Why do all audio forums on the internet seem "dead" ?

Actually there are oodles of brands to pick from these days and not all of them are uber expensive.  Pricing for the high end stuff relative to the market demand is appropriate.  As was stated, more people have access to better sound for less money overall, which moves the bar up for what people are willing to buy to improve there already decent sound.  Market forces and dismal long range forecasts also subdue enthusiasm.  I agree that the major improvements in audio were made back in the late 80's through the 90's.  Once the GREEN contingent started influencing design, many horrid sounding products were unleashed.  Combine all these factors with the iPod generation and you have a drastically reduced audiophile market.  Thanks Obama!  Couldn't resist:)

Dave_b wrote,

"When you demo two preamps in the same system and then separate them, after installing the other preamp into another system, when you turn one preamp on, the other turns off....no matter how far apart the two preamps are! They call it spooky audio at a distance....apparently God does play dice with our audio."

Good one. Cough, cough....

Einstein is lying in bed with a pretty lass, smoking a cigarette. The pretty lass pouts, geez, that didn’t take long. Then Einstein says, it took a very long time for me.

Relatively speaking, Einstein had a point....and I think she got the thrust of it!

She collapsed in his arms, her soul superimposed on his.

Think your over the heads of most on this thread now...of course given that our existence is but a holographic 3 dimensional projection of a 2 dimensional reality, 2 channel audio's attempt to re-create a 3 dimensional soundstage is poetic...don't you think!