THE HIFI FIVE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION STREAMING LIVE ON YOUTUBE PREMIERING IN OCTOBER!

[AudioHR]

Working my way through the episodes. Compliment to all of you for trying something different.

The last one I watched was Episode 6 with Denis Burger, I quite enjoyed it. I can see the podcast evolving as the four regulars become more comfortable with the format. While it's not always necessary to have a guest when you do have one that guest is an important element, from my perspective the better your guest the more interesting it is.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hello Ricky,

We are feeling our way forward, and trying to discern which topics viewers are enjoying most. We will return to having guests occasionally in the new year.

The one thing we are sure we do not want is merely a video version of the kinds of endless subjective debates we have here on WBF. The reality is that each of the four of us has deeper insight into the industry and into industry goings-on and reports and even gossip than the typical hobbyist. So we do feel that we can provide a value-add on industry matters.

speaking only for myself, if i wanted to hear one businessman talk to another businessman about their business, i would have just stayed in the car business. the business of high end audio gets boring really really quick. like 5 weeks ago. give me some meaty subjective topics and i'm there. it's what attracts me to the hobby......not listening to whining about what's not fair or how the business really is. i want to know how it really sounds and related system building ideas instead.

no matter that the panel are likeable interesting people. maybe having the whole permanent panel made up of hifi business people means the perspective is a bit skewed toward the profit and loss part. just how it is. or maybe the audience ought to be other hifi dealers and manufacturers and reviewers, not hobbyists.

it is possible that the direction is moving more toward this subjective/fun side already. hope so.

 

[PeterA]

no matter that the panel are likeable interesting people. maybe having the whole permanent panel made up of hifi business people means the perspective is a bit skewed toward the profit and loss part. just how it is. or maybe the audience ought to be other hifi dealers and manufacturers and reviewers, not hobbyists.

I’ve watched a few episodes and have come away with the impression that I am not the intended audience. I have no idea who is the intended audience. It’s all new and I guess they are trying to figure it out as they go along.

 

[Elliot G.]

The Hifi Five will start tomorrow Wednesday at 8 pm eastern instead of its normal 9 pm start time.
Thank you

 

[213Cobra]

I’ve watched a few episodes and have come away with the impression that I am not the intended audience. I have no idea who is the intended audience. It’s all new and I guess they are trying to figure it out as they go along.

Yeah. I had dinner with Ron a week or so ago. My question to him regarding this endeavor was, "Who is this for, Ron?" He couldn't answer that. After discussing the four recurrent panel members, and why they were corralled for this, the best I could surmise is that Hifi Five is for them, and they hope some untargeted coterie of people want to follow it. Now, I've been in the business, and all the years I wasn't, I was close to it, plus I've been spending my own money on this for 60 years and counting. The business isn't mysterious. I find myself watching and mouthing answers, and correcting the errors, omissions and incidental bullshit that I predict in advance is going to be said. There are simpler, less time consuming answers to virtually all of the questions posed in nine episodes thus far. Ron made clear the group doesn't want to videofy WBF sound quality and gear discussions, battles and vituperations. OK, understand. But bantering about the hifi business (really, a relatively simple business with common distribution and economic problems) is going to become topically thin in short order. If Ron, Elliot, Danny and Jay really want to build something useful and long-term engaging, they should be positing who the effort is for, and build a topical agenda instead of just reacting to whatever imbroglios and audiophile insecurities arise in a given week.

Tell us who it's for and what you want to accomplish and we'll help you find more audience for it. Randomize it as now, and you're in for an organic slog. Ron said first and foremost HF5 is being done for fun. Maybe that's enough but I'm doubtful. And since it's called the Hifi Five, then commit to a guest every episode to fill that fifth chair! What the group has right now is the HiFi Four. Conversation is already getting repetitious. Get organized. In Philadelphia vernacular terms, "youze guys are media entrepreneurs now..." Act like it! And, what the hell -- let Danny spotlight 5, 6, 8, 10 recordings every week. We buy this stuff to listen to music. More music revelations would be more valuable than the repetitive business blathering.

Phil

 

[bonzo75]

And since it's called the Hifi Five, then commit to a guest every episode to fill that fifth chair! What the group has right now is the HiFi Four.

Add a subwoofer. Like adding a sub to a 4-way makes it a 5-way. Choose a sub that will give depth and a foundation.

 

[bonzo75]

"Who is this for, Ron?" He couldn't answer that.

 

[PeterA]

Ron said first and foremost HF5 is being done for fun. Maybe that's enough but I'm doubtful.

Phil

Why the constant requests for us to subscribe if it is just for fun?

 

[PeterA]

The Hifi Five will start tomorrow Wednesday at 8 pm eastern instead of its normal 9 pm start time.
Thank you

Big speech on TV tonight at 9:00.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Big speech on TV tonight at 9:00.

....More tariffs lol.

 

[Elliot G.]

I don't speak for Ron but my idea to start the show was so that some of us could have our voices heard in our own place to discuss the Audio Industry. We want the channel to grow and so we ask for people to subscribe and like as that allows the channel to be seen by more people as the algorithm does its thing. I say this with all due respect , if you don't like it then don't watch it. We are going to do the show that we want to do and it will change and grow as it goes forward. It is and will be controversial to many and that is the idea. We are not doing a subjective review show. This forum is that and so are all the other places that have that focus. There is not way to do that even if we wanted to as Danny , Myself, Jay and Ron all have industry connections and therefore whatever we say is either to plug our stuff or piss on someone else's. No thank you. we leave that to the pages of WBF and beyond. We would enjoy your participation and comments however we are not going to please everyone and that has and never will be the goal.
I for one am not doing this for FUN and I don't believe Jay or danny are either. Ron can speak for himself.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and see you all tonight.

 

[Elliot G.]

For informational purposes only.
The HiFi Five will go live tonight at 8 pm est instead of its normal time. The President asked us to move the time so that we wouldn't interfere with his speech so naturally we told him ok.
Thank you
Elliot

 

[Mike Lavigne]

we cared enough in this idea to support it for 9 weeks, and now, to speak out about it. we did our part to help it along to be something we want to be a part of that has value to us as hobbyists. if it's not that, then so be it. at least we understand what the aim is. not speaking for anyone but myself.

 

[wil]

Yeah. I had dinner with Ron a week or so ago. My question to him regarding this endeavor was, "Who is this for, Ron?" He couldn't answer that. After discussing the four recurrent panel members, and why they were corralled for this, the best I could surmise is that Hifi Five is for them, and they hope some untargeted coterie of people want to follow it. Now, I've been in the business, and all the years I wasn't, I was close to it, plus I've been spending my own money on this for 60 years and counting. The business isn't mysterious. I find myself watching and mouthing answers, and correcting the errors, omissions and incidental bullshit that I predict in advance is going to be said. There are simpler, less time consuming answers to virtually all of the questions posed in nine episodes thus far. Ron made clear the group doesn't want to videofy WBF sound quality and gear discussions, battles and vituperations. OK, understand. But bantering about the hifi business (really, a relatively simple business with common distribution and economic problems) is going to become topically thin in short order. If Ron, Elliot, Danny and Jay really want to build something useful and long-term engaging, they should be positing who the effort is for, and build a topical agenda instead of just reacting to whatever imbroglios and audiophile insecurities arise in a given week.

Tell us who it's for and what you want to accomplish and we'll help you find more audience for it. Randomize it as now, and you're in for an organic slog. Ron said first and foremost HF5 is being done for fun. Maybe that's enough but I'm doubtful. And since it's called the Hifi Five, then commit to a guest every episode to fill that fifth chair! What the group has right now is the HiFi Four. Conversation is already getting repetitious. Get organized. In Philadelphia vernacular terms, "youze guys are media entrepreneurs now..." Act like it! And, what the hell -- let Danny spotlight 5, 6, 8, 10 recordings every week. We buy this stuff to listen to music. More music revelations would be more valuable than the repetitive business blathering.

Phil

Speaking for myself, obviously, I do not tune in to this podcast to get music recommendations. I have hundreds of albums I’m trying to find time to get to.

I love recommending music to people, as I’m sure Danny does. Why not just recommend one special album a week? 6 to 8 would be pretty time-consuming!

PS, I thought Elliott’s mention of tiny desk was interesting.

 

[Anton D]

One rule: talk about what is fun to you.

If you are not having actual fun in the moment, people can tell and will not remain.

Well, rule One - A: Make the audience feel as if you like them.

These are not criticisms, just things to ponder going into each episode.

___

Wil is right, musical turn ons are viewer turn ons!

 

[PeterA]

I don't speak for Ron but my idea to start the show was so that some of us could have our voices heard in our own place to discuss the Audio Industry. We want the channel to grow and so we ask for people to subscribe and like as that allows the channel to be seen by more people as the algorithm does its thing. I say this with all due respect , if you don't like it then don't watch it. We are going to do the show that we want to do and it will change and grow as it goes forward. It is and will be controversial to many and that is the idea. We are not doing a subjective review show. This forum is that and so are all the other places that have that focus. There is not way to do that even if we wanted to as Danny , Myself, Jay and Ron all have industry connections and therefore whatever we say is either to plug our stuff or piss on someone else's. No thank you. we leave that to the pages of WBF and beyond. We would enjoy your participation and comments however we are not going to please everyone and that has and never will be the goal.
I for one am not doing this for FUN and I don't believe Jay or danny are either. Ron can speak for himself.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and see you all tonight.

Thank you Elliot for posting this. I appreciate your candor. It is the first clear and concise explanation that I’ve read about what you are trying to do. Learning about the industry can be interesting, but I am occasionally frustrated frustrated by no one’s willingness to name names. I understand why you hold back and don’t tell the full story, but insinuation and inference don’t shed as much light on the subject as full disclosure might.

PS, I appreciate your admitted deference to our leader and his schedule. I guess you will have to wrap it up in one hour tonight.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

i went back and read Ron's first post in this thread and have to say i'm wrong. the show has been exactly what it was intended to be. and......not really about the audience one way or the other. amen.

is that direction popular enough, with a focus that has legs and relevancy, for an audience to grow? separate question.

 

[Rt66indierock]

question; if i have a few dozen streaming recordings where i prefer the MQA version on multiple dacs to various non MQA versions, then how should i view MQA objectively?

and fyi, i view Bob Stuart in a primarily negative perspective relative to his attempts to monetize my music over many years.....related to MLP and MQA. OTOH lots of Meridian gear is pretty good. My first high end gear was a used Meridian Transport and Dac.

Mike, it’s pretty simple. I was given a spreadsheet of the MQA albums dated May 2021from an MQA supporter. It has 1.5 million tracks on it. If the tracks are normally distributed, then one would expect 1,500 to sound great.

Even I have said some albums the sound better in MQA, Chicago Transit Authority comes to mind. But it changes nothing. The format does bad things to too many tracks in addition to its other negative attributes.

 

[Rt66indierock]

MQA is irrelevant to this thread. Please kindly take that topic elsewhere.

Thank you.

Ron, it’s very simple. MQA has everything wrong with high end audio and the industry in a nice, neat package. Except for the expensive analog systems that aren’t high fidelity.

 

[Elliot G.]

One rule: talk about what is fun to you.

If you are not having actual fun in the moment, people can tell and will not remain.

Well, rule One - A: Make the audience feel as if you like them.

These are not criticisms, just things to ponder going into each episode.

___

Wil is right, musical turn ons are viewer turn ons!

I don't want to be argumentative but I have no idea where you get this from. The most successful shows are exactly not what you ask for. Controversy , discord, different viewpoints , conflict is the central theme to all of them. If you watch youtube at all you are so wrong.
the audience doesn't have to do anything but watch and listen, they don't have to like it, they don't have to hate it, as long as they consume it.