Getting near the end
Join Our Community Subscribe to Paul's PostsAs we approach the end of 2020 we likely all have mixed feelings about this crazy year.
I won’t dwell on the obvious bits of 2020 we’d all like to put behind us. As 2021 approaches I think we’re all hopeful the bad parts stay in the rearview mirror.
The rising sun of 2021 is just there, peeking over the horizon, anxious to spread its gentle glow across a tortured landscape.
At PS Audio we’re excited for what is to come. Our long-awaited loudspeakers, the Octave Player, a new PS Audio website, to mention just a few. In fact, there are seven new products on our busy 2021 docket, the descriptions of which I will roll out to you over the coming months.
I am convinced that with vaccines on the way and a hopeful easing of the massive divide we see in our country, 2021 will be a great and gentler year to look forward to.
We’re here for you, our HiFi Family.
Best wishes, Paul, for a speedy progress of all projects and successful product launches! What about Obsidian TSS? Was this project stopped?
Thanks, Paul. No, TSS is still on. Just taking a lot longer than we had hoped.
This are great news,Paul. Can’t wait to get a demo. Of course with some Octave Records recordings! 🙂
Massive divide. Couldn’t have said it better. The other day I was cruising through George Harrison songs and I ran across the painful song, Isn’t a Pity. All the images of division around the USA immediately came to mind. How can a beacon of light turn into dark bitterness I’ll never know. America was a land of brotherly and sisterly love . A beacon of light for the world to see. Now? Not so much. And isn’t it pity. So here you go, in the words of the late great George Harrison, the current state of America and perhaps the entire world. Give a listen and judge for yourself https://youtu.be/KPM6DIzYyQU
Please remember to add “grains of salt” to the images of division.
There have always been political divisions here in the USA – unavoidable with a two party system. And yes we are in a storm now with multiple layers. But most of us here are still living virtuous and productive lives together despite the flare-ups. What the media shows and reports is selective and usually the most extreme example of any given issue – and of course, not always accurate. My parents and grandparents generations weathered much tougher storms than this. I’m optimistic about this one resolving in time and determined to do my part to stay the course regardless of temporary turmoil. Dont lose faith or hope! And dont believe all that is served up for consumption.
DjB-o-B wrote. “What the (national) media shows and reports is selective and usually the most extreme example of any given issue – and of course, not always accurate, (but always the most sensational and most easily found testimony) My parentheses, my words. Not much more to after such fine summary, but here’s a prediction: the amount of divide will actually be better measured by what % of American s take the vaccine once they are easily available. I suspect that will be more than 90%, which is a nearer measure than 51% to who is genuinely on the other side. If I’m correct, that will be cause for optimism. I hope it is reported this summer. Courage!
Indeed, I think you’re right. The greater access to media and media’s shouting to be heard above the noise naturally ramps things up more than perhaps they are.
Our neighborhood and our city, other than CoViD is as normal as the day we moved here.
Of course, we kind of live in a bubble, but maybe we all do.
Paul, I think you and I both live in bubbles. I live in Weld County, Greeley, CO, where our sherif cheerfully proclaimed he rather be dead than red, red referring to the precautions our governor made during the CoViD quarantine and other restrictions. Our city was a hotbed with dozens dying in nursing homes while our commissioners were declaring the virus a hoax. Our director of health for Weld County quit, due in part to continued harassment by the commissioners and threats from Weld County citizens. Wearing a mask in Greeley is often met with hostile gestures and looks that would kill. Friends and neighbors no longer speak to each other. I don’t need to watch or read about it in the media. I live it everyday of my life.
Crazy
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/12/28/colorado-boulder-weld-county-hospitals/
Awful situation what you tell about the neighbors and friends not talking anymore and the masks topic.
The politization of wearing masks or not probably was the worst and most deadly for many that was ever done by politicians aside of wars, most obvious in Brasil and the US. It’s just like saying “if you’re not against me, cross a street by traffic lights showing red every day”. And the lemmings follow.
“There have always been political divisions here in the USA – unavoidable with a two party system” “My parents and grandparents generations weathered much tougher storms than this”
Not to be a downer, but I would suggest things are not so rosy as you may wish to believe. Though generations past did face enormous threats and challenges, we would be wise to appreciate how our present time differs from all that went before. We are on new ground thanks to technology and the speed of communication. On top of the powder keg this presents, there is the insidious and deliberate influence of disinformation, lying, tribalism, embrace of conspiracies and viewing of neighbors and even family who may not share our beliefs, as ‘the enemy’. We may be more pervasively divided now than ever before.
Half of our own system of government is now actively disinforming, misleading and radicalizing our own populace and inciting them to action. On top of these internal efforts, we are under constant assault by foreign enemies who seek to amplify and add to our internal malignancies. We should be aware of the true state of affairs in our American society.
Valid points. I agree and I do stay aware and informed. But I feel powerless beyond voting (which is even suspect now). I’m active and vigilant in my own circles of influence — my home, neighborhood, work associations and the City I live in. Beyond that, I have no clue how to influence larger scales – state, region, nation?
Unless I ditch my career of 30 years to enter the warfare of politics or journalism.
All Things Must Pass is a great album and so is the Concert for George DVD.
– Got a feeling 21 is going to be a good year –
Paul, thank you for all your information and inspiration on good music and how to make the best listening to it! Have a good start to the New Year! Can we see more of your old interviews (like Humble Pie)? Thanks Rainer
Gonna be starting 2021 off By incorporating a new AC Regenerator Into my system thanks to Paul and his team. The P3 Stellar is gonna get a lot of use. That’ll be my vaccine if you will. 🙂
To quote our Queen Elizabeth, 2020 has been an annus horribilis and if seen disappearing from the rear view mirror of a Tesla Model Y then there’s very little left to see. 😉
Here’s wishing you a very successful and profitable 2021 Paul in all your endeavours. Thanks also for the enjoyment I’ve had being part of this delightful forum.
Happy New Year to you and all at PS Audio.
Thanks Paul for this great forum. Its been a pleasure this year!
And I’m hoping for 2021 to bring me the “Audiophile Guide” book!
2020 has certainly been an interesting year with good and bad. What is has done is reveal many things that already existed, such as endemic racial inequality, wealth inequality, environmental health and whether you can actually live in close proximity with your partner for months on end. Other more mundane issues, like whether you actually have to go to the office every day.
For example, Covid-19 has not substantially increased poverty (a family of four with a total income of $26,200 or less) in the USA, the rate increasing only from 10.8% to 11.7%. What Covid-19 has done is made much of the population realise that there is in fact a major poverty issue that they were previously unaware of. Hence in some countries, including here UK, a statutory minimum income is being considered.
There are many things in life that are hidden in plain sight as we are too busy to notice, not just the big things like racial or economic inequality, but the little stuff like audio systems. All my audio is hidden away, except of course the speakers, and thanks to lockdown my wife’s comments about how obtrusive the speakers are in our den multiplied about 10-fold to the point that we changed them – and she chose the new ones.
I’ve always been fascinated by and read about industrial design and only yesterday referred to a designer who has almost reinvented two leading brands, to their great benefit. So if I have learned something in 2020, and my wallet certainly has, it is that audio equipment is as much about its aesthetics as it is about sound quality.
Wish I was as filled with the same optimism as some of you are. Unfortunately I am not.
I feel confident that the high-end audio industry will more than survive as will many other industries that cater to the wealthy and upper middle class. In the end under conservative administrations, the rich have gotten richer, the poor are suffering worse than ever and the middle class is bearing the burden. So, people like me will not be indulging in new purchases in the coming year.
One of my sons opened up his own stock fund for family investors in November of 2018 and these investors have enjoyed an approximate 300% return on investment since then because as bad as the economy is, the stock market is reaching new highs at least at present.
I will hope for the best in 2021 but I just don’t see it happening.
This doesn’t mean that I will not follow high end audio on a daily basis because of my overwhelming passion for it over the many years that I have been involved with the mystery of well designed audio equipment and music reproduction.
Keep up the great work Paul. We need more people like you, “a man for all seasons” Who keeps pressing forward.
I do share your pessimism! As long as the primary goals of our economy are maximizing profits (at least 25% ROI for bankers and capitalists while there are negative interest rates for ordinary depositors) and “survival of the fittest” the ideals of modern democracies “liberté, égalité, fraternité)” will fade acceleratingly. The division of the society will increase and an entrepreneur‘s responsibility for social welfare will vanish even more. Entrepreneurs who receive a lot of privileges. Not to mention the huge contribution of our activities to the increasing pollution of the environment. The problem is: paradigm shifts in the field of technology (or audio systems) are much more likely than in socio-economic systems. See the paradigm shift from analog audio with low dynamic range (55 dB mastertape) to today’s high resolution digital audio. 🙂 However Sony and Philips introduced RBCD with poor resolution & dynamic range and loss of information just for maximizing profit. The concept was not intended to improve the quality of pro audio equipment!
Best wishes to Paul and the PS guys and their families, and to all who post here, for a good 2021.
An interesting double edged sword against human civility.
Too much APART (isolation and quarantine):
creates unbalanced communication – too much social media freedom to express ourselves without the human checks and balances of face to face exchanges that demand & reward common courtesies and etiquette.
Too much TOGETHER (density and proximity):
Most of the chaos, conflict and violence is in the urban environments. During a year like 2020, every personal, social and economic challenge has been intensified everywhere – but in crowded cities especially, patience and tolerance is tested daily and differences are exasperated.
Nature and humanity out of balance.
But challenges will continue to motivate and drive the human spirit and creativity to solutions!
Nobody can forecast the future. The best they can do is take an educated guess about what might happen. They are wrong 99.99 percent of the time. But even a broken clock is right twice a day so when they guess something right we forget the other 99.98 predictions they made that were wrong and praise them for being geniuses. Sometimes we twist predictions that were vague, generalized, ambiguous to fit what happened to prove they were right. Nostradamus comes to mind. So does the bible.
Optimism about the future is a sign of a healthy mind. Pessimism is a sign of a realistic one. I shared an office with one of the best mechanical engineers I ever met. He was also a licensed architect, PE. MBA, had a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering, masters degree in chemical engineering and was a licensed building inspector. Rocco knew every word of every code and law. One day President Reagan had a stack of papers about 6 feet high and said this is the federal law. And I immediately thought of Rocco who knew every word on every page chapter and verse and why anything you wanted to do was illegal. A lot of people didn’t like him because he was “so negative.”
An optimist will tell you a glass is half full. A pessimist would tell you it’s half empty. Rocco would tell you the glass doesn’t exist, it’s an illusion. The sun is shining, the sky is as blue as it can get, it’s 80 degrees, the birds are singing but wherever Rocco went there was a black cloud over his head pouring down torrential rain, lightning and thunder. Nevertheless I couldn’t help loving a guy who was always right and had a wry sense of humor. I sat nearest the window in the office, he sat close to the door. But in the middle of winter in four feet of snow he could tell you everything about a woman 500 feet away across the street near another building bundled up in five layers of warm clothing and two coats wearing a muffler over her face. What eyesight.
I turned Rocco into a Frankenstein. It wasn’t the first time I’d done that to someone. I arranged for a couple of seminars on PLCs Programmable Logic Controllers, one with GE Fanuc and one with Siemens Modicon. Just the two of us, private hands on training. Then one day we were working on a lab together. He had to install a five ton fan coil cooling unit. I walked through the lab while it was under construction and there was a mountain of electronic control system equipment for it. I asked Rocco who is going to install and assemble it? Oh the mechanical contractor. I said I don’t think so. Then the electrical contractor. I said I don’t think so either. So I took one of each unit and put them on my desk to try to figure them out. It wasn’t easy. I did my best to see what I could do to draw a wiring diagram. Finally I called the guy from Barber Coleman who sold it to him. We talked and I said I’ll fax you my drawing, tell me if it’s right or wrong. Shortly after I got a phone call. Rocco, he says this equipment doesn’t go together. That’s impossible, he’s the one who told me what to buy. So we got that straightened out. The Liebert thermostat was the most complicated thing I’d ever seen. The trouble shooting flow chart was 14 pages long. When we finally got it all working one of the operations managers who was also a mechanical engineer said to me if he ever does anything like that again I’ll kill him. It was a maze of servo motors, controllers, sensors, power supplies and other assorted whatnot.
In 2021 I expect Paul to make recordings of the beautiful Steinway piano he bought for his recording studio. I want to see if he can succeed where Atkinson failed. Paul is one of the few people in this industry I trust to tell me the truth. That doesn’t mean he’s always right, it only means he believes what he says when he says it and admits later when he was wrong. Where else in this industry do you ever hear that? Of course he changed his mind many times based on new experience so he has an open mind. To err is human, to forgive is against company policy. But since he owns the company he’s allowed to get away with being wrong and not get fired for it. So Paul, you have the best equipment, the best people, and now the proof will be in the pudding. I trust you will tell me if you can make a recording that sounds just like your new piano. Congratulations on getting it. Finally you took my advice. I’m pleased and I hope you are too. Happy New Year to all.
I wish you success beyond your wildest dreams in all your endeavors. May 2021 turn out to be every thing you wish it to be and more. As for the massive divide it is because of the mindset that it has to be my way or no way and I want it all even if it means destroying the very thing one is trying to preserve. Also, it takes two hands to clap. Hopefully better sense will prevail. Regards.
Hi Oliver,
I have actually disproved this false notion that it takes two hands to clap.
If you keep your fingers together, completely relax your hand & move it as quickly as you can (‘snap’ it around) right then left then right then left, right, left, right, left etc. you CAN actually clap with one hand…I’m doing it right now.
Cheers, FR.
Greetings from Tampa, Florida:
Paul, what you do for the community is priceless, your dedication to audio and efforts to get us to better enjoy it, are very appreciated, I get to enjoy my room and equipment a bit more every time I watch a new video of yours. Every team member at your company most be very proud to work with a person like you, Im sure that’s one of the main reasons you have a successful business, (I can only imagine that for you it’s a full time hobby) Thanks a bunch, be safe in this tough times, and God bless you all.
With respect,
Ricardo Lesteiro
Remember 2019 because this might be the last booming year the US will see in many many years. There is a civil war brewing and things will get much worse. I hope businesses pocketed the money they made in the last couple years while the economy was booming because as you see in 2020, people are struggling and it will get worse. For many of us, we are pulling our money out of the stock market because of the downturn we will be expecting. Business taxes will be going up and the people who buy the more expensive audio gear, their taxes will be going up. More people are buying guns with permits to carry them for protection. Crime is way up and will get worse because the governors in I’ll ran states are letting prisoners out and not prosecuting new crimes. I hope I’m wrong but if you read economists predictions for the future, it’s bleak.
We are also in a cancel culture scenario where some people try to bury you for being in a certain political party. This goes both ways: I stopped watching sports that take a knee or who back china. I also refuse to have any dealings with vendors or manufacturers that support the party that allows riots and looting. I’m not alone. Some of our audio club members have stopped dealings with these manufacturers as well.
And people think it will get better in 2021?
Dear Paul,
I am a big fan of PS Audio products and your videos.
Very much looking forward to the release of the new speakers line. Could you please update us on the progress and plans for release, as well as the targeted price ranges?
Thank you in advance,
Best regards,
Ivaylo.
Yes. The FR30 will be the first and it will be hopefully out in June for beta testing. Ballpark cost per pair will be in the neighborhood of $15K.
Following the release of the FR30, we will move downline until the end which we hope will be a floor standing pair in the $3K range.