Why High-End Consumerism is Dying?

denny9167 wrote:I was having a long conversation with a fellow Dynaco enthusiast yestersday [...] They were forgeting what their industry was all about,HAVING FUN and meeting new people who loved and enjoyed doing what they loved to do,listening to music and engaging each other in the Science of High Fidelity,it's about fellowship with one another,it became a business of profit margins,well you know THE MONEY!!! this of course
drove prices higher and higher,making the consumer base smaller and smaller,and let's face it, only people with 6 figure incomes could afford to buy the hype they were selling for the most part. [...]

j beede wrote:

denny9167 wrote:I was having a long conversation with a fellow Dynaco enthusiast yestersday [...] They were forgeting what their industry was all about,HAVING FUN and meeting new people who loved and enjoyed doing what they loved to do,listening to music and engaging each other in the Science of High Fidelity,it's about fellowship with one another,it became a business of profit margins,well you know THE MONEY!!! this of course
drove prices higher and higher,making the consumer base smaller and smaller,and let's face it, only people with 6 figure incomes could afford to buy the hype they were selling for the most part. [...]

Interesting. I would say that audio (mid-fi or high end) has always been about money. I see that as a good thing. The composition, performance, recording, and reproduction of music are all "for profit" industries, aren;t they? I am only too happy to support these industries and hope that they are indeed profitable--so they can continue to provide the software and hardware that we all enjoy. I suspect that those audio salons of yesteryear closed or moved away because they couldn't make their rent simply by providing a convenient meeting place for enthusisats. Like any other retil establishmnet, they needed revenue to survive.

harpy wrote: We had 4 or 5 high end audio stores in Columbus, Ohio and are down to one as well. Most of those went during the recession. I think home theater had a lot to do with it too. Most of our audio stores jumped on that band wagon and thrived. Instead of selling 2 speakers they could sell 5 plus a subwoofer. They also added the new HD TV's and video like dvd player which took up a lot of floor space, plus most made a lot of money wiring and installing home theater in new McMansions. The only store that resisted home theater and focused on two channel audio was the first to go. They had 100k Wilson Watt Puppy’s (and everything in between) that were fun to listen to and he took the time to talk audio, but I guess that wasn't profitable.
The only audio store that is left does mostly home theater with one room dedicated to hyper expensive 2 channel. I go in from time to time to look at their used equipment, but when I ask an audio question they seem a little put off answering it. When someone drops 5k on some home theater speakers they will chat up a storm. To me the audio store of old is gone and will never be back.
What got me back into two channel were some Dahlquist DQ-10's after a disastrous decision to get into budget home theater. I really am more into the Science of vintage High Fidelity. I love stuff I can tinker with. I just became a Dyaco owner last week with some Mk-IV's (probably a poor choice for those speakers). One doesn't work right, but hat part of the fun (at least to me). Forums like these, with the knowledge bring, they are a god send.

denny9167 wrote:

j beede wrote:

denny9167 wrote:I was having a long conversation with a fellow Dynaco enthusiast yestersday [...] They were forgeting what their industry was all about,HAVING FUN and meeting new people who loved and enjoyed doing what they loved to do,listening to music and engaging each other in the Science of High Fidelity,it's about fellowship with one another,it became a business of profit margins,well you know THE MONEY!!! this of course
drove prices higher and higher,making the consumer base smaller and smaller,and let's face it, only people with 6 figure incomes could afford to buy the hype they were selling for the most part. [...]

Interesting. I would say that audio (mid-fi or high end) has always been about money. I see that as a good thing. The composition, performance, recording, and reproduction of music are all "for profit" industries, aren;t they? I am only too happy to support these industries and hope that they are indeed profitable--so they can continue to provide the software and hardware that we all enjoy. I suspect that those audio salons of yesteryear closed or moved away because they couldn't make their rent simply by providing a convenient meeting place for enthusisats. Like any other retil establishmnet, they needed revenue to survive.

You have a point,but there is a way to strike a balance between the two. One of the things I was trying to point out that you don't diss a customer,or assume they don't know anything about audio,just because they don't have $100,000 to put down on a system. They weren't all that way mind you,but a few tend to be exclusive.

denny9167 wrote:One store that I missed the most was Preston Trail Audio in Dallas,they had super customer service,and would let you listen to any system,I remember listening to the Infinity IRS V's playing some Nat King Cole Masters in Mono,a breath taking experience. Audio Concepts is a nice store,I've bought a few items from them,they are very courteous too.

kaner wrote:Here in Milwaukee the last high end store was bought up by one of those low end furniture stores. Even before that they were drifting toward flat screens and surround sound. I'll blame it on the ipod! My oldest is now a freshman in college and last year we toured several college campuses. Walking through the dorms at the University of Michigan I figured out what was so different from my college days, it was SO quiet! Saturday afternoon and all the kids were hanging out in their rooms listening to music (nothing new there) but instead of "stereo wars" they each had their earbuds in.

kaner wrote:Here in Milwaukee the last high end store was bought up by one of those low end furniture stores. [cut]

baddog1946 wrote:We may be heading back to the golden age of DIY for new reasons. DIY was the layman's way to enjoy high end audio in the 50's and the internet of the day were books and magazines where you could find mail order products. However at today's astronomical prices for hi end HIFI we are seeing a renaissance in DIY as one of the practical ways to get our hands on good gear at reasonable prices.
With the internet vendors are available to everyone and you can shop and compare with a few keystrokes. That can't be beaten by any one store front operation. The internet is there instantly for everybody we can count ourselves very lucky to have it.
There will always be visionary, dedicated and talented people like Nelson Pass, Broskie, Mottram and a few others around able to make a living from their own inventive powers and they are the leaders who inspire and sustain us in the DIY world. The internet has provided them with the venue to do so.
In the current austere economy we all make do and as always "necessity is the mother of invention" may it ever be so. The death of hi end bricks and mortar retail shops was inevitable.
When times change and the economic climate improves new high end audio devices become available as a natural by product of that new environment and we will see current nascent technologies emerge like high quality hand held devices.
BUT! it is always hard to replace a good idea or technology that works like vacuum tubes and vinyl. Still the outlook for them remains bright and we will no doubt see more new tubes, hybrid designs and no doubt new ways to get transistors to sound like them. Nelson Pass has gone a long way in that direction and he is very generous to the DIY community and a true DIY enthusiast.