using the correct tape e.q. ruins a transfer).

That's my five cents (cause I covered a lot, not two cents). Enjoy your music.