High fidelity
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
High fidelity or hi-fi is a way of describing a quality home music system. "High fidelity" means that the reproduction of sound is as close to the original as possible. Hi-fi systems are built to make as little noise and distortion as possible. People who like hi-fi are called audiophiles. In the 2000s, the term "high-end audio" for expensive high quality home audio electronics has largely replaced the term "hi-fi".
[change] History
In the 1930s and 1940s, vacuum tubes were used to make radios and electronic amplifiers. Radio was becoming popular, and microphones, amplifiers and loudspeakers began to be made commercially. The manufacturers began to compete to produce the best product. A lot of this work was done at Bell Laboratories and commercialized by Western Electric.
Then the microgroove record was invented. This was a kind of vinyl record with lower surface noise and better sound. The term "high fidelity" began to be used by audio manufacturers as a marketing term to describe records and equipment which were intended to provide faithful sound reproduction. In the 1950s, "hi-fi" became a generic term, replacing "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, Westrex invented the single-groove stereophonic record. This led to the next wave of home audio improvement. The word "stereo" replaced the word "hi-fi." Records were now played on "a stereo."
Audiophiles paid attention to technical characteristics, bought individual components (separate preamplifiers, amplifiers), and even built their own equipment. "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.