When Hi Fi was a hobby, not an industry

Download a four-page article from High Fidelity, 1966, on the subject of ‘early hi-fi’:

DOWNLOAD: High_Fidelity-6604-How_It_All_Began

Thanks to TF for sending us this piece. The article provides an interesting perspective on the changes in state-of-the-art sound reproduction between the years 1950 and 1966. The main themes worth noting: early hi-fi required more craft-work on the part of the consumer (fabricating cabinets, etc), had worse ergonomics, and of course: it was mono.

chris

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View Comments

rrusston says:

04/19/2012 at 5:27 pm

Those were the GOOD old days, when you had to be an electronic technician first and an audiophile second. You learned fast. Most "hi-fi nuts" were ham operators or had worked in electronics. It became consumerized in the late 50s and hasn't been as fun since.

Ed Dell published "The Audio Amateur" in 1970 to try to get some of the old school feeling back, but DIYers were only about one percent of the relatively high end market ever again. In Japan, the numbers were and are quite different, as any perusal of a Japanese hi fi magazine will show. They are fascinating to read even if you can't read Japanese.