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Defining Hi-Fi Audio Equipment: A not-so-obvious approach

© Dimitris Vayenas

Hi-Fi Audio equipment can be thought of as a precision measuring instrument. In an LP, for example, the stylus measures (reads) the grooves. Then the signal is amplified to a level that sufficiently excites the speakers in order to listen to it. Therefore, if the 'source' cannot pick-up the information accurately, the amplifier will amplify something else etc.

Hi-Fi is the system that reproduces what the artist originally recorded. It is not a system that helps the user to alter the original recording (equalizers, tremble/ bass/loudness knobs do not exist in hi-fi systems). This is because of the fact that even the bear existence of these added facilities (see their passive characteristics Resistance, Capacitance and Inductance) has an impact on the quality of the original signal/recording.

The above may be considered as a "purists" approach by many who have become accustomed to manipulating the sound through the facilities offered by most mass producing audio equipment manufactures. However, it is worth stating that these facilities were initially integrated into poor sounding audio systems so that the listener could counteract their deficiencies (distortion) by creating a sound profile more likable to ones ears. Nowadays this argument is not a valid one since current technology ensures the production of audio equipment with near zero distortion.

One can see the whole argument from a more philosophical perspective: if you consider that music is Art then you may compare the alteration of the original profile by the listener to, lets say, attending a Theatrical Play or a Film and demanding the plot to change to the tastes of a particular audience. It is ridiculous -- and not just because it is technically impossible at the moment. After all there so many other instruments and ways that one can use to create new sounds!

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