Nice kit if you can get it

It has been a strange 2020 for the hi-fi industry, as for everyone. While all shows and launch events were necessarily shut down, hi-fi and home entertainment have not had a bad year; indeed many retailers and distributors are telling me that they’ve sold more kit than for many many years gone by.

The reason is fairly obvious — everyone is concentrating on their home life, because they’ve been stuck at home. Isn’t money tight? For some, certainly, but for others there’s been the removal of holiday expenditure, not to mention the possibility of irresponsible splash-out spending thanks to various ongoing assistance payments and that highly dubious ability for Australians to yank out thousands of dollars from their Super and let their retirement income go hang. Not that I’ll be calling a hi-fi purchase irresponsible, of course — it’s something that will hopefully bring a happier and more musical life for many years to come, and it represents a rather better option than ploughing Superbucks into online betting, something else which has risen dramatically during the enforced homestay. (Thank heavens the pokie rooms were one of the first things to reopen, eh?)

Old-timers will remember when hi-fi was a home essential for pretty much everyone. Every home had a decent stereo or a giant all-in-one turntable-cum-cassette-cum-amplifier with built-in speakers and rich family-friendly sound.

So what happened? Sales slipped away as the years went by and new distractions began to compete for the hi-fi dollar. Holidays abroad, computers, interior decorating and the extraordinary sums people invest into bathrooms and kitchens particularly — any one of those could translate into a hi-fi budget which would build a system good to play fine music for years. And meanwhile all that interior decorating was making it harder to accommodate a full-sized hi-fi system. The art of making music at home slipped slowly down the list of expenditure priorities.

Now it’s suddenly back, with a boost entirely unanticipated by brands and retailers who were expecting to be shuttered for the duration of the virus. Consequently their stocks in-store are selling out, they’ve been unplugging and selling their display stock, while begging manufacturers to send more, which they often can’t, either because their own factories, particularly those overseas, haven’t been operating or because particular parts can’t be obtained for love nor money. Transport issues make it worse still. You can totally sympathise with hi-fi retailers who have been struggling for years to sell some of this kit, and who now have orders they can’t fulfill, customers they can’t serve. Infuriating.

I mention this because here we are with dozens of Sound+Image Awards for the finest audio and AV products that money can buy, but of course it’s unpredictable whether money actually can buy any particular product at the moment. You’ll note in our pages this issue that we’ve even put off the whole set of AV receiver categories because this year’s models have been so delayed that they’re now going to be next year’s models, and we won’t get a chance to review enough of them, and thereby pick winners, until well into next year. So watch out for our AV Receiver Awards addendum, coming (hopefully) in two issues’ time.

For the rest of our winners, there’ll be either the joy of finding one available as fresh stock arrives, or the option of waiting, or else the ability to take advice from a good hi-fi dealer as to a product which is available and which will meet your needs nicely. I reckon the temporary disappointment of missing out on an award-winner will most likely be washed away by the wonderful music and entertainment you’ll be able to enjoy.

Meanwhile I wish you all a happy, healthy and entirely-unlocked cluster-free holiday season, and we’ll see you on the other side.

Cheers, Jez Ford, Editor, Sound+Image