David@FrankHarvey said:
L00k_C said:
What is the meaning of high-end speakers?
Is it the price? Is it the brand? Is it the materials made of?
Will all experts/audiophiles agree?
Could someone provide me a representative list for each category?
Thanks
It's not brand - many just associate certain brands with "high end", like Sonus Faber for example, but they also make sub £2k speakers, so can they truly be considered a "high end" brand? There are several (what would be classed as) non high end manufacturers that make a product that is more than worthy of being classed as high end.
High end is over engineering, much of the time using expensive, exotic materials - sometimes for good reason, sometimes not. The design (both visually and physically) itself will usually have some merit to it, maybe taking an approach that would just be too expensive to take on a budget. As already mentioned, value for money isn't a phrase that would be associated with a high end product.
High end = excess
I feel that at the curent time this is a reasonable 'definition' of high-end but I do not think this was always the case. Back in the 90's, when I was still a dealer the term was coming into more general use, for a time it meant something a little different. Let me explain.
To me, hi-fi is a term that has become completely debased, even supermarket TVs and the speakers in some smartphones now boast 'hi-fi' sound if you read the hype. Most of us see through this pretty quickly but applying the term to the vast bulk of modern equipment that clutter up dealers shelves and dominate forums like this is just as bad.
In the 'old days' cheap audio equipment was easily recognised, it was called a stereo gram,a ghetto blaster or a music centre, these days it is dressed up as 'systems' (micro, midi, network and the rest) and even as 'hi-fi separates' by major manufacturers.
To my mind it is nothing but cheap, commoditised audio, just another mass market toy for the largely undiscerning punter. It may be bristling with modern technology but at the end of the day it is, to be reasonably kind, just another mass market product sold largely on price.
For a time, high-end meant something different, it wasn't just high price, in fact the terms 'budget' and 'entry level' high-end were used for equipment that was actually quite realistically priced. No, what it referred to was equipment built by 'serious' manufacturers who were genuinely trying to produce the best performing products that they could within their design brief.
In the US brands like Rega and Creek were described as (entry level) high-end for this very reason, products designed and produced with integrity and marketed without the hype associated with more mainstream brands. It was in some ways a a little like the old days, when proper hi-fi equipment was sought out by the more discerning enthusiast and the great unwashed bought their radio grams, their music centres and their Dansettes.
And it would make the forum pretty boring!
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