A music centre (or center), also known as a music complex, is a type of integrated audio system for home use, used to play from a variety of media. The term is usually used for lower end or sub- high fidelity equipment. In

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances i ...

, these systems are typically referred to as "compact stereos", " shelf stereos" or simply "stereos." The term itself has been in use since the 1970s, though in more recent times the terms mini, micro or mini hi-fi, or integrated hi-fi have been preferred. The distinguishing feature compared to high-end equipment is that there is usually only one main unit, with maybe a pair of detachable or separate

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or ...

s, though some equipment also has these built into the main unit.

History

Integrated audio equipment has a long history, beginning with the integration of the

record player A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

and the

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

receiver. Such units were usually called radiograms or stereograms in

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

and consoles in

. Very often these were designed as items of household furniture, with a large wooden cabinet on legs. These units were originally

monaural Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

, and featured a single integrated loudspeaker in the main body of the cabinet. By the 1960s these units had become smaller, and had developed to include

stereophonic Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

reproduction. The necessity of having suitable separation of the speakers meant that the single cabinet designs evolved into three-box designs, and the main box could become much smaller. By the beginning of the 1970s systems were starting to be made of plastic and other materials rather than wood. The 1970s saw the inclusion of a deck for playing compact cassettes as well as a record player and receiver, and the term ''music centre'' came into common use. The inclusion of a turntable capable of playing full-sized

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts ne ...

s tended to dictate the overall size of these units, which remained relatively large. The

cassette deck A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of ...

was either a top-loading unit beside the turntable or a front-loading unit mounted on a deeper front panel. By the end of the decade, the first very small systems started to appear, which dropped the integrated record player in order to reduce the size of the other components significantly. Other innovations such as electronic control of the cassette transport mechanism (as opposed to direct mechanical operation) allowed further size reductions. "

Midi MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

"-style systems (mimicking the appearance of a component-based system) were also popular during the 1980s. These typically included a record deck, tuner, dual cassette deck, amplifier and separate speakers. Some later midi systems also included a CD player in the main unit in addition to the turntable. The

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

first appeared in the early 1980s. Towards the end of the decade, rapidly falling prices saw the increasing integration of CD players into cheap all-in-one systems. As CD rapidly eclipsed vinyl in the early 1990s, the bulky record player (common in Midi systems) was increasingly left out altogether. This allowed the resulting bookshelf-sized "mini" systems to be far more compact, and the integrated hi-fi system came into its own. The smaller size of a CD player compared to a turntable also meant that this function could be reintegrated into the main unit of more portable systems without compromising their small size. The music centre has always been rather looked down upon by the hi-fi enthusiast. In the early days the sound quality was far below what was possible using separate components. The main compromise is in the area of the loudspeakers, where small size is favoured over the ability to reproduce an extended low frequency response. Modern equipment has improved in this respect, and such systems are popular. There are still some compromises in terms of what components are used within the integrated unit, compared to what could be fitted in a set of separates, but the differences are smaller than they used to be. There are a few exceptions however and these music centres used parts and designs from their separate counterparts of the time, for example amplifier modules, cassette transports and turntable assemblies that were offered in standalone equipment were often fitted into an all in one enclosure to create a music centre with the same, or close to, quality and fidelity as the individual equipment. The market for these systems is probably now larger than that for "true" hi-fi. Small units take up less space, and are more suitable in urban areas.

History

See also