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Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

Not entirely.

Not entirely.
The readership is a mix of people from those slightly curious, to the active participant (frequent purchases, like what Micky D’s marketing office calls a “heavy user”) to those engineers and techno’s who like to look at keep up with “where things are” in the market.
My issue is that in more recent times, the magazines first over stressed the “numbers” in the process of measurement to help sell, then threw out measurements and largely went with a pure business model (do what ever is needed to get the most cash).
This involves the magazines filling the gap between the mfr’s who want to reach the market and that group of potential customers who expressed some possibility of “buying hifi” by subscribing (an enriched group compared to blind advertising).

I am not saying hifi is any more funky this way than any other market which involves discretionary cash and does not involve health / life safety (where the rules are much more strict).
The thing is, we are highly manipulated to buy things and there is science behind creating the demand for things. After all, after everyone had a car, then to stay in business, either the cars have to fall apart acceptably fast OR one much “create” the ego’s need to have a “new” car as opposed to an older one that only works just fine.
Our vast energy consumption is partly a result of our “throw away” consumer society too, we send a huge amount of 2-3 year old home electronics to the landfill every year..
Marketing is what makes many things “worth” the price, it makes the “right” sports jacket or gym shoes worth killing for in out inner cities.
I don’t know if you know about De-beers but they have “created” the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable.
In the process of gaining control of nearly all the mines (and a beach which was largely diamonds also) and starting apartheid as a way to get “free labor”, they created the diamond illusion. In reality, diamonds are relatively common, it was only the combination of marketing and near total control of the sources which has made Diamonds into what they are.

Like hifi, one can look at a diamond and say “well it is gorgeous stone for only $10,000”
Conversely, one could say “you have to be kidding, spend $10,000 on a common rock, who’s great value is imaginary and created by the same people who created apartheid, NFW”

Which way is right, depends on who’s values you accept, how much you know about it etc.

Knowing you are the “target market” and the science behind this might be like peaking around the corner at disney, maybe its something one would rather not know about.
None of this makes things any simpler either, there are differences between things, the real fun in hifi comes when you start building / measuring / experimenting your self and develop an understanding about how things work.
The cool / bad part is you find the more you know, the more there is to learn about.
Tom



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