Do your youngsters have proper hi-fis?

[plastic penguin]

Wondering how many have hi-fis in their bedrooms? I'm enquiring because I've been promising my daughter amp, cdp and speakers for a good while now, and I've seen a receiver (my first proper hi-fi). I have my Rotel CDP in the loft and Wharfedale speakers that she can use. At the mo she just has a cheapo cdp/radio with a handle (in bright pink).

Really trying to gauge opinion and views on the practicalities.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Practicalities? Apart from the need to shout 'will you turn that row down' up the stairs with monotonous regularity, can imagine there are any...

 

[plastic penguin]

Andrew Everard:Practicalities? Apart from the need to shout 'will you turn that row down' up the stairs with monotonous regularity, can imagine there are any...

This is the other snag - we don't have stairs...

 

[Andrew Everard]

Oh, of course not. In which case I'd definitely get those first before you even think of letting your daughter have hi-fi in her bedroom.

 

[Al ears]

Not proper hi fi setup as you or I might recognise but have recently added a Teac Aurb to my daughters room. Space limitations within her bedroom limited choice.

I don't know about kids having hi fi in their bedrooms but I have been forced to move my own set-up to the bedroom as the lounge that it was arranged in has since been taken over by herds of TV watching youngsters. So to the bedroom sanctuary I was forced to retreat!

One day my time will come!

 

[Henley]

My daughter's got a rather nice valve amp and speakers and my son uses his guitar amp (I think the latter is a hint for me to get him a proper system!) Their friends love it and a few have been converted.

 

[Paul.]

When I was young-er my parents bought me quite a nice Sony system. It wasn't separates, but not like to todays mini systems with flashing lights all over the place.

Anyhoo, if I ever got a little enthusiastic with my music, my Dad would never shout up the stairs, just flip the breakers for upstairs power in the fuse box.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't want to malign a complete generation but in my experience most youngsters simply don't "get" hi fi.....If it makes enough noise in the corner it's fine.

Having said that my OH doesn't "get" it either

 

[Paul.]

I would agree with that sentiment, when I was young and ravey, I didn't understand why amps had bass knobs, cos you you were only going to turn it all the way up!

 

[plastic penguin]

Nooby:

I don't want to malign a complete generation but in my experience most youngsters simply don't "get" hi fi.....If it makes enough noise in the corner it's fine.

Having said that my OH doesn't "get" it either

My little'un gets it. She helped me to choose the Leema on sound. She's 8 going on 18, very grown up for her age. Moreover she could use my Grados on it too.

As it stands at the moment the Leema gets used for so many hours (typically around 6 hours per day), between the two of them. It isn't just music that's played: TV, DVDs, radio, TT and CDP. The whole shebang is hooked through the Leema.

 

[scene]

My boys have Sonos S5s - not proper Hi Fi (yet). When they get older, I guess it's iPods and docks for them...

 

[The_Lhc]

Nooby:I don't want to malign a complete generation but in my experience most youngsters simply don't "get" hi fi.....If it makes enough noise in the corner it's fine.

Yes my other half's daughter and son-in-law are much like that, it's a reasonable-ish Sony all-in-one with iPod dock, which probably would sound ok, except they've crammed it in the space under the stairs, so all it provides is muffled background noise.

Her son has a reasonable Sony all-in-one, properly set up with decent separation between the speakers angled towards the listening position. The only reason he's got that though is because I put my foot down when she was choosing one for his birthday present and insisted we spend at least 100 quid (the horror!). His nan pointed one out when we were looking at them that cost £15 and was rated at a whopping 2 watts, saying "That's good value", to which I replied, "No, it's cheap, and that's not the same thing." but I don't think either of them understood what I meant.

But no, I don't know anyone of their age that is at all interested in hi-fi. When they or their friends come round ours they see the big TV and go "ooh" but I don't even think most of them know what the black things next to the TV are even for. The only comment I ever get from the daughter and son-in-law about my setup is "turn it down" but then they seem to be able to watch TV with the volume at a vanishingly low level that I can barely hear and it's nothing to do with me having bad hearing, if we're all sitting in the living room and someone knocks on the front door I'll be the only person to notice it. I won't answer it obviously because I'm a miserable *** but I will let them know there's someone there...

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

Paul Hobbs: when I was young and ravey

Oi- imposter!

Anyway my 19 year old has taken my old 80's set up and put it in his bedroom and yes it is a case of so he can hear it while he is having a shower. (and the shower isn't en suite!!)

 

[Clare Newsome]

It's all about headphones for my teenage stepson at the moment - whether they're plugged into his computer, iPod, mobile or AV system (when gaming), he's building up quite a suite of options (and has had plenty of lectures from his early years about file formats/quality)

 

[davejberry]

I have to ask, is it your suggestion that she gets a proper hifi or has she asked for it? Does she own any music ?

I only have one at home now (he's 20). I am saddened by the fact that he doesn't even listen to proper music, much more interested in playing online games. Of the other two, my son (22) had a small 'all in one' for a time but had it connected up to the playstation for better sound, he owned less CDs than he had fingers to count them with. My daughter, the eldest has an old kenwood micro system that I gave her. She listens to music quite a bit but, even she doesn't really care about the quality of the sound although I give her credit for buying CDs rather than downloading that compressed rubbish. They must all take after my other half.

 

[chebby]

Eldest has Sony mini-system that cost about £180 7 years ago and sounds far better than it has any right too! (The speakers are especially good.) Although she also has an iPod and her own iTunes account she still prefers CDs.

Youngest uses her iPod, a Pure Evoke radio (pink), a PC and Creative T20 PC speakers. (Also rather better than I expected when I bought them for her.)

 

[plastic penguin]

To her the hi-fi is an extension of the TV. When she comes home and asks to play a dvd or video, on goes the the amp and makes sure it's switched onto AV section before even choosing the required disc or tape.

Although I have to say I've been strict and she's been watching TV/films without the amp on, but it's tricky because she's always been surrounded by music since day one. Surprised how the Arcam kept going all those years... if it was a car it would have around 200 miles on the clock.

 

[plastic penguin]

davejberry:

I have to ask, is it your suggestion that she gets a proper hifi or has she asked for it? Does she own any music ?

I only have one at home now (he's 20). I am saddened by the fact that he doesn't even listen to proper music, much more interested in playing online games. Of the other two, my son (22) had a small 'all in one' for a time but had it connected up to the playstation for better sound, he owned less CDs than he had fingers to count them with. My daughter, the eldest has an old kenwood micro system that I gave her. She listens to music quite a bit but, even she doesn't really care about the quality of the sound although I give her credit for buying CDs rather than downloading that compressed rubbish. They must all take after my other half.

She's asked a number of times. Usually to the tune of: "When can I have a stereo for the bedroom daddy?" I just say "One day. We'll see..."

Yup, at the last count she has about 20 cds, although there maybe one or two lurking at the bottom of the drawer. This amp I've seen is a receiver with a built-in headphone socket.

 

[hammill]

[Andrew Everard:Oh, of course not. In which case I'd definitely get those first before you even think of letting your daughter have hi-fi in her bedroom.

 

[laserman16]

Andrew Everard:Practicalities? Apart from the need to shout 'will you turn that row down' up the stairs with monotonous regularity, can imagine there are any...

Even better when there's two kids trying to out do each other in the volume stakes.

Or they switch them on and leave them blasting away while they pop down to have a chat with you. For an hour.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep,

Buy her a decent set, don't be so tight............

 

[chebby]

A Denon DM38DAB with Monitor Audio BR1 speakers for £299 will sound excellent in a bedroom. (And take up less room than all that stuff in your loft you mentioned.)

And she can plug an iPod into it, play CDs, plug in her DVD & TV, use the radio etc etc.

 

[Nas88]

My music love has always been there from a young age but never came into being till a I bought my first personal music player. When mp3 players first came out, I would travel to school with my sennheisers, go to bed and falling asleep with music playing all night. Then came the day when I got my first car, past my test and had enough money for my first sound system.

This to me was the music I had been waiting for, yes! I was that young yobbo coming down your high street, shaking your seats and shattering windows. This to me was music, driving in my car and listening to my 'bangin' tunes!

But then came the time when I was in Dubai for a holiday, walking into an open demo room playing through a Harmon Kardon Hifi seperates and JBL Floorstanders. I was blown away by the soundstage and clarity. I had no idea what I was looking at or hearing, hifi was not in my dictionary then. Dad explained to me, with a rather smug face....you haven't heard your music, till you've heard through hifi.

Since then, I've done my fair share of reading and when the time came when I could afford it, my first hifi was bought only a month ago.

I would say, at a young age I was a bit arrogant in terms of what was best. No point spending that much money on 'high quality' kit, watts is what mattered. Ah what a silly boy I was. I LOVE HIFI!!!

 

[plastic penguin]

Nas88:

My music love has always been there from a young age but never came into being till a I bought my first personal music player. When mp3 players first came out, I would travel to school with my sennheisers, go to bed and falling asleep with music playing all night. Then came the day when I got my first car, past my test and had enough money for my first sound system.

This to me was the music I had been waiting for, yes! I was that young yobbo coming down your high street, shaking your seats and shattering windows. This to me was music, driving in my car and listening to my 'bangin' tunes!

But then came the time when I was in Dubai for a holiday, walking into an open demo room playing through a Harmon Kardon Hifi seperates and JBL Floorstanders. I was blown away by the soundstage and clarity. I had no idea what I was looking at or hearing, hifi was not in my dictionary then. Dad explained to me, with a rather smug face....you haven't heard your music, till you've heard through hifi.

Since then, I've done my fair share of reading and when the time came when I could afford it, my first hifi was bought only a month ago.

I would say, at a young age I was a bit arrogant in terms of what was best. No point spending that much money on 'high quality' kit, watts is what mattered. Ah what a silly boy I was. I LOVE HIFI!!!

Firstly, my daughter has a "My Little Pony"-type MP3 player from Argos. She played with it for about a week but I haven't seen it for about a year. Obviously bored with it fairly quickly, so no real point at this stage for a system with an MP3 stage or IPod. She uses my headphones more than me. I could rig up my old Arcam Alpha but that would mean buying a seperate tadio or tuner.

This amp is a tuner/amp with a headphone socket and will probably cost no more, inc. carriage, than £70.00.

Chebby's suggestion isn't practical in the short/medium term, not at £300.

 

[bballtom]

When I was 16 (1998) I wanted a hifi with all the flashing lights like all my friends had, my Dad convinced me to get a proper hifi. So I went out and bought my first What Hifi mag followed by a call to Richer Sounds and a delivery of a Yamaha CD/Amp and Eltac speakers and I've not looked back since.

A wonder round Currys and there doesn't seem to be these type of systems anymore, they all look more “hifi ish”, don't know about sound quality but I think the flashing light systems of the past have been replaced by ipod docks attached to poor quality systems with tiney or boomey speakers, all by the same companies.