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20 years gone

By Max Christoffersen

December 2006

Max Christoffersen

Twenty years ago I was building a student radio station. Twenty years later I’m building another student radio station. Some things it seems never change!

What has changed in the 20 years between is audio – the way we listen to it and the way it’s sold.

I first saw a New Zealand based hi-fi magazine shortly before the birth of AudioEnz magazine in 1986. I can still see the Perreaux amp on the cover of that publication, although I have though long forgotten its name. That magazine lasted one issue. [Max refers to Rick Barr’s Sound & Vision magazine, which lasted for five issues in 1985 and 1986—Editor]

At the time, I was a music columnist for the Waikato Times and I thought I’d like to write about the thing I spent so much of my free time listening to, or lusting over: hi-fi equipment. That letter to the AudioEnz editor applying for the job started a near-20 year friendship that has been the equivalent of Neil Young and Steven Stills: “We’ve had our ups and downs but we’re still playing together…”

Made for New Zealand

AudioEnz came into my hands through Lakeland Stereo in Hamilton where it was a free mag alongside the speakers, amps and CD players on display. It was a much-needed publication outlining what was available product-wise in New Zealand. In the pre-internet days, it was the only source of local info we had. The dealers were well placed to advise on the limited new product available – but what did Kiwis think of the new Brit and US equipment?

At the time, this was a bold and frightening prospect that we not only could hold opinions on hi-fi, but that some of these opinions might be ‘made for New Zealand conditions’ that were different from the authorities overseas that shaped so much of our thinking and audio attitudes.

Over time the influence of the British mags has continued (witness the witless mimicking of the word “kit” to describe equipment) while others have sought to emulate the personality driven zealotry of the US-based audio publications.

AudioEnz through the early days found a niche, in part based on the relentless pursuit of copy by the erstwhile editor and in part through good luck and good timing. Where else could you get a Kiwi view of amps or speakers which were both hands-on and a good read? The simple answer was nowhere. AudioEnz was it!

Competition has been a more recent development with the Kiwi hi-fi magazine market splintering into and being defined apparently by upwardly mobile phone gamers ogling Auckland based models with brochure copy masquerading as independent reviews. Sad but true.

While all this was going on AudioEnz carried on with its attempt to bring informed discussion and reviews to a Kiwi market that had begun to define itself in the afterglow of international success stories like Perreaux and Plinius.

It’s not overstating the case to say that much is owed by Plinius to AudioEnz and its editor. The profile afforded to early Plinius product through the print magazine, in my view, helped the company evolve into a genuine international player despite some idiosyncratic production techniques and frankly flaky quality control.

If AudioEnz has had failures it has suffered from being technically unable to support some of its editorial claims with hands-on specs and testing. By comparison, some of the newer equipment (in particular projector reviews) from other on-line sites read in a more sophisticated way than anything AudioEnz has been able to achieve. It is though refreshing to see reviews written by enthusiasts for enthusiasts instead of being compiled by technicians for number crunchers.

Sharing interests

This I think remains the appeal and charm of AudioEnz. The writers are real people, writing about a hobby they love in the hope others share their interest – that act of sharing is the real payback, as despite the asinine claims of others, none of us pocket the proceeds with any great hope of audio inspired riches.

The growth of the home theatre market has been a tonic for the industry and AudioEnz was among the first to recognise it both in the choice of its then name (AudioVideo) and in the publication of a very early review of a Shure Dolby Surround processor. That was 1987! Probably the first published Downunder review of home theatre equipment.

I wrote about more home theatre based product than anything else despite my primary interest being music. My first article in October 1988 was called The Politics of Sound which was followed by what became known as “Max’s Bitch Page” – the most infamous being the Dealing With the Dealers story that basically had me banned from the store in question. My favorite piece is My Back Pages – a piece I wrote 15 years ago that summed up then and sums now my attitude to music and the equipment that plays it.

Today, there is more entry-level interest in projection and home theatre style products than ever before and the bang for the buck performance is significant and exciting. Ironically, there seems to be less interest in traditional hi-fi audio as the market moves towards convenient digital technologies. There has also been a move away from the aim of recreating art accurately which has been the development of an “anything goes” if it sounds/looks good attitude, primarily fostered in the home theatre sector.

Over two decades, AudioEnz has had to negotiate the changes in the market and the audio industry, maintain reader relevance and provide a Kiwi centered forum for audiophiles to meet and greet. The fact that it has been able to is a remarkable achievement.

Twenty years from now, the future for a hi-fi based publication is likely to be subject to the same volatile, frustrating, ever changing conditions as today.

Whatever is keeping Kiwis informed about audio in 2026, it will be based on the same attributes that have served AudioEnz so well for so long: bloody mindedness, a deep love of music/film and the determination to keep on going when sanity (and commercial reality) suggests otherwise!