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High fidelity (or HiFi or hi-fi) is the reproduction of sound and image that is very faithful to the original. Hi-fi aims to achieve minimal or unnoticeable amounts of noise and distortion. The term "hi-fi" can be applied to any reasonable quality home music system. Hi-fi enthusiasts are often known as audiophiles or videophiles.
The 1920s saw the introduction of electronic amplification, microphones, and the application of quantitative engineering principles to the reproduction of sound. Much of the pioneering work was done at Bell Laboratories and commercialized by Western Electric. Acoustically recorded disc records, with capriciously peaky frequency responseFrequency response is the measure of any system's response to frequency, but is usually used in connection with electronic amplifiers and similar systems, particularly in relation to audio signals. For example, a high fidelity amplifier may be said to hav, were replaced with electrically recorded ones. The VictorThe Victor Talking Machine Company ( 1901 1929) was a United States corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. The company was incorporated in Camd Orthophonic phonographThe phonograph or gramophone was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the 1870s through the 1980s. Usage of these terms is somewhat different in British English and American English; see usage note below. In more modern usage, this devic, although purely acoustic, was created by engineers who applied waveguideIn telecommunication, a waveguide is a material medium that confines and guides a propagating electromagnetic wave. In the microwave regime, a waveguide normally consists of a hollow metallic conductor, usually rectangular, elliptical, or circular in cros technology to the design of the interior folded horn to produce a smooth frequency response which complemented and equalled that of the electrically-recorded Victor Orthophonic records.
Meanwhile, the rise of radioFor other uses see: radio (disambiguation Radio is a technology that allows the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of light. Radio waves Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, and are was popularizing the use of sound reproduction by means of tubeIn electronics, a vacuum tube (American English) or thermionic) valve (British English) is a device generally used to amplify a signal. Once used in most electronic devices, vacuum tubes are now used only in specialized applications. For most purposes, th amplifiers and loudspeakerA loudspeaker is a device which converts an electrical signal into sound. Dynamic loudspeakers A Dynamic Cone Loudspeaker The traditional design is in two parts, a fibrous semi-rigid cone and attached to the apex of the cone is a coil of fine wire (usualls, so you had the curious anomaly of a period of time during which radio receiverThe word receiver has a number of different meanings: In communications and information processing, a receiver is the recipient ( observer) of a message ( information), which is sent from a source ( object). Receivers decode messages. A receiver (radio) is commonly used loudspeakers and electronic amplifiers to produce sound, while phonographs were still commonly purely mechanical and acoustic.
The advent of the microgroove vinyl record, with low surface noise and quantitatively specified equalization curves, created the conditions for a major improvement of home audio quality, through the application of electronics to phonographs. In the 1950s, the term "high fidelity" began to be used by audio manufacturers as a marketing term to describe records and equipment which was intended to provide faithful sound reproduction. To synthesize a definition, the term "high fidelity," if it had a definite meaning, probably meant that the amplifier incorporated the proper LP equalization curve, and that equipment characteristics such as frequency response and distortion had at least been measured.
The ordinary consumer simply interpreted "hi-fi" as a magical marketing term for fancy and expensive equipment and bought hi-fi records (RCA "New Orthophonic," London "ffrr") and, if they could afford them, "hi-fi" phonographs. Audiophiles paid attention to technical characteristics, bought invidual components (separate preamplifiers, amplifiers), and frequently assembled their own speaker systems.
In the 1950s "hi-fi" became a generic term, to some extent displacing "phonograph" and "record player." Rather than playing a record "on the phonograph," people would play it "on the hi-fi."
In the late 1950s and early 1960s the development of the Westrex single-groove stereophonic record led to the next wave of home audio improvement, and in common parlance "stereo" displaced "hi-fi." Records were now played on "a stereo." In the world of the audiophile, however, "high fidelity" continued and continues to refer to the goal of highly accurate sound reproduction, and to the technological resources available for approaching that goal.
A very popular type of system for reproducing music from the 1970s onwards is the integrated music centre, a natural successor to the older stereogram or radiogram . Purists will generally avoid referring to these systems as high fidelity, though some are capable of very good quality reproduction nevertheless.
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