This is very timely...

I have only ever had one interaction with Lyric Audio and that was just a few months ago. Being confined away from home due to recovery from open heart surgery, I needed a CD player to while away the time. I found an NAD - CD568 on Audiogon at an excellent price, new and in the box ! Much to my surprise, the seller was Lyric Audio !  Long story short --- the player was sent to my home address, not to my distant location. When I called to try to have them re-direct the delivery I was told to call a certain number and ask for "Lenny".  I thought I was being referred to the shipping clerk, but "Lenny" turned out to be Lenny Bellezza,  the owner of Lyric.  Despite the fact that my purchase was an absolute "steal", Lenny sent numerous EMails back and forth to try to correct the error of the mis-directed package.  All turned out well and I was impressed at how diligently Lenny tried to gain my satisfaction.  He commented at one point that he had quite a number of older clients that he accommodated with extra attention, of which my experience was proof.  Definitely the end of an era -------

It sounds like Lyric finally got “religion” only recently.
When I saw the name “Lyric” in the article I cringed at the thought of the place due to my experience with them many years ago.
‘Not dissimilar to others here, I was met with total disdain by the salesman, who, when I mentioned I was a musician, foolishly trying to impress him, he just raised his eyebrows, but still couldn’t wait til I left the store.

First off, Jay Jay French is a pompous you know what. 

First off, Jay Jay French is a pompous you know what. I find his writings to reek of self aggrandizement and narcissism.

Unfortunately, the audio industry has always had too many stores that were staffed by pretentious arrogant fools. Too bad because no customer deserves to be treated poorly. But I suppose with the demise of most brick and mortar audio stores the arrogance problem is solved.

I really enjoyed the article.  I hadn’t seen Butterworth in print lately, and it appears he has moved to headphone world, which just isn’t for me.
  I agree with most of what he says.  I have no opinion on the high sensitivity speaker issue.  I am however a big fan of Room Correction and Subwoofers, and their dismissal by most of the Hi End community is for me just one of the curious traits of this hobby. Other difficult to understand issues for me have been the (initial) abject praise for MQA and the use of exotic materials in speakers.
  He doesn’t touch on the main reason for decline of the Audio Industry, which is that people just don’t care.  In the seventies my contemporaries were greatly concerned with having a decent system, and most of us couldn’t afford bupkes.  My friends now have much more disposable income and now use Apple buds, cheap Bluetooth devices, or perhaps cheap AVRs.  Television speakers satisfy them, or if they upgrade it is a soundbar.  The lack of interest amongst the millennials and Gen Xers  is well documented .  In response the High End manufacturers chase the declining number of senior audiophiles or else listeners in the far east.  It isn’t a healthy trend