[pianotech] Knowing good sound (was Upright Price)

david at piano.plus.com david at piano.plus.com
Wed Nov 30 11:12:58 MST 2011


I've given this a new title as it may be going off-topic a bit from
Upright Price.

Xeno, these are interesting thoguhts you express.  I've talked about this
q bit recently with people of my generation and bit younger.  HiFi used to
be a Big Thing.  When we were young, we saved up and bought our first
"proper" HiFi, and took care to position the speakers nicely, and to sit
at the apex of the sound so as to get the proper stereo effect.  The cost
of an LP vinyl record was relatively high in relation to a week's wages,
so they were things to treasure.  Turntables were (and still are, in a
niche market) esoteric things, to be properly balanced and set up.

Over the last few years, I often observed two students sharing one each of
a pair of earphones, to listen to a song.  They often have docking
stations at home, of course. But just as often they are content to listen
through tinny PC speakers.  The concept of HiFi as a "thing" to be
enjoyed, has greatly receded.

Where does all this leave recorded piano sound?  I don't know.  The idea
of promoting listening to live music is good.  But, esopecially for
"serious" music, it's a small market.  And the recorded music industry,
especially for "Classical" is struggling.

On the other hand, of course, it is much easier than ever before to MAKE 
a high-quality recording (in terms of recording quality anyway).

What do others think, about appreciation of piano sound?

Best regards,

David
www.davidboyce.co.uk

>Most people don't know what a good piano sounds like.  More and more
>people out there have never heard a good piano, live, in person.  Put
>that together with the rise of Craigs List, and that aged piano sound
>is becoming the new standard.  There's also the change over all in
>hi-fi sound: people don't go for big speakers anymore, they listen to
>music on their tinny little computer speakers, or their phone device.
>The MP3 format also reflects this mass acceptance of lower quality
>sound.



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