Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo So what are ya listening to tonight?

The Chicago Principal On Deutsche Grammophon, wonderful 2 cd set of Concertos.
Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Benjamin Britten, Maurice Revel.
In all there are 8 compositions featuring the “Principle chairs” of the CSO recorded in
the Medina Temple from 1976 to 1984. Individual Concertos written for Trumpet,
French Horn, Oboe, Bassoon and Tuba. To my thinking not all are concertos but excellent
none the less.
Jeff

I read this thought a few weeks back and it recently got me thinking as i visited a local audio shop looking to buy a media centre. Of course while i was there i had to listen to a few things including some Spendor floorstandings and the latest Monitor Audio Gold 200 series (still have this on my bucket list of brands to buy at some point). I bought along my trusty CDs (2) of selected songs that i've used to demo speakers which goes as far back as my first trip to the Axiom factory (circa 2004). Upon seeing his setup i realized he didn't have any CDp connected in the chain. For a high end audio store, this is odd. The fellow mentioned that everyone and everything is going streaming now so he doesn't bother with CDp anymore and he streams Tidal when people want to listen to something.
Then he had to search for a few tracks on my discs because i wasn't going to ask him to look for all 28 tracks i had over both CDs.
His setup was running Tidal (from his phone/tablet), through a Sonos box (new version) through Rotel gear then to the speakers. Again, i would have thought even modern audiophiles would poo poo this idea especially by putting the Sonos in the chain.

Anyway, long story short is that this thread about the streaming services came to mind. I couldn't recall if someone had also mentioned 'problems' with Tidal related to its audio quality.
Is there some way that a spectral diagram, frequency response of sorts could be recorded from both a Spotify and Tidal playback for comparison?
I would love to see differences, and maybe even compared to a CDp playback of the same material.

That is inconceivable on two fronts
1) the quality of streamed media is at best, uhmmmm, spotty (not to disparage one of those popular services )
2) if your evaluating speakers you need your own material in a known format. There are already too many variables to evaluating anything in store ... and this one is a biggie.

I have not walked into an audio shop, no less a high-end one, for many years ...
but seems like one may need to bring your test tracks on a USB stick now a days

"Is there some way that a spectral diagram, frequency response of sorts could be recorded from both a Spotify and Tidal playback for comparison?"

This would be easy to do off the Air Transformer.

I guess there's two lines of thinking here; supply all the connecting gear in case any customer is a discerning audiophile and wants to use whatever media they bring, or second, hook up what everyone is primarily using these days.

By the sounds of it, few customers come into his store anymore with CDs. Those who consider wanting to listen to a media type either bring their own gear or he can set up something with advance notice, otherwise he streams songs from Tidal.

I asked a bunch of questions about the latest in his business trends, also topics around how covid affected his business. In brief:
-since covid started he's been even busier with a steady stream of customers (only via appt) coming in.
-He's been selling mostly two channel stereo setups (VERY little home theatre setup).
-Most clients have/bring with them digital device media.
-He no longer carries any bookshelf speakers because they never sell. When he did carry some of them, Monitor Audio being one of his brands, he mostly sold the cheaper models (e.g. MA Bronze, not Silver or Gold or Platinum).
These are all interesting trends, some of which might be explainable. These are purely my thoughts as guesstimates.

Why mostly stereo setups and busy lately?
People are at home, have money to spend if they have income, getting into things to keep them busy or entertained, i can see why some turn to music and looking for quality gear. I've found myself looking at some newer speakers and media room electronics lately but on my part, i was looking to start replacing some of the very old theatre electronics pre-covid.

Why not selling much Home theatre stuff?
IMO because it is a saturated market. So many soundbars out there, cheap 5.1 systems by many manufacturers, streaming systems like Sonos setups make it so much easier, plug and play vs. setting up floorstanding speakers with components and wires and...

Why all digital devices and no CDs anymore?
Everyone knows the answer to this and the audio guy is right; everything is going streaming. I was (still am) contemplating a 4k Bluray player BUT, we don't have any 4k movies, don't really plan on loading up on any, would prefer having a UHD streaming service. So why am i thinking about buying this Bluray DVDP then? Because of the discs we do own, i think i would want to replace a whole bunch with bluray versions.
However, if they all become available for streaming online through some service, then i won't care. In all probability i won't buy one so i'm following that current trend, everything is going streaming.

One interesting thing he did say which i also thought i would never hear from a high end audio shop owner is about speaker "type". He said that in the past, he used to ask customers what they listened to and from that he would try to match up a pair of speakers for that sound (a falsehood to some extent of course as rationale people know). Nowadays he believes/observed that so many people have access to all ranges of music without having to buy a cd that he finds more people are listening to everything. No longer do people respond by saying i only listen to classical because they are listening to anything since it's easy to do so with streaming services. As such, he feels that speaker companies have been....wait for it....making their speakers more "neutral and accurate" so that it doesn't matter what you listen to.
I really smirked at that comment.
I actually found it refreshing that a person who clearly had pushed some audio myths for years is coming around to the realization that audio science has known for a very long time already.

It was a good visit but still am surprised about a few things. Almost makes me wonder if the larger world of audio snobbery is shrinking.

You take that on as a project Mojo.
I have to put together a closet door tonight and then assemble a new electric mower and trimmer for the weekend. I"m swamped.

Hi Chess

My go-to audio shop is Excel Audio in Newport Beach. Mike doesn't sell home theater systems, although folks buy his speakers for high end HT systems. He sells 2 channel systems.

His least expensive speakers are KEF LS50s, they are not very popular. Next up the audio food chain are the Wharfedale Lintons, a very nice book shelf speaker. He sells a lot of them. Folks tend to pair them with Rogue or Line Magnetic EL34 tube amps (an absolute steal at about $2000.

He is sold out of the Harbeth 30.2s (I helped). These are not inexpensive, but truly wonderful speakers. People pair their Harbeths mostly with Luxman KT88 power amps and preamps. The combination makes beautiful music.

He also sold a fair amount of TAD large stand-mount speakers.

Most of his sales are Wilson speakers paired with Dagostino electronics.

Excel has a great selection of LPs. Folks who audition at Excel rarely bring CDs but instead listen to Tidal through the Gold Note, Aurender or DCS DAC streamers. They sound great, but not as good as vinyl. I picked up a Feikert Woodpecker with a Koetsu Black Goldline cart, but the high rollers usually go with the Clear Audio offerings. He sells a lot of Koetsu Rosewoods and Goldfingers.

I think it may be problematic to generalize about industry trends from a single audio shop. Probably pretty dependent on locale and demographics. High end audio is doing fine.

Edited

Hi Chess

My go-to audio shop is Excel Audio in Newport Beach. Mike doesn't sell home theater systems, although folks buy his speakers for high end HT systems. He sells 2 channel systems.

His least expensive speakers are KEF LS50s, they are not very popular. Next up the audio food chain are the Wharfedale Lintons, a very nice book shelf speaker. He sells a lot of them. Folks tend to pair them with Rogue or Line Magnetic EL34 tube amps (an absolute steal at about $2000).

He is sold out of the Harbeth 30.2s (I helped). These are not inexpensive, but truly wonderful speakers. People pair their Harbeths mostly with Luxman KT88 power amps and preamps. The combination makes beautiful music. I saved a couple of bucks and went with the Line Magnetic 845 Premium, 30 wpc Single End Triode integrated (300Bs, 310As, 845s and a pair of 12ax7s [upgraded to Emission Labs 300Bs and Amperex Bugle Boy 12ax7s 1965 NOS].

He also sold a fair amount of TAD large stand-mount speakers.

Most of his sales are Wilson speakers paired with Dagostino electronics. The Wilson Tune Tots are incredible stand mount speakers.

Excel has a great selection of LPs. Folks who audition at Excel rarely bring CDs but instead listen to Tidal through the Gold Note, Aurender or DCS DAC streamers. They sound great, but not as good as vinyl. I picked up a Dr. Feikert Woodpecker with a Koetsu Black Goldline cart, but the high rollers usually go with the Clear Audio offerings. He sells a lot of Koetsu Rosewoods and Goldfingers.

I think it may be problematic to generalize about industry trends from a single audio shop. Probably pretty dependent on locale and demographics. High end audio is doing fine during the Wuhan Plague shutdown, at least down here in Orange County by the Pacific Ocean.

Joe Bonamassa, Live at the Greek, Thrill is Gone and Nobody Loves Me but my Mother.
Doesn’t get any better than this.
Ok maybe Cadillac Assembly Line too!
Jeff
And I’m probably playing it louder than I should but no one’s home but me!
Hope my neighbors like the blues.

Ludovico Einaudi, Devinere. Love him.