HIFi Five youtube channel

[Ricky64]

I wish Elliott well. At the start of the podcast, I loved his accounts of how the audio business "used to be". I miss the classic audio store. I believe that if I lived in his area, I would be in his shop all the time to seek his advice and his excellent product lineup.
I also agree with Mike B. though. When business conditions change, you observe, change your execution, and move on.
Let's all move on.

 

[Kramer64]

The publications can do as they choose but there is a simple step that would not cost them a dime and the manufacturers would continue to subsidize their business by compensating their employees/contractors. Just have a quarter page in the back of the magazine that lists which companies compensate which reviewers with free or deeply discounted gear. The same reviews would get written, the same people would read them and the readers would have the information so they could make their own assessment. I suspect the great majority of readers would appreciate the transparency and praise the publications for taking that step. It would enhance their credibility and cost them nothing. What's the argument against that?

With respect, I think its not at all accurate to suggest that those who started this discussion failed. They put the spotlight on practices that a lot of people find questionable. Its a shame that it becomes so personal, but its not up to Elliott to create an appropriate conflicts of interest policy for another business. If there is a failure here, its not his.

 

[BendingWave]

I believe you are missing something here. The audio industry is not analogous to law or medicine. Did you have to take audio boards, or get a license from the state to practice audio sales? Consumers of material products are responsible for their due diligence, and no one is going to die from making a suboptimal purchase. This isn't to take anything away from your business, as I do admire and respect your acumen. The bottom line is all of the above activities are part of manufacturing, marketing and sales in many industries. There really isn't something sacred about the audio industry where this is immoral. Suboptimal, yes. Is it fraud? I think that's a stretch.
You are dying on the hill of this immorality, and it hasn't been pretty to watch.

First I didn’t bring up lawyers or doctors and they are not standard practice in any business

I believe you are missing something here. The audio industry is not analogous to law or medicine. Did you have to take audio boards, or get a license from the state to practice audio sales? Consumers of material products are responsible for their due diligence, and no one is going to die from making a suboptimal purchase. This isn't to take anything away from your business, as I do admire and respect your acumen. The bottom line is all of the above activities are part of manufacturing, marketing and sales in many industries. There really isn't something sacred about the audio industry where this is immoral. Suboptimal, yes. Is it fraud? I think that's a stretch.
You are dying on the hill of this presumed immorality, and it hasn't been pretty to watch.

i didnt brng that subject up to begin with MEP did.
It is not in fact ok in every industry there are laws against it, you can find them if you look. I am not in favor of decreased morality, influence peddling, possible financial incentives or worse and anything else. You can do as you please that is up to you. Me dying on a hill is way out there but if I am going to do it I will do it for the truth and honest playing field. You of course can do whatever it is that makes you feel good. The facts that companies used threats and pressure should tell you all you need to know, I did not back down because of me I did because I can't force shit on the innocent people and companies that were being coercised. OK now I am done and dead LOL

 

[BendingWave]

It's not my fight, it's yours. I explained how I conduct myself. I never signed up to police the high-end audio industry against things you don't like. You took that role on and had to cave because of the heat and harm you caused to people that were collateral damage in your scab picking mission. As a result of the blowback you received, you resigned from the Fab 5.

actually you are a chicken. You danced around the questions and you are the type of person that if it didnt happen to me then it didnt matter.
Honestly please put me on ignore because I am doing it to youi

 

[mep]

just like reviewers LMAO

You like to talk about the old days and how HP was your mentor. HP founded TAS and all the gear in his reference systems in different rooms of his house was there on long-term loans. As far as I know, the practice of reviewers getting long-term loans of gear started with HP. Did you ever lecture HP about his use of long-term loans?

 

[JCS123]

I applaud Ron for trying to keep this going, he seems very sincere. The name notwithstanding, its obviously a new and different show now-75% of the panel gone. I thought the old show was interesting and refreshing. There were honest discussions about the business end of the hobby that impacts consumers who pay for it all. I didn't always agree with Elliott and Jay, but appreciated their insights and candor. I have no idea what happened behind the scenes. If there were out of public view efforts to quash the conversation, that's sad and demonstrates a remarkable smallness of character by those who fear honest discussion. Hopefully, no such thing happened.

I hope Ron's new show succeeds. Seems likely he will avoid any panelists who might challenge the status quo, but maybe there will be some interesting technical topics. I hope it doesn't become just another generic YouTube thing. The old show was unique and will be missed, at least by some of us.

Add me to the "some of us" list, Kramer. Sad as it is, some people just can't handle a direct and truthful conversation. Especially if it exposes questionable practices and/or, God forbid, hurts precious feelings.

Personally, I would rather have someone speak directly and tell me the truth than expect me to read through the tea leaves and guess what they are trying to say.

I will miss Elliot on the show, and I'll be watching to see what he is up to in the future. Honest and forthright people without hidden agendas are worth following.

 

[BendingWave]

Add me to the "some of us" list, Kramer. Sad as it is, some people just can't handle a direct and truthful conversation. Especially if it exposes questionable practices and/or, God forbid, hurts precious feelings.

Personally, I would rather have someone speak directly and tell me the truth than expect me to read through the tea leaves and guess what they are trying to say.

I will miss Elliot on the show, and I'll be watching to see what he is up to in the future. Honest and forthright people without hidden agendas are worth following.

Thank you!

 

[Mike]

So…someone just texted me that the HiFi Five has been silenced on The Who’s Deaf Forum?

 

[Michaels HiFi]

So…someone just texted me that the HiFi Five has been silenced on The Who’s Deaf Forum?

Of course they did. . And they are implementing their delete, delete, delete mantra.

 

[BendingWave]

things that make you go hmmmmm!

 

[Ritmo]

It’s their forum and they have the right control the content within it. However; it is clear they are not for the right of free speech and opinion.

 

[mep]

It’s their forum and they have the right control the content within it. However; it is clear they are not for the right of free speech and opinion.

I think it goes much deeper than that Mike. I think it's all about the money. How many companies are currently paying WBF to advertise their gear?

The Fab 5 started with the goal of picking scabs off of practices in the high-end they didnt agree with (and Im summarizing what Elliot said). The focus of the scab picking appeared to be on reviewers who get long-term loans of gear and the audio publications that support the practice of long-term loans of gear. I don't think Elliot called out any companies that support providing certain reviewers with long-term loans of their gear. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

It didnt take too long until Elliot felt the heat from people inside the audio business. The result was Elliot publicly announced he quit the Fab 5. Now the Fab 5 is down to one person who happens to be a part- owner of WBF.

It appears that the WBF management team made a business decision to cut all ties with what used to be the Fab 5 to prevent any further blowback from the audio companies that pay to advertise in WBF. They don't want to jeopardize their advertising revenue stream.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

It appears that the WBF management team made a business decision to cut all ties with what used to be the Fab 5 to prevent any further blowback from the audio companies that pay to advertise in WBF. They don't want to jeopardize their advertising revenue stream.

You may want to research what you are talking about prior to making that statement.

SW hates, and I mean hates Ron. This is public knowledge. Ron himself admits it. Steve himself admits it. Same with Ron and Tom.

WBF made the decision because the HIFI five was getting more traction, views and attention than WBF was (which is not hard).

You may want to separate your hate for Elliot with him talking about what we all know to be true vs the facts in this particular instance.

This is not "inside" information. This is common information with just about everyone in the industry.

PS. Elliot should keep his name, his show and his channel and let Ron rename his new show the "HiFi 1".

 

[mep]

You may want to research what you are talking about prior to making that statement.

SW hates, and I mean hates Ron. This is public knowledge. Ron himself admits it. Steve himself admits it. Same with Ron and Tom.

WBF made the decision because the HIFI five was getting more traction, views and attention than WBF was (which is not hard).

You may want to separate your hate for Elliot with him talking about what we all know to be true vs the facts in this particular instance.

This is not "inside" information. This is common information with just about everyone in the industry.

I hear what you are saying about the relationship between SW and Ron and I don't doubt it. SW also hated his original partner of WBF before they got "divorced" and Ron became a part owner.

I also see that WBF publicly put distance between WBF and the Fab 5. If you don't think that the Fab 5 caused issues for WBF from their industry partners, you have every right to feel that way. I however feel differently and I don't have any ties to the parties involved.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

I hear what you are saying about the relationship between SW and Ron and I don't doubt it. SW also hated his original partner of WBF before they got "divorced" and Ron became a part owner.

I also see that WBF publicly put distance between WBF and the Fab 5. If you don't think that the Fab 5 caused issues for WBF from their industry partners, you have every right to feel that way. I however feel differently and I don't have any ties to the parties involved.

Hi Mark - I respect if you have a different view point.

I would only caution one thing - WBF has NEVER cared about doing the "right" thing or public perception when they do the wrong thing so often.

I can't imagine them starting to care now all of sudden. But you may be right.