They said it was dead in here....
 

Keith G wrote:

And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked up to
a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly silent with
the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than a dozen posts a
day.

Elsewhere, eBay is very flaccid these days with reams of identical auctions
from traders (mostly Chinese) and no end of secondhand items getting no bids
at all - it looks like in the UK, at least, used budget audio gear isn't
making money worth the hassle of packing it up and lugging it to the post
office!!

Probably because secondhand audio is generally vastly outperformed by more
recent and inexpensive gear. The design 'tricks' have been learnt, the
components cost less now, so what do you expect ? Add on CAD simulation and
today's gear is very good generally at a sensible price point.

Incidentally, when I nearly worked for NAD ( this was in the mid 80s ) they were
using CAD and simulation even then.

Graham

They said it was dead in here....
 

Keith G wrote:

"Arny Krueger" wrote
"Keith G" wrote

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally?

These days I do most of my posting to HTML-based forums. They seem to be
pretty active. The market for audio forums has become very fragmented.


No idea, I've never looked into an audio forum only photography forums, but
there's *gazillions* of them, so I'm sure you're right.

I don't like forums.

Neither do I generally. Most are full of slow to load gimmicky graphics and they
don't support threads as in Usenet, so it's difficult to tell who's replying to
whom. Usenet is a far better medium IMHO.

Graham

They said it was dead in here....
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

In article ,
Keith G wrote:
And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked
up to a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly
silent with the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than
a dozen posts a day.

My estimate is newsgroup use (based on those I subscribe to) has dropped
by one half from the peak of some years ago. My newsreader tells me how
many articles it has expired each day - so pretty easy to get an estimate
from that.

I'd say website based forums have increased by more than this decline -
the ease of posting pics and data being one obvious reason.

Unfortunately it also increases the number of total dickheads. Go to
rec.audio.pro and see my refutation of a 'magic cable' merchant in the
"Hydra-Audio cables" thread. Thankfully we get few of these on Usenet and we
spit them out fast.

Graham

They said it was dead in here....
 

Keith G wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote
Keith G wrote:
And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked
up to a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly
silent with the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than
a dozen posts a day.

My estimate is newsgroup use (based on those I subscribe to) has dropped
by one half from the peak of some years ago. My newsreader tells me how
many articles it has expired each day - so pretty easy to get an estimate
from that.

I'd say website based forums have increased by more than this decline -
the ease of posting pics and data being one obvious reason.

Sure. The photography forums are certainly going like trains but the
'bandwidth burners' posting endless reams of (frequently) very crappy pix
(which all get 'quoted' by clowns who know no better) are melting the
icecaps...

Forums clowns. No question.

Graham

They said it was dead in here....
 

tony sayer wrote:

Ditto cars .. our umpteen old Audi and Volvo are still performing fine
so I can't see any reason to change them, and keeping up with Mr Jones,
yes we have that ex Neve Mr Jones across the way, isn't an issue and
he's not got a new motah every year either;!...

Reminds me. I must phone Martin again soon. Indeed he wouldn't be one to be
'showy', except with his intellect ! ;~)

Graham

They said it was dead in here....
 

Keith G wrote:

I agree the recession is very likely hitting those who might have been
considering a little 'low end' punt on eBay

OK, so what would you go for ?

Graham

They said it was dead in here....
 

Don Pearce wrote:

How about one I remember from years ago - a gravity powered turntable.
Big weight hanging on a cord wrapped round a spindle, dropping down a
deep hole in the ground. Rotating vane governor controlled the speed.
Bloody awful thing but certainly would keep you off the bike during
the nice summer days to come.

Who needs a turntable ( he says casting an eye on his forlornly neglected
Garrard 401 with Ortofon RMG309 arm ) when you have a Denon DCD-1700 ?

Graham

They said it was dead in here....
 

On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:40:11 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

I think everyone is feeling the squeeze and retreating into their
shells. Most people certainly won't be buying trivial stuff like audio
gear when they could be out of a job next week. I now regard things
audio as commodities - I have my system and see no reason to change
it,

Ditto cars .. our umpteen old Audi and Volvo are still performing fine
so I can't see any reason to change them, and keeping up with Mr Jones,
yes we have that ex Neve Mr Jones across the way, isn't an issue and
he's not got a new motah every year either;!...


For me and audio it wasn't a matter of keeping up with the Joneses - I
was simply an early adopter. I was cured of that in a big way by DAB -
shelled out a fortune for an Arcam radio which now lives in a
cupboard.

so the interest I have for advancing is in recording techniques -
plus of course


practicing the instruments (of which I have bought a
few over the last year).


Now thats a good waste of time;))...
--

Oh yes!

d

They said it was dead in here....
 

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Keith G wrote:

I agree the recession is very likely hitting those who might have been
considering a little 'low end' punt on eBay

OK, so what would you go for ?


I have been buying lenses on eBay lately and, believe me, there's no
shortage of bidders on the 'choice' secondhand items items, but the audio
stuff I looked up recently was going for peanuts with a lot of items sliding
off the table without a single bid, as I said before.

They said it was dead in here....
 

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Keith G wrote:

And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked up
to
a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly silent
with
the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than a dozen posts
a
day.

Elsewhere, eBay is very flaccid these days with reams of identical
auctions
from traders (mostly Chinese) and no end of secondhand items getting no
bids
at all - it looks like in the UK, at least, used budget audio gear isn't
making money worth the hassle of packing it up and lugging it to the post
office!!

Probably because secondhand audio is generally vastly outperformed by more
recent and inexpensive gear.


I don't believe it is, once you get past the lowest quality (toy) items and
'classic' stuff (old Tannoys, for example) still makes good money.

(No such thing as a truly cheap, secondhand Sugden A21 amp, that's for
sure!)