Is this forum still active?

Hello,
looking at the lack traffic and replies here, I have to wonder where everyone has gone?
Social Media groups somewhere perhaps?

 

Yep it's a bit of a mystery when it used to be an active forum.

 

I try to do my bit

Did Rob Holt once own this forum?

Hmm.... "Admin/Owner" and only 2 posts? Joined Nov '23? The plot thickens

 

A year or so ago, I tried to reply to threads, at least enough to get a discussion going, but found I was mostly talking to myself.

Hopefully, the forum will restart under new owner. It would be nice if the focus was on technical and objective matters, and not descend into yet another subjective, all opinions are equally valid, foo-laden pile of crap as most other audio forums have become.

S.

 

It would certainly be nice if it could become an active forum once more yes! Quite what that requires and why it has become so deathly quiet are another matter.... A pattern of new members joining, seemingly to ask one specific question, and then never being seen again can be clearly seen.


I concur, by and large, with your own opinions as stated in your last sentence... but even there differences abound, eg I consider the differences between amplifiers to be MASSIVE (yes even similarly measuring ones) and pretty much as important as those between speakers but some believe all amps that measure well to sound the same.... obviously I consider everything said about cables, interconnects, plugs and sockets, fuses, supports for non microphonic equipment, etc etc to be a "foo-laden pile of crap" though yes!

A current (sorry!) bugbear of mine is aftermarket external PSU's and the way that the uneducated seem to think they are always a good idea and make huge improvements irrespective of the circuit topology in use and whether it's even possible for a "better" external PSU to make any difference in a particular instance.

At the end of the day though we've been here before countless times and unfortunately hifi in this day and age is the province of the tantric mystic and snake oil seller... worse still, such is the all pervasive influence of profit-from-foo that the average punter is bombarded by complete lies and BS from every angle... Anyone who actually knows what they are talking about and has a solid engineering background is actually regarded as a lunatic maverick!! Unfortunately where once upon a time audiophiles would learn from respected technical reviewers and hefty engineering tomes they now "learn" from said snake oil pushers and virtually every magazine, dealer, manufacturer and internet site related to hi fi is plying the same "foo-laden pile of crap" and "hey... if 90% of world opinion is saying the same thing it must be right!".... With the industry making nearly as much money from snake oil as from equipment sales I'm afraid voices such as ours Serge are now lost in the wind

 

Hi Shaggy,
As the new owner of the Forum, perhaps you might like to introduce yourself, and give us some idea of your plans for developing the forum.

When Rob and Simon were involved with the forum (I'd never heard of Ian) I was happy to help with replies, and I've seen Jez (Arkless) quite active too. It would be nice to have another active audio forum that was mainly technical.

S.

 

Hi fi is a topic which is in many regards entirely technical as it is the product of electronic, electrical, mechanical and acoustic engineering. However to the majority of end users this is all "here be dragons".... hence the situation where large percentages of end users believe total twaddle about magic fuses and enchanted wires etc. A certain amount of technical knowledge is required in order to recognise the difference between fairy tales and valid engineering points!

There are many ways of looking at all this though and eg the average motorist will tell you that they have no technical knowledge of digital fuel injection systems or variable valve timing but they still drive a car and have opinions as to which car they prefer etc. Should those who own and drive a car be shut out of discussions on all things automotive if they can't re-wire a DFI module or set the valve timing?? I think not....

However, and to keep with the automotive analogy, we've unfortunately reached a point in hi fi where the opinion of those who believe go faster stripes really make the car faster are considered as valid as the opinions of an automotive engineer. Worse still it's got to the point where maybe 80% of non technical people consider it proven fact and common knowledge that go faster stripes DO make the car faster and all car dealers, car magazines and car advertising agree with this fallacy as they are all making good money from aftermarket go faster stripes! Try telling people that this is all twaddle and those who have "drank the kool-aid" and bought the go faster stripes take great offence as people don't like being told they are wrong, they've "been had" etc.... in fact once someone has got to their 4th set of ever more expensive go faster stripes and has posted on car forums about how great they are they would sacrifice their first born before they would admit that go faster stripes do nothing beyond being a (dubious!) styling exercise.

It's like trying to persuade born again christians that it's impossible to turn water into wine or part the red sea.... good luck with that!

 

I'm going to make an effort to come on here more often but given you were last seen 2 weeks ago, I don't think I'm much less regular than the forum owner

 

I think this is part of the problem, the new owner doesn't seem to be active on their own forum.

One wonders why they ever took it on.

S.

 

I reckon the past 15 mins or so must be the busiest this forum has been in years!

Indeed it is bizarre to find a hi fi forum where the owner/admin is so notable by his absence....

 

I like a good read and am no expert, so don’t contribute if I don’t see any value. But I’m still alive!
Hifi was alway highly subjective and I know full well I’d not be able to hear the difference 4mm speaker cables mak from 1 mm. furthermore, I’m limited by cost and always have been. What I do like is a good cheap repair that breaths life back into something. That generally what brings me here.