What's new

HiFi??? (1 Viewer)

Eran

Auditioning
Joined
Oct 15, 2001
Messages
10
Hi,
I just wanted to know what does HiFi or Hi-Fi means.
and if it's diffrent from RCA?
Thanks, Eran
 

Arthur Legardo

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 21, 1999
Messages
441
Real Name
ArthurL
HIgh FIdelity
RCA is actually the name of an (American?) electronics company.
[Edited last by Arthur Legardo on October 19, 2001 at 06:32 AM]
 

Glenn Overholt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 24, 1999
Messages
4,201
Maybe RCA invented HiFi. That one goes waaaay baaack!
I haven't used that word in years. In opposition to LoFi, which really doesn't exist
smile.gif
, HiFi was one step up from stereo.
By the way Eran, welcome. Is there more to this?
Glenn
 

dougW

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 14, 2000
Messages
241
High Fidelity is right. Started as a descriptive term, for a stereo system improvement that was fairly revolutionary.
Then was truncated to Hi-Fi, and became the buzzword for higher end 2 channel audio.
RCA is both a company and a connector. I don't know if the company actually coined the term High Fidelity, and I certainly doubt they shortened it to a generic class- They did coin the first RCA connector, and thus, why the industry general connector came to be known as an RCA.
Lex
------------------
Lexman's Theater
 

Jim_F

Screenwriter
Joined
May 15, 2000
Messages
1,077
I remember my aunt's record player when I was a kid. It was a nice piece of furniture and sounded very good for an old mono player. It was probably late 50s vintage.
Besides the name (RCA maybe?) it was also labeled High Fidelity.
That was my first encounter with the term.
Here's an interesting historical note: http://www.audioworld.net/Goodoldday...beginindex.htm
[Edited last by Jim_F on October 19, 2001 at 10:38 AM]
 

Eran

Auditioning
Joined
Oct 15, 2001
Messages
10
Hehe,
I thought it's something new, Maybe related to surround sound, well I guess not.
and if i get this right HiFi is used with RCA cables,
right?
Glenn,
Thanks for the welcome.
Eran
 

Keith Mickunas

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 15, 1998
Messages
2,041
I don't think HiFi refers to a thing anymore, its just a descriptive term some people apply to stereo systems, or even record players, that they believe are of high quality. If I recall correctly, some older people refer to record players as "HiFi's", I believe George's father on Seinfeld is one of those. Some people use the terms mid-fi and hi-fi to describe the quality of equipment, like saying something is high-end or low-end or in the middle. It may also be applied to VCRs, I know there are two distinct types of VHS recorders, and with one you get good stereo separation and can pull DPL off it good. I can't recall exactly but I think those are called HiFi VCRs.
I feel its safe to say its an adjective or descriptive noun, not a name of a particular of any type of audio or video gear, and it doesn't have any particular association with RCA connectors.
 

SamRoza

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Apr 27, 2000
Messages
186
HiFi, as said previously is High Fidelity. It's certainly not new, and hardly used anymore.
HiFi VCRs are VCRs that have Stereo outputs on them, instead of Mono.
I also think that Hi-Fi can be used to describe your equipment...Adcom is Hi-Fi, whereas my Pioneer is Mid-Fi.
That's the only other context it's really used in these days.
Sam
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,806
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top