2. misc-audio
  3. 1333818841

Oh, to be a high end dealer for a year.

I love hifi. But high-end mystifies me. I can't help but think it's my lack of deep exposure.

I'd love to know if $100,000 amps matched to $100,000 speakers really sound so much better than the few-thousand dollar systems in my foreseeable future.

Is the worth of a quarter-million dollar system purely a function of sound quality, or some interaction between sound quality + one's idle disposable funds + time on one's hands?

And lordy, assuming they don't become the next Conrad Johnson, how do these companies that only produce a couple of high-road-to-nirvana-reviewed $50k-ish components fair in the short- and long-term, financially? Do they live long and prosper, and how? If not, are they cleaning up in their short stay, or losing their shirts to their dream?

I'll probably never know.
river251
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,178 posts
 
Any system can only sound as good as the listener thinks it does. It's a
subjective thing that cannot be quantified.

My opinion is that a lot of high end audio is all about perception and
everything that goes into that.

But here is the thing. A knowledgable audio buff focuses on making his
system better continuously over many years. At what point do you hit the
ceiling but still try to improve? What then? Sideways or even backwards
progress maybe? We are so in tune with sound so why is the chase an
endless one sometimes? Kind of like chasing that beautiful girl, getting
her, and then still not being satisfied. It seems to me either an illness or
a business, or maybe both a lot of the time.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
Clearly some high end companies have endured while others have not. I cannot even begin to explain what has kept companies like Gryphon, Wilson, Krell, and many others around in these times of economic contraction. I can only assume that there are enough people with money and an interest in this hobby to make this a reality.
Whether or not a mega expensive system sounds considerably better than a well assembled, moderately expensive system is purely in the mind of the beholder as it will always be.
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
I have been a "high end" dealer for decades; not at todays ultra level but selling Krell, Classe, B&W, Quad, SME, VPI etc at various times. The market has contracted so much that many companies have had to specialize to an extreme degree and produce a very expensive product to survive. Take it from me; very few are making much money is todays market, no matter how much they are charging. I was talking to Bill Conrad a couple of years ago and he was astounded to the prices now common; he said another friend of his had counted 100 speaker models priced over $100,000. Even if he slightly miscounted there are still a lot of mega expensive gear out there. Believe me, you would not want to be a dealer. Even at dealer price inventory is so expensive even importers limit it as much as they can; and who can blame them? Old joke: do you know how to make a small fortune in audio? Start with a large fortune.
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