Vote

I vote for the present, simply because you can buy everything from classic '50s equipment to the latest and greatest....

Mid 9Os. I think. Many mega bucks electronics born during that time.

By the mid 1970s, high fidelity was possible and you could assemble a stereo that could sound as good as many modern systems. The arrival of Advent and Hafler were significant.

With names such as Mark Levinson and Audio Research first taking off during this period high end audio was shaped into what it is today .

I "clicked" the '70's but my true feeling is 1965-1975. If one were to pick a true "golden age", well it started in the late fifties. Yet, if one had to pick when really exciting things were happening, it was from the early to mid sixties to the early to mid seventies. That was when new technology and a true emergence of an industry came about.

I do not believe that there is one "golden age". Since I have been upgrading over the last 25 years, it "seems" as though components have been getting better. I try to get the best value for the money I am spending and so far it has worked pretty well for me. As for the future, I'm not living in the future and it really doesn't concern me right now, if down the road, there is a "golden age" Enjoy what you have, right now, baby!

Times have changed. The record companies are calling the shots now, and there will never again be a golden age for music or equipment.

Late '70s and '80s when turntable and pick-up technology matured. Audiophiles in almost any econimic bracket could tweek their sound. Some of us with a little imagination could get different/better results from the same equipment which gave us personal involment to the sound. The digital age has killed much of the Stereophile experience. So for the upcoming generation, new kit has lost much of its facination/hobby element.

I would agree that the golden age of audio was the late '50s. The late '50s to early '60s was the golden age for many other things as well. However, audio has definitley not peaked. One of the most alluring (and frustrating) things about audio is that it is constantly changing.

Affordable technology is just now becoming available to us so that a realistic recreation of the original musical event can be enjoyed.

I think we are on the threshold of nirvana. The well-pressed LP is probably the height until now.

MacIntosh, Marantz, Bozak, JBL, Ampex!, and the kit guys Heathkit and Dynaco. The pioneers were out give us better sounding reproduced music and have fun at the same time - not at our expense.

This will not be the most popular answer but I think the eighties did not kill Hi-Fi. Sure there was a lot of crap but there was a lot of fun mid-fi entry level hi-end stuff that got people listening. We had lp's with noise reduction that didn't overly compress sound, Nakmichi and Pioneer were finally seeing what tape decks could really do, and we started buying these goofy silver disk that looked like coasters. The eighties gave us Carver, Rega i think, and many more that I don't know or can't think of for sure for sure. Unfortunatly its also when hi-end went the way of the Porsche. All that's ok. Now we have lots of quality media, lots of quality players, amplification and speakers, cable, etc.. And we have tubes again. Maybe someone will come along and make audio fun again for the mainstream all-in-a-boxers.

I didnt live it, but it seems that not a whole lot has changed since. but, like i said, i didnt live it! Now I did live through the cheapo-80's...

I think it was the mid-seventies, because it was the time when many of us discovered that there was better sound than we were getting out of Dad's electronics. Okay, I knew already, thanks to my father the audiophile. But so many of my peers learned and started to pay attention to good sound. Of course, we smoked a lot of pot back then

Hopefully, when more than 5% of the music released withstands the test of time, will it be a Golden Age.

As the recording industry goes, so goes the audio industry. The '70s was an explosion of musical talent and the peak of rock'n'roll. With it came the advent of true high end audio. And now that the recording industry has decided to try to force feed us the crap it produces today in the pretense of music, the high end is taking a hit because of it. I've been an audiophile for 30+ years and will remain so as long as I can still hear&$151;but if we want our hobby/life to grow and expand, we must demand that the recording industry give us something that is worth listening to.

The maturity of digital recordng (and playback as audio compact discs), brought us all closer to truth in reproduction than ever before, and spurred a vast improvement in availability of music, both in quantity, and in variety. Vinyl LPs and analog tape are almost extinct now, and for good reasons. They have been replaced by a medium that is not only a far superior, more musically and measureably accurate recording system, but also one that is less costly, and much easier to use, maintain, and store. As the free market plainly states, "Digital RULES, and Analog DROOLS." I believe the future of audio will be digital, but the advancements will not be as dramatic as the advent of the CD.

I believe the audio golden age hit its peak in the '60 when they discovered how to reduce the size of the base speaker. and most of the manufacturers of stereo components sere sitll in the US. Up untill the transister type steo component came arround they were still riding on that high.

DIY! You had the combination of DIY and the first rumblings of stereo, of Mac and Marantz and the big horns from the big boys. People cared less about the BS of depth and soundstage and more about being able to hear all the notes for the first time. You can take top of the line equipment from the '50s, upgrade the resistors and capacitors and wire and have a near reference quality system. Really, take the VOTT speakers and those early Mac amps and you get an honest representation of dynamics and power. There is no affordable combination available today that can match the things they did well. Go to a live performance and the thing you notice first is the absolute power and explosive dynamics, not soundstaging (haven't heard that anywhere 'cept for a stereo).

Dynaco. HH Scott. McIntosh. Fisher. Sherwood. Thorens. Marantz. AR. Klipsch. You get the idea.

The golden age is now, when the good equipment is available in all price ranges.

I think one can define audio's "golden age" by that period of time when achieving outstanding acoustical performance was first and foremost in the minds of the developers that brought audio's products to market. Very broadly, I think this happened over the '50s to the '70s. Today, it seems that corporate profit has become first and foremost. A strongly correlated factor is the simple fact that audio engineering has, for the most part, evolved beyond the point of the average single entrepeneur being able to make significant contributions in the field; today teams of people are required to make the kinds of incremental improvements that were attainable by individuals in years past. Further evidence of this fact is the decline of audio engineering and tinkering as a simple hobby, sad to say. In a nutshell, the "golden age" of audio has declined along with the personal passion once felt by audio's progenitors.

Like TV, audio's golden age was the '50s. Why? Well, quality products for the home were arriving, and the home brew/made stuff was at its peak as well. Tube products were the standard, and vinyl was king. Look at many of the classical reissues

while the golden age of the past was the tubes and vinal of the 50-60's the true haday of audio is yet to come. When colaboration of highend audio companies reaches a head in the near future, we will see truly incredable things at realistic prices. That will be the industries crowning acivement, when technologies mature into listenable and practical equipement. True high fedelity will always be a small portion of the market but the lines are blurring. I look foreward to the day when products that sound quite good are avalable in mass market stores, and the upscale market is not just a place that people aspire to but a place that that the masses will be exposed to on their own tearms, music.

The golden age is over for ever!

LP sound had really come into its own and CDs were just coming along, but their sound really couldn't compete. Tube gear once again was recognized for its warm, inviting sound.

It just was, man. What else was there to do?

Hopefully the future too, the 90's were the age of home theater. There is still a lot of old 70's stuff floating around. Some of it doesn't sound too bad either. Some even better then the crap from Best Buy!

When digital came of age, analog mysteriously came to fruition.