Is it time to rediscover high-end audio’s origin story?
By Roy Gregory
Oh the indignity! A review product relegated to the TV system… Even for burning in you might consider that a low-blow – but in fact it’s nothing of the sort. Avantgarde’s Colibri might cost a little shy of €10K and come from a resolutely high-end brand, but this isn’t your average audiophile speaker, doesn’t satisfy conventional audiophile notions and, in truth, isn’t even trying to meet those expectations. Instead, the Colibri is aimed at a very different listener and in many ways, represents a new, home-audio paradigm. To understand what the Colibri is, what it does and (just as importantly) what it doesn’t do, it’s necessary to start with the thinking behind it – and that’s got little or nothing to with audiophile practice or pretensions and everything to do with the future consumption of music.
These days, any manufacturer or re-seller who hasn’t realised that the people under the age of 30 buying their products have got thin on the ground and started to plan accordingly, is either out of business or heading that way. Students and those leaving home simply don’t have the cash to splash on even a basic separates system. Most of them don’t have the cash to leave home at all. Even those already on the upgrade path are having to curb their expectations, as the prices of the highest-end electronics head for the financial horizon, leaving the increasing number of high-end manufacturers chasing fewer and fewer customers. In turn, that suggests a change in not just the way music is being or will be experienced, but the very nature of the equipment used to do so.
For all those who missed the hay-days of the high-end, which pretty much includes an entire generation of current first time audio buyers, that means shared space and that they’ll be listening to a lot of their own music on the move, on head-phones, in a club or at a concert. For those customers, a conventional separates system makes little or no sense, either in terms of practicality or investment – especially given the rapid evolution of audio electronics. Portable music, streaming, increasing environmentally consciousness and the legislative imperative for lower environmental impact and increased efficiency from electronic systems are all driving in one direction – and that direction is firmly opposed to existing notions of high-performance audio. Let’s face it, we are the last generation that will be buying and accommodating Class A mono-bloc amps and multi-box, full-width digital replay systems. Moving forward, those products cost too much, consume too many raw materials and way too much power. They are electronic dinosaurs and the meteorite is just about to hit…
As an industry, audio manufacturers can sit there, wringing their hands and trying to sell what they can to the few remaining takers – or, they can recognise that society might be changing but that the human condition and music’s part in it are still alive and kicking – albeit in a modified form. Instead of wishing themselves back to 1984, they can look forward and develop new products and a new paradigm to satisfy the emerging situation. Which is exactly the impetus behind the Colibri.
