The future of two channel audio

[ajay124]

I was speaking to an audio dealer in the morning, on the phone, and he lamented that there was NO market for two channel audio in his city (one of the 5 metros).

How big is the two channel audio market in India? Does it make financial sense for any midfi or hifi brand to set up shop in India? There seems to be a market for brands like Marantz, Nad, CA, Wharfedale, based purely on their affordability. A 100K budget for a stereo set up comprising of source+amp+speakers+cables, seems to be within the realms of possibility.

But are there sufficient number of Indians with the budget and the inclination to support brands which cost more? Will the iPod generation ever buy difficult to source, difficult to service, difficult to maintain 'white elephants'? Will the stratospheric rise in real estate prices, make space such a scarce commodity, that even people who have the money and inclination, will not have the space to house a big amp and speakers.

Will HIFI become a casualty of the rapidly worsening economic downturn in markets which have traditionally supported it? Will the HIFI industry be able to survive a l-o-n-g recession?

 

[AMITNOIDA]

I do agree with you regarding the space such a scarce commodity. Dedicated music room of decent size is really a thing, which a very few people can have. I will not have it in my life. I have to live with multipurpose room housing my audio set-up or even movie set-up.

But still I enjoy my set-up much more than Ipod kind of convenience. At the end of the day, listening in my humble audio set-up gives me immense pleasure. But yes, the market for high end products are very limited. Thanks to few dealers, who deal in quality niche brands and help the souls like us, who does not have friends or relatives abroad.

 

[rikhav]

I also agree with space being the most important thing as real estate prices makes it impossible for a normal person to have a home with a dedicated music room
But this for someone who understand hifi and stereo music

I dont have anyone in my near circle who is even inclined to understand, learn or start appreciating hifi music. Even if happen to listen to my setup they try to find thump and sharpness in it. Its ok for them to stack all components on each other, mix and match cables

So basically what I am trying to say is very few like hifi (stereo) sound. the in thing is to have SURROUND SOUND. Even if the recording is 2 channel it should come from maximum speakers possible and should shake the walls of the whole apartment

 

[trittya]

Dear Ajay,
Stark reality there, mate.
But then classic hi-fi stereo isnt the only casualty of this ubiquitous phenomenon.
What about
Gulli-danda?
Hide & Seek?
Your first crush?
Love letters?
Being 'veyla' (nothing to do)?
Hanging out with other veylaas?
Going 'uphill' to timber trail n beyond?
'Gymkhana Pub' beer-n-french-fries sessions?
Watching 'phoren' movies at KC every wednesday eve & sunday morn?
PEC-fest?
'Contributing' to rent a vcr & tv @ inr 150/- for night-long XXX rated movie sessions?
Lover's lane?
Leisure valley?
Gedi route?
Bun-omelette or anda parantha at PGI, ISBT or Gen Hosp-16?
The GCG/ MCM 'outing' crowd at YD's?
The one single 'thums-up'(coke & pepsi came much later) & french-fries plate shared by five guys at YD's just to sit there?
Tehal Singh?
Deepak Radios?
Electrovoice?
Second-hand book mkt?
The raydi-market foodie sessions?
Dewsuns -10 as we knew it?
Ginza - 12 as we knew it?
Americano shoes - 8?
Curly top - 17?
(to be contd/-. . . .)

 

[sonosphere]

Hi Ajay,
I am not too worried about fate of 2-channel. 2-Channel to me is a format of delivery. As long as music is being delivered in hi-fidelity (whatever be the format... 6 channels of hi-fi ?? good!!! I never had problems with plentyhyeah I am ok with it. 2-Channel will always be there... may be in a niche... like LP's are still in circulation today despite almost total coverage of digital music (in CD's or mp3's etc)

When rap wave overshadowed all genres sometime back, that's when I got a little worried. It was music all right (with a chant like monotone-melody and some rhythm thrown in) but a situation where it takes away air-play from regular (multiple-instrument) music, was looking terrible to me.

Fortunately melodic, multi-instrumental (human voice is also a musical instrument ) music is back and thriving.

Regds,

P.S: Trittiya your long list bought back sweet memories... anda paratha at ITO, New Delhi... and yes lurking around the alleys of Lajpat Rai market endlessly (in school dress) to find a REALLY POWERFUL amp in princely sum of Rs. 650/- (I remember it being based on some TDA chip)

 

[ajay124]

trittya

Your list brings back memories of my (mis)spent youth....which like the Neil Young song is long....gone, gone, the damage done.

To your list I would add the ahatas,cigarette shops and Central State Library in Sector 17. The library was my second home. Every morning I would start from my hostel (university, number 6) on my not-so-trusty bicycle, with the firm resolution of attending my commerce classes. By it's own volition, the bicycle would keep cycling past my college in Sector 10 and wind up at the library. I was a loner, a dreamer, a compulsive consumer of books, music, films and cigarettes. My college and university education seemed like a torture I had to endure in order to chase an elusive bird called 'career'. A bird I was not particularly interested in.

I had friends and acquaintances, but the people I really connected with were all 'imaginary'. They lived within the pages of Russian, French, Latin and American fiction, which for me was the 'real' world.

Incidentally, I feel that our city 'beautiful' is rapidly loosing it's charm and going down hill at 90 miles an hour. The villain, as in many cities around the world, is the automobile. Roads teeming with a serpentine line of cars with frenzied and edgy drivers. 'Doomed' to spend half their lives in these small metal cages. This is not progress or the way to a better future. A better future would be a future sans automobiles and fossil fuels. I read on the internet, that there exists an ambitious masterplan to make Europe 'car free' by 2050. A dream which is obviously ridiculed by the automobile lobby.

 

[trittya]

P.S: Trittiya your long list bought back sweet memories... anda paratha at ITO, New Delhi... and yes lurking around the alleys of Lajpat Rai market endlessly (in school dress) to find a REALLY POWERFUL amp in princely sum of Rs. 650/- (I remember it being based on some TDA chip)

trittya

Your list brings back memories of my (mis)spent youth....which like the Neil Young song is long....gone, gone, the damage done.

To your list I would add the ahatas,cigarette shops and Central State Library in Sector 17. The library was my second home. Every morning I would start from my hostel (univarsity, number 6) on my not-so-trusty bicycle, with the firm resolution of attending my commerce classes. By it's own volition, the bicycle would keep cycling past my college in Sector 10 and wind up at the library. I was a loner, a dreamer, a compulsive consumer of books, music, films and cigarettes. My college and university education seemed like a torture I had to endure, in order to chase an elusive bird called 'career'. A bird I was not particularly interested in.

I had friends and acquaintances, but the people I really connected with were all 'imaginary'. They lived within the pages of Russian, French, Latin and American fiction, which for me was the 'real' world.

Incidentally, I feel that our city 'beautiful' is rapidly loosing it's charm and going down hill at 90 miles an hour. The villain, as in many cities around the world, is the automobile. Roads teeming with a serpentine line of cars with frenzied and edgy drivers. 'Doomed' to spend half their lives in these small metal cages. This is not progress or the way to a better future. A better future would be a future sans automobiles and fossil fuels. I read on the internet, that there exists an ambitious masterplan to make Europe 'car free' by 2050. A dream which is obviously ridiculed by the automobile lobby.

Sigh
Your responsive musings made me realize all over again that
NOSTALGIA, (TOO) ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE. . . .

Heck, even the carrion-eating vulture is critically endangered
(read almost extinct)


Well, the list goes on but to get back to the thread topic, I would like to draw our collective attention to an object that has endured (maybe evolved, too) this onslaught of 'modern times' ie the now venerable Royal Enfield Bullet. And you still cant get one in 'stereo', eh? Its still the single cylinder thumper that it was.

Therefore, there are certain others too which have withstood the past quarter of a century (and more)- Sindhi Sweets 17 and the good old Bansuriwala next to Neelam Cinema are still reckon-able. I foresee the fate of two channel music in similar fashion, notwithstanding providence and its ill effects.

There's no gainsaying that the creed has diminished drastically over the years but I guess its still alive and kickin' albeit, unlike the Bullet, in much smaller stature and numbers than ever before. Nevertheless, there have been encouraging signs over the past half a decade like the resurgence of vinyl, the computer audiophile, stores that sell music CD albums etc.

I do hope and pray that two channel music is not subjected to an untimely demise but if it is, I rest assured in the belief that there are many among us who shall be with it till THE END (shudder!).

Regards

@Ajay
OOPS, I forgot to add another thing that has endured and evolved, maybe even more than the Bullet, namely the "ahaatas" (Govt approved drinking places, usually next to a liquor shop. It literally means - 'a compound'). Only, they call them "TAVERNS", now. But once you get inside one, you realize just how enormously 'The song remains the same'.

 

[square_wave]

When dealers talk about dearth of 2-channel market most are talking about reasonable quantity of sales in the mainstream market.

The niche market for 2-channel audio is there and always will be. This market is inhabited by folks who have taken to this as a hobby and understand the need for specialized gear.

A dealer cannot thrive or depend only on this small niche 2-channel market which is very small in size. He will starve.

One of the biggest reasons why there is a dearth of quality stereo gear sales in the general market is due to the emergence of the multichannel movie setups in homes. Most mainstream folks do not care about the differences between cheap HT gear and specialized 2 channel gear. They just need clear sound and most of the wives agree. For the same amount of money one used to spend on 2-channel gear, one needs to pack 5 speakers, subwoofer and multichannel amp. So you end up with mass market / cheap plastic. A large portion of the quality 2-channel gear market is eaten by this phenomenon.

There will never be demise to 2-channel since music is delivered in two channels. It will remain a small market.