Just why is AV so popular?

nuttyboyz

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Can anyone shed anylight on this and give opinions to just why AV is so popular,the hifi market seems to be shrinking or not growing at best,yet AV at the moment seems more popular,but I don't know why this is so.
For example,in AV your choice seems rather limited,you can buy,Yamaha,Denon,Onkyo,pioneer,or you can buy Yamaha,Denon,onkyo or Pioneer,which you buy cheap on the net,so god knows why any shop would consider stocking these brands is beyond me.They (to me)sound poor in music,but provide good entertainment when I watch a film,so it gets maybe 2 hours usage a week,so I got rid of it,and frankly don't miss it at all.
Yet, with 2-channel we see new products all the time,chinese valve amps,class D amps,tripath amps,new speakers,CD players,so much so that the market is saturated with new products,but if 2-channel is supposed to be declining,why do these companies bother?
Did hifi get to snobby?too exspensive?I think it provides far more greater long term satisfaction and enjoyment than any AV set up can bring,yet AV seems the more popular,strange.
 
well the prices of AV gear have came down a lot in the past few years, and with the advent of dvd, bigger screens, widescreen displays, and 5.1 sound, people can now get a better cinematic experience in their own homes than was possible 15 years ago, and it's all possible for such a low budget, and a fairly decent setup can be had for around a couple of grand

people don't just use AV gear to watch movies, but now a lot of TV is in widescreen, and some shows in 5.1, such as lost, 24, etc, so tv shows surround and immerse the viewer far more than before. the added surround sound can add a fair bit to shows, with real rumbles, and discreet effects. games consoles also connect in and allow widescreen and 5.1

personally i spend more time watching movies than listening to music at home. i watch a movie per day when i get home from work, rather than watch crap on the tv, and maybe 2 or 3 a day at weekends. when i do listen to music, i like to listen to 5.1 material at home, or i listen to mp3's when i'm out and about

whilst you and others may prefer a better quality sound coming from 2 speakers, the general public is used to crappy tv speakers, all in one units, and quite happy to listen to mp3s, so aren't used to, and don't care about high quality hi fi. when upgrading to a cheap 5.1 all in one system, the quality is probably far better than the tv speakers they are used to, and they are more than satisfied with it. the typical person thinks it's crazy to spend a grand on a cd player, amp and couple of speakers as they would prefer to spend it on a holiday or xbox, quantity over quality. a lot of people just don't appreciate quality sound and picture, and couldn't care less about it

as to stocking the brands you mention, not everyone shops online, otherwise the store simply wouldn't be there to stock that stuff in the first place. those that have the disposable income to spend on quality gear may prefer to spend a bit more and have it delivered and installed and peace of mind, rather than save 10% or so
 
I agree with many of your points,especially the amount of crap on TV,in fact I don't think i've watched it in the last two months!!Just DVDs at the weekend.

Also true that people don't appreciate good quality,but are quick to moan how bad there 300quid all in a box sounds,so they can notice,as they say,buy cheap,pay twice:D

But it's missing the point,of why more companies,individuals make 2-channel products than people turning out AV products,how many new companies are making AV amps,DVD players,to thoes concentrating on stereo amps,cd players,2 channel speakers,in AV I tend to see the same old names turning out the same old stuff rebadged,new number,poorer build,but more features,and yet,are returning to channel,Pionner,Denon anyone.

Agreed not everyone buys from the net,but im sure many have a look,listen,then buy from the net at the cheapest price.:D
 
I think novelty plays a big part. AV is pretty new as a 'mainstream' product, and a lot of people are only just getting into it. I would estimate the number of people that are serious about it, ie with high-end stuff, not just a Philips 'all-in-one', are lower in numbers than those heavily into stereo hifi.

To back that, the vast majority of people I know who now have AV kit, and again, of those 90% have a Comet all in one job, have bought it in the last two-three years. Some even more recent.

The AV thing is also linked to a household item that is ranked much higher in preference in the UK than hifi. Remember, consumer surveys have consistently shown that in UK consumers list of 'desirable' goods, unlike our European counterparts, hifi is very low down indeed. In France I think it's somewhere around 7-8, in the 90's it was 5th.

In this country it doesn't even make the top ten, and, as far as I can remember it never has. I may be wrong though.
 
2 channel hi-fi is more of a solitary thing, whereas AV can be enjoyed by the whole family. More people probably watch TV than listen to music nowadays, mainly using it for background music when doing other things. The price of a surround system has fallen drastically over the last decade, and it's now within the reach of everyone. If Lamborghini and Ferrari suddenly produced cars for £20k, they'd become a hell of a lot more popular.

Plus, i think there's less real music nowadays that makes you want to sit down and listen to it seriously.
 
I reckon that a lot of people are getting sold 'AV systems' when they buy a plasma. Plasma TVs are so mainstream these days I am sure that the Comets and Currys of this world find it easy to entice the general public into shelling out another £299 when they sign the finance papers. Ok it will sound crap but 'wont it look good with our Ikea TV stand darling'
Add the fact that many will prefer surround whilst gaming on their shiny new TV, the increasing Sky/Cable HD market, BluRay for everyone thanks to the PS3 and hey presto the figures start to make sense to the manufacturers.

Also the younger market (in general) are more Ipod/MP3 orientated when it comes to music. I am not knocking this - its just a sign of the times, people don`t have so much time to sit down and listen to a 'hifi' system with all of lifes other distractions. We're all to busy working to pay for our ever increasing taxes, rent, motgages, petrol, gas, electric etc.....:mad: (Rant over)

HiFi is becoming one of lifes luxurys whilst AV is becoming one of lifes necessities or so we are being led to believe. But thats just my opinion.
 
As mentioned before, for the mainstream its quantity over quality. When you pay your money and get six odd speakers, why spend the same and just get two. Joe Punter doesn't thinks size speakers is better than two much better quality speakers.

Also rewind a decade or two, there was very little source material in multichannel. Recently you're getting surround sound from your TV, all the films you buy, games consoles/computers and even on your music (dvd's). Plus your all-in-one-box probably scales up stereo across all your speakers, in a novelty fashion to impress Mr. Average Joe Punter. With all that, go stereo and you must be missing out on stuff, surely? Besides the Jones' next door have 5.1, so lets get 7.1 to beat that...
 
The difference between a £300 hifi and a full on 10k hifi isn't anywhere near as big as the difference between watching a film on a 14" CRT and watching one on a 50" display/projector.

For £300 most people can get a hifi they are pretty happy with, if they have an urge for high quality music they can invest in some good headphones for £160 and get audiophile quality.
 
In think some of this is explained by "space". Some people don't want the clutter of HiFI and AV in their rooms so opt for the default which will give them both, hence AV setups popularity. I visited someone who downsized thier property who had a lovely HiFi but had to get rid, and adopt AV to do everything as there wasn't the space.

Just my opinion of course.
 
The difference between a £300 hifi and a full on 10k hifi isn't anywhere near as big as the difference between watching a film on a 14" CRT and watching one on a 50" display/projector.

For £300 most people can get a hifi they are pretty happy with, if they have an urge for high quality music they can invest in some good headphones for £160 and get audiophile quality.
Not sure about either of those analogies. I've seen some pretty damn good 14" CRT's and some pretty awful 50" displays. I'm not the only one either.

The difference between a £300 hifi and £10,000 of kit however, is chalk and cheese - period.

On the other one, not too many people with a £300 system will order a £160 pair of headphones either. Or get a decent headphone amp to play them on. At the same time, the hifi law is still the same, no matter how much the hifi cognoscenti try to fudge it, put garbage in get garbage out. ;)
 
A few thoughts:
- AV, a little like CD when it was first launched has been hyped to death by the media as saving us from our humdrum lives and bringing in a spot of perfection. In the real world, everyone and their dog is trying to tell us how great 5.1 is. The fact that most people really have little experience of genuinely good stereo systems is not the point, they're still more than happy to argue the case that their £4k of AV kit will be just as fun.
- When someone says, "I have 6 speakers", tends to sound more impressive to people who haven't got a clue. It's a bit like saying I have turbo-charged Leon. The fact that the Leon is still a jumped up shopping trolley driving the wrong set of wheels simply never occurs to them, or the fact that it's a rubbish sports car.
- How many new 5.1 speakers are midgets? Yep, they sound rubbish with music and have little genuine capability to be coherent across the whole frequency range, even when mated with a sub. It's clearly less apparent on films, thus it's OK. So for the missus, "yes of course we can trade in our ugly big (but great sounding stereo speakers) for those cute little diddy things".

I would maintain that most people simply don't know how good a dedicated stereo system is, which is probably shown brilliantly by the earlier comment in this thread about how close a cheapo midi system is to a £10k stereo.
 
To someone who isn't an "audiophile" the difference between a £300 system and a 10k system isn't that much. They both play the music at a reasonable volume and if you're not being pretentious the £300 system will sound ok.

If you're looking to hear the conductor scratch his backside in Beethoven's 9th then a £300 system isn't going to do the job. However if you want a hifi to provide background music for when you're doing something else it will work just fine.

For a start can someone explain to me the difference without using bull***** terms like "bright, forward, smudged, crisp"

Also why do "night and day" differences become so much less evident with blind testing?
 
The things is,AV is pushed by rags such as what TV?nosoundandallvision,and leaves people totally confused.People in general arn't exposed to high quality audio sytems,but believe me they can hear the difference,whether they want it or not is a mute point,the differences between a midi sytems and well put together 10K system is laughable,you don't even need 10K,you can put together a exellent audio systems for 1K,2K,3K,it's just educating people on how to do it.
As I was saying in my opening post there is alot of good affordable audio out there with more and more innovative companies putting 2 channel on the market,yet the mags push AV systems so much more,and personally dont find nothing new or exciting about it,I mean how many times can Yamaha,Pioneer,Denon,Onkyo,recycle the same old amplifier,and when we look toward China,they too seem to embrace stereo more than AV products.
 
To someone who isn't an "audiophile" the difference between a £300 system and a 10k system isn't that much. They both play the music at a reasonable volume and if you're not being pretentious the £300 system will sound ok.

If you're looking to hear the conductor scratch his backside in Beethoven's 9th then a £300 system isn't going to do the job. However if you want a hifi to provide background music for when you're doing something else it will work just fine.

For a start can someone explain to me the difference without using bull***** terms like "bright, forward, smudged, crisp"

Also why do "night and day" differences become so much less evident with blind testing?
Again though, this isn't the point. If we take it back to where you started from, and turn it back on your logic, would the same 'I can't tell the difference' punter be able to sort a naff LCD/Plasma from a good one? The answer, having seen people in the 'showrooms', is no.

They are dazzled by the flashing lights, flashy boxs, and salesman BS more than they are by the picture quality. Most people buy their consumer visuals from the same place as they buy their hifi - the big chain stores. These stores, as you know, pay no care or attention to picture quality, and frankly I'm amazed anyone buys non-crt sets from them as the splitters they use give, quite frankly, awful results. As such, in neither case could people be relied on, in the main, to be able to make a value judgement - in the situation they 99% of the time find themselves in. So, neither for AV nor hifi, as people have stated, would we expect to see people really going for 'quality' in the run of the mill situation.

However, as a former hifi salesmen, I find the notion that someone, given time, and the opportunity to really engage with the products, whether they be AV or hifi, cannot tell the difference between a budget system and hi-end gear an insult. Because nine times out of ten, from long experience, they can. And not even that bigger jump either. Most could tell the difference between a £300 and a £500 system, never mind 10k.

None of those expressions are BS. They describe how a piece of kit sounds. Are the terms used to describe how a car engine performs BS, just because you might not understand them? No.

Night and day differences don't become less with blind testing. At one shop I worked at we did blind tests all the time. Rarely did someone come out having chosen a 'budget' item over a quality one. In fact I can't remember one single occasion when that was the case.
 
A £300 stereo will do an adequate job of playing music. It may lack some detail and it's hardly going to blow your mind, but it will be listenable and enjoyable.

I know what audiophile descriptive terms mean, however I still think they are BS. If I said a car

Has more horse power
Accelerates faster
Has more torque

you would know exactly what I mean. If I said it was a tad bright between 50-70 while being mellow in the low gears you would laugh at me.

I'm not saying that there aren't any differences between high end systems and low end systems. However, I just don't think they matter to the average person. Buying a bigger Tv is like buying a louder hifi rather than a better quality one, and that is what people are interested in.
 
Bigger is not better. Regardless of what chicks say. It's what you do with it.

Denon for one for many years where regarded as the affordable Hi-Fi solution, NAD the same, KEF, Mission, Celestion, I could go on. The one thing that many a consumer forgets is what they want. Not what they have read about or seen in the glossys. Argos do some crackin audio systems as do Dixons, Currys. Is it Hi-Fi,, No. Does it sound good, yes. Its loud and not at all proud. Lots of flashing light and graphic equalisers and DSP chipsets.. For me nasty. But for the average music monkey, nothing bad about it. But the fact that You brought up the issue suggests that You want more from a music system. If not then why bother to post.
 
Course I have an interest. I really like hifi.

In answer to the original post, I guess the main reason for the popularity of Av over hifi is that there have been genuine technological advancements in av whereas a high quality 15yr old hifi will easily compete with a modern system.

In Av there have been loads of developments over the last 10 years:

DVD
5.1
Hi def
Flat pannels
Affordable projectors

So people become interested and upgrade. The only real development in hifi that i can think of is SACD/DVDA and both of them flopped.
 
The difference between a £300 hifi and a full on 10k hifi isn't anywhere near as big as the difference between watching a film on a 14" CRT and watching one on a 50" display/projector.

For £300 most people can get a hifi they are pretty happy with, if they have an urge for high quality music they can invest in some good headphones for £160 and get audiophile quality.

Not sure about either of those analogies. I've seen some pretty damn good 14" CRT's and some pretty awful 50" displays. I'm not the only one either.
;)
Totally agree with Overkill here.

To someone who isn't an "audiophile" the difference between a £300 system and a 10k system isn't that much. They both play the music at a reasonable volume and if you're not being pretentious the £300 system will sound ok.
Non audiophiles have never heard a well set up £10k system. If they did, they'd be audiophiles. Unless they're tone deaf of course.

A £300 stereo will do an adequate job of playing music. It may lack some detail and it's hardly going to blow your mind, but it will be listenable and enjoyable.
There are no 'enjoyable' £300 hi-fi's. And the term hi-fi describes a £300 system pretty loosely. It will lack a hell of a lot of detail.
 
I guess that many companys use tech that is proven to sell to a market. AV just seems to be in trend. My AV reciever, a Marantz SR5300 sounds, to me, brilliant with music. But it is'nt the best when it comes to movies. Marantz are renound for musically sounding AV gear. As are Pioneer and Onkyo. It will never match a true HI-FI set-up though, never.

Not that there is anything wrong with AV gear compared to HI-FI. It's just what You want.

A dedicated CD player will allways sound better than my Pioneer DV-656-A. But I have found that CD play back via my Pioneer CLD-2950 laserdisc player sounds, to me at least, better than my DVD player. Is it HI-FI. No

I can get the same results from my modded Xbox, connected to my LCD via component and to my receiver via optical. Does it sound good, Look good. Yes. Is it Hi-Fi. No

I have a few Roger Waters, Pink Floyd SACD's and to be honest they sound better via good old stereo than they do via multi channel. Not a hint of Hi-Fi.

It's what ever you want and whatever You feel You need.. £500 will get You a very good Hi-Fi, £5000 will get You a very good AV setup. Will it match the £500 Hi-Fi, Maybe but I doubt it.

Just remember that Hi-Fi is absolutley personal and not at all trendy.

If You remember that it will save You a lot of money..
 
Non audiophiles have never heard a well set up £10k system. If they did, they'd be audiophiles. Unless they're tone deaf of course.

Most people have heard music live and if they can tolerate a cheap system after that then they can tolerate a cheap system after hearing a 10k one.

Unless you're suggesting that hifi can be better than live performance?
 
Most people have heard music live and if they can tolerate a cheap system after that then they can tolerate a cheap system after hearing a 10k one.

Unless you're suggesting that hifi can be better than live performance?

It all depends on what You regard as cheap.

Is "cheap" the same as inexspensive?

And no. No matter how much a HI-FI setup costs it will never be as good as seeing the music "live".
 
Course I have an interest. I really like hifi.

In answer to the original post, I guess the main reason for the popularity of Av over hifi is that there have been genuine technological advancements in av whereas a high quality 15yr old hifi will easily compete with a modern system.

In Av there have been loads of developments over the last 10 years:

DVD
5.1
Hi def
Flat pannels
Affordable projectors

So people become interested and upgrade. The only real development in hifi that i can think of is SACD/DVDA and both of them flopped.
Yes, but how many people buy them for that reason? Hardly any. Compare the sales of cheap',n nasty LCD's as compared to quality ones, and guess what? The same situation as hifi. Cheap, looks flash, over 'good'.

The majority of people aren't interested in 'advances'. Only in what is cheap and moderately less awful than what they are watching/listening to now. DVD gripped the public imagination because a) it was 'digital' (oooooooooooooooh, the 'D' word - and all that conveys) and b) unlike laser disc it was easy to use.

A 15 year old hifi will compete with a modern system? :eek: If I had the money quite frankly I would junk - my amp, speakers, and CD player and start all over again, as compared to 15 years ago in all those three areas, hifi has indeed moved on. But sadly I can't, because I haven't. :(

People are now moving into AV because it's no longer the province of a rich few, as it was for nearly a decade after it first emerged. Cheap (and nasty) all in one systems are all the rage, and, quite frankly, just as hifi did in the early days of CD's mass acceptance, AV has blown it's chance to persuade the masses to buy quality in it's domain too.

Seems flogging mass produced crap to the British 'masses' wins over trying to educate them, something our foreign counterparts try to do, into buying at least modestly good gear every time.
 
Most people have heard music live and if they can tolerate a cheap system after that then they can tolerate a cheap system after hearing a 10k one.

Unless you're suggesting that hifi can be better than live performance?
Of course it can. I would never even suggest it can't!:confused: Live music is prey to all the problems and compromises a hifi/AV system faces, just magnified a thousand times over! Add into that the problems of distortion, poor mixing, poor waveform deflection and the fact that some venues, never mind artists, always sound poor.

Tbh, I could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of concerts I've been to where the sound even moderately impressed me. I go to concerts to see how well the band/artist can play/entertain, not to listen to the PA.
 
Most people have heard music live and if they can tolerate a cheap system after that then they can tolerate a cheap system after hearing a 10k one.
People either tolerate a cheap system after hearing live performances because they're tone deaf or they have no idea what hi-fi is capable of sounding like.

Unless you're suggesting that hifi can be better than live performance?
Where did i suggest that? A better system of the likes we're discussing can sound like a live performance, but it could never replace a live performance. Even a £5k system can sound pretty damn amazing.
 
Yes, but how many people buy them for that reason? Hardly any. Compare the sales of cheap',n nasty LCD's as compared to quality ones, and guess what? The same situation as hifi. Cheap, looks flash, over 'good'.

The majority of people aren't interested in 'advances'. Only in what is cheap and moderately less awful than what they are watching/listening to now. DVD gripped the public imagination because a) it was 'digital' (oooooooooooooooh, the 'D' word - and all that conveys) and b) unlike laser disc it was easy to use.

Alot of people hated CRT, the limited screen size, the bulk of the thing. A 36" CRT is the size of a small house and weights up to 100KG. Also until 5 years ago they cost over a grand. You can have a 32" LCD for £300 and wall mount it out of the way. If you are using it for watching Tv rather than critically analyzing it, it does a pretty good job.


You're forgetting that Laserdisk was super expensive with Star wars costing £250 and the players being serious money.

Also VHS was completely crap, really really bad.



A 15 year old hifi will compete with a modern system? :eek: If I had the money quite frankly I would junk - my amp, speakers, and CD player and start all over again, as compared to 15 years ago in all those three areas, hifi has indeed moved on. But sadly I can't, because I haven't. :(

So you wouldn't fancy a pair of tannoy westminsters? an EAR 859? etc.. etc...

People are now moving into AV because it's no longer the province of a rich few, as it was for nearly a decade after it first emerged. Cheap (and nasty) all in one systems are all the rage, and, quite frankly, just as hifi did in the early days of CD's mass acceptance, AV has blown it's chance to persuade the masses to buy quality in it's domain too.

Seems flogging mass produced crap to the British 'masses' wins over trying to educate them, something our foreign counterparts try to do, into buying at least modestly good gear every time.

Watching a film on a cheap PJ (800x600) with cheap 5.1 is really enjoyable. So much more so than without. Watching Tv on a cheap 42" LCD is more enjoyable (In mine and many other people's opinion) than watching on a 26" CRT.
 

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