What explains the British ear ?

Posted by: Jan-Erik Nordoen on 17 December 2015

Spendor, Harbeth, ATC, B&W, Meridian, Naim, Linn, Sonneteer, Creek, Stirling, Kudos, etc., etc., etc.,....

Why is that so much good hifi comes out of the UK ? Genetics, education, the BBC, something in the tea ?

Posted on: 19 December 2015 by Hmack

Actually, I think I found 4 of her albums on Tidal, including the one I mention above. Surely we don't have different catalogues based on region?

Posted on: 19 December 2015 by Hmack

Jan-Erik,

 

Just spotted your spelling of her name. It should be 'Kiberlain' and not 'Kimberlain'

By the way, I have also been playing, courtesy of Tidal, a couple of rather lovely albums by 'Ruth Moody' (Almost a Canadian - she was born in Australia but brought up in Canada). Always been a fan of the 'Wailin' Jennys', and it would appear that her solo stuff is just as good.

Posted on: 19 December 2015 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Thanks Hmack. Kiberlain it is and yes I can see her albums now on Tidal.

Posted on: 20 December 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

I think Britain tends to do small business and SME really well.. Big business becomes debatable.. a lot of good British hifi remains cottage industry or at least small case industry with good access to markets.. and I am sure that helps.. couple that with weather culture, music culture, the British OCD prone geek/eccentric  and the other things mentioned in the thread you can see perhaps why it is so..

Posted on: 20 December 2015 by Huge
Hmack posted:

Huge originally posted:

"I'm fluent in 5 languages:  [C/C++/C#],  FORTRAN,  Pascal,  BASIC  &  80x86 " .

Ah - maybe I'm not so talentless after all. I can add Algol and COBOL to mine - mind you still long out of practice so not so fluent any more. 

Ah! so you also find it easier to talk to computers than to humans.  

(Cats are good too)

Posted on: 20 December 2015 by Derek Wright

The homes  that the customers live in may play a significant part. During the halcyon days of UK HiFi, a high proportion of the customers lived in houses and so were able to "enjoy" their equipment. In continental Europe there is / was a higher proportion of potential customers living in apartments  who could not enjoy a HiFi system, their pastimes were spent in their garden houses in the equivalent of the UK allotments.

The design of Naim speakers being dependant on being placed against a wall is a result of the smallish rooms that the customers  would live in, the speakers being placed either side of the hearth and the chimney breast.

So I think that is a matter of nature as well as nurture that has driven the UK HiFI industry.