Supporting Local Audio Stores are we?

Been doing this since 68,so the trends are familiar.Back in the day you bought usually from the store or a friend.If it didnt break,you kept it for years.When I was fat in the 80's,I bought from the store still again,not alot oftrading.Now and for the last 6 years,not fat so cant afford stores,but can afford to trade alittle here.If I got fat again,I think I would like to go back to the 2 stores here in Mpls and pay the price.There were and are good guys,I cannot go there now though without a big rate of cash,YMMV,Bob

if products can be bought direct from manufacturers and those manufacturers are cooperative in answering questions, they take on the roles of designer and audio dealer.

in such a situation dealers may be superfluous.

Stereos will always be stereos.
High end racing sail boats sunset as fast or faster than high end (performance) audio gear and at a price that is many times that of audio.

I happen to think that higher-end sports and/or luxury cars are a very valid comparison to high end audio. Manufacturers lure you with great perceived "build-quality", fancy chassis, great sound sometimes, and dealers are occasionally snooty to most people, and almost certainly snooty to the unshaven guy in sweats who walks in on Saturday morning, but will be obsequious beyond belief to the guy who drives up in a Rolls. Most luxury cars are 96% the same as their rivals, and most sports cars measure their 0-60 speed within about a second of each other, and all are spec-ed out much better than most people could possibly make use of (lack of driving skills in cars, lack of room treatments in audio). And if you want absolutely the fastest thing out there (0-60 in the low 3-handle), you either buy from Bugatti Veyron for $1.5mil+, or you buy a weird car - an Ariel- the equivalent of the small mfr making an over-achieving amp cloaked in 'normal amp' looks. According to the dealer, the car is the be-all-and-end-all, and the buyer will be set for life, and blah-blah-blah. It costs far more than what is needed to be absolutely functional as a ride to work, and a couple of years later, there will be a Mark II, or a different model, and the only 'upgrade path' is to sell the older one and buy the newer one.

Tvad, Ferraris only "increase in value" when you drive them off the lot if they are the long-hyped new, new thing and there is a waiting list. A 5-year-old Ferrari is in only rare cases more expensive than it was retail. Something like a Ferrari Testarossa, 456GT, or older 355s now go for less than a third of original retail (I also happen to think that all three are fabulous cars for the current used price). After a certain point, well-cared-for examples become 'vintage' cars or 'classic cars' and start to appreciate again (witness the uptick in pricing for 308s and 328s), or occasionally they become stars and continue to appreciate above and beyond their inflation-adjusted original price (like the Ferrari 365GTB4).