High End Audio-Gaining Higher Ground?

Todays generation has been abducted by sensory overload and most do not have the attention span to sit down and focus on the nuance of great music. Music is something that is background noise while doing homework, texting, facebooking etc. My 20 year old daughter has no interest in sitting down and just listening to an album. My kids can't even sit through a family meal without being connected to some kind of electronic device.

My 22 year old daughter produces live shows, which is great for somebody with an Art History degree...

"High End" is a pretentious word coined by Harry Pearson. Maybe because the word "Hi-Fidelity" lost its original intent of meaning during the 60's when everything was referred to as "Hi-Fi" or "Hi-Fidelity? Don't know for sure, maybe Harry could clue us in to why he came up with the term in the first place. To me it has absolutely no meaning to differentiate a 1K system from a 1000K system for that matter. I really don't like the term myself. If it means money spent how much and furthermore so what? We purchase what we can afford and there is plenty of excellent "Hi End" gear that is affordable.

There will always be the 1-5%er's that want to hear their music well reproduced. I do agree with many of the posts above except for the one's that state the industry is close to death. Certainly agree not for an unconcious lack of trying. It has done an abysmal job of marketing itself. The continuing trend towards unjustifiably higher prices seems a concious decision by some in the industry to chase after the slow rather than fast buck, a "Stairway to the Stars" approach. Fortunately there are some manufacturers' that continue to design and market superb products at prices that average music lovers can actually afford. At least those 1-5%er's that are interested enough to seek them out. And yes, kids today have too many distractions, concerns and technologies to choose from but even among them there are those that are potential customers although that quaint notion that we the dinos have for the realization of well reproduced music in our homes will quite likely morph into something quite different in the future IME. 2 channel stereo played back through mega buck ostentatious sound systems is NOT the future of this industry but will remain a fringe of the fringe. Well reproduced music will survive for both music enthusiasts AND audiophiles and those that call themself both.

And back to the future we go, vinyl anyone and why not? If there is a renaissance in that format there must be a reason, like it STILL is more involving musically than digital maybe? Nah the answer couldn't be THAT simple to those that don't hear or believe it.

I agree with Metman. There is a ton of really good new music. I am truly sorry if some have not found it. I completely agree that its harder to find. I too have turned to radio. Here in New Orleans I listen to WWOz and it has turned me on to so many new artists as well as older groups that I would have never heard in multiple genres of music. They also play vinyl which I love.

I do agree with others that most of main stream music is really bad. I can name some main stream bands that I enjoy but the list is short. I have no explanation for this. I think music sales seem to be generated off a very youg crowd and it shows. Its not even college kids as much as 13 years old.

audiophiles are born, not made. that's my take. It's an inborn need to search for better sound and eventually possess it. It's the notion that rack systems and Ipods don't cut it and so begins the journey. Not everyone has this inside of them.