Minimalist Audio System Design in the 21st Century

When Vinyl LP records appeared in the middle of the twentieth century, hifi audio separates also followed soon after. The minimum requirements were a turntable with a magnetic cartridge (& diamond stylus), a pre-amplifier to boost the signal voltage of about 5mV of the magnetic cartridge to about 100 mV required by the audio amplifier & a pair of good loudspeakers.

But by the time the Vinyl revival took place in the twenty first century, technology had progressed. Now many turntables have a built-in pre-amplifier, so that their output can be plugged straight to a power amplifier, bypassing the earlier separate pre-amplifier.

Also Active Speakers have appeared, which have a built-in power amplifier to drive them. So even the power amplifier can be by-passed & in an application of minimalist design, a turntable with a built-in pre-amplifier can be hooked up straight to a pair of active speakers to enjoy hifi music.

Also earlier, speakers had to be large to deliver good sound quality. Just as micro-chips have miniaturised circuitry, labyrinths, bass ports & wave-guide technologies have made tiny loudspeakers deliver room-filling sound, covering most of the audio spectrum.

So all these have provided listeners in the twenty-first century, even those with limited spaces (& budgets), access to hifi music.