Rhyno, you are a man of discernment, taste, and impeccable audio discrimination. I knew that the instant you revealed your fondness for Belles....
I don't particularly support consolidation in the high end. It would discourage innovation and rob the a-file community of grist for our conversation mills (and more than a little unintended humor). Market diversity also SHOULD (but does not for the reasons I cited above) control costs.
I say let the boys build their toys. Some of them are definite winners. Most, even the ones that receive the plaudits-of-the-moment, are nothing more than trivial variations on long-existing themes. I'm not a republican--quite the contrary--but this is an instance in which I'm quite content to let supply-side forces act at will. Let 'em come; let 'em go; my only concern is parts availability(!)
Don't think, though, that marketing doesn't work in the high end. Krell, for example, has managed to promote good components as though they were great components and price them accordingly. Why? Distribution through major chains and lots of advertising in the slicks. I bet that if someone researched matters, they would find that Krell spends darn near as large a percentage of its limited revenue on advertising as Bose does of its vast revenue.
If the high end really implodes, as so many think it will, perhaps we'll be left with the garage builders (imaginative but flakey and unreliable) the ego builders (niche suppliers to the conspicuous consumption community), and good-but-perhaps-not-great volume suppliers like PSB, NHT, Paradigm, Carver/Sunfire, Sony ES, and (dare I say it?) Mahhhhhhhhhhhnster Cable.
In the meantime, let's keep having fun.
Will
