How could High End audio be improved?

Sean and the others have very good points. It is hard to even explain to an average person exactly what "high end" is. People are either into it or not. Most of the people I encounter think that good audio is Sony home theater in a box.
Mainstream chains do not push high end audio and video due to the fact that most people that go to Best Buy or Tweeter arent there to buy just an amp or a CD player... Most people want a cheap dvd player and ask if it can play cds too.
High end audio is a very specilized passion. First of all, you need to be a lover of music. Secondly, you need to appreciate the subtle nuances in recordings and strive to have musical reproduction beyond what the average person would expect. Thirdly, as Sean pointed out, pricing is crazy. Either you are independantly wealthy and can go and buy what ever piece or flavor of the month you want, or like most, you have one or two outlets for gear.. ie Audiogon.
High end is truely becoming and or, is, a niche industry.
Being in business in this niche, I consider myself a niche retailer that cators to people like myself... similar appreciation for music, gear, and common interests. It is rare that a wife is calling or emailing to buy her husband that Power Cord he has wanted for a special occasion. In fact, most buyers today dont even tell their significant others about the dollars spent on their systems...
I know that I have done a good job in business when I receive an email from a customer that says "even my wife noticed the difference!". That makes me happy!
Anyway, even if manufacturers continue to change formats and obviously technology advances, high end most likely will remain a niche hobby and or passion.
I cant comment on pricing... there are so many great pieces on Audiogon to make any system to your liking... People that go into a retailer and buy the Brand New Krell or Audio Research are few and far between.
Well, be thankful those that read and respond that you have stumbled onto a lifelong persuit of musical reproduction perection!!
Happy Listening,
Joe
Custom Audio LLC

1. The economy needs to improve.

2. Follow the home theater model: put good systems together for beginners and market system synergy rather than individual components.

3. Follow the Japanese model: Have manufacturers sell equipment direct to consumers at close to cost in order to create demand.

4. When people attend concerts, they do not close their eyes during the performance. Generate source material that gives the full concert experience - audio and visual. The human element is missing.

5. Develop an R2D2 (Star Wars style) that can project holographic images of performers playing music in your living room, especially Jazz.

6. Dealers should have AT LEAST as much used equipment in their showroom as new. Put the Audiogon bargains in the dealer showrooms so people can audition equipment they can afford. Have dealers showcase used equipment rather than let it sit on dusty shelves.

7. Get rid of this silly "exlusive dealer" idea. Dealer showrooms lack variety and the practice does NOT succeed in limiting competition. People have no basis for comparison and no choice so they walk out without buying anything. Haven't any of these people been to business school? People buy when they are given choice; not when their choices are restricted.

Good topic. My American take is same/similar to those who posted before me.

My initial thought is that the main problem is that only a small number of people are in to audio. If there was more people who made a *nice stereo a greater priority, components would be less expensive and easier to audition. Non-audiophiles think how marketers and advertisers want them to think, like how American consumerism thinks, and features and crap replace *nice.

You practically have to be an audiophile to own a *nice system and that's a shame. Hi-fi is unknown and intimidating and a little freakish, and audiophiles do not make any better with the i-am-better-than-you garbage.

There are others, a lot of people who like a nice sounding stereo, but have never heard of B&W or ML. They buy Bose et al. because that is they best brand they know. That comes back to marketing. Linn could have been Bose (Linn the Bose of hifi right?, but still better than Bose :).

Directly for current audiophiles is lack of local selection for audition. Without the resources to audition philes look to opinions and epinions and marketing mags. Instead of Herbie H., we get Sammy T. Its impossible to know what is good looking at mags and people you don't know. Thank god for the used market.

Referring to Ozfly's first post, I think it is lack of available selection and not a lack of objectivity that is the problem. Lack of objectivity is part of fun/challenge and is the more artistic side of the hobby.

To solve the lack of hi-fi interest is the $45,000 question. As individuals we could have less attitude. And I would like to see one company just break through the barrier. One idea is for more home hi-fi companies make a bridge to car audio. There are lots of kids in car audio. They are pretty savvy and sound quality (not just SPLs) is a high priority for a lot of them.

People don't have to buy Home Theater so they can hear dinosaur feet walking around their living room, they don't have to buy Bose or some crappy rack system, and kids don't have to buy recordings from a genre that has not produced a single memorable song in over 20 years. In feudal days the aristocracy determined what artists and fine craftsmen would produce. Now, the tyranny of the wealthy patron has been replaced by the tyranny of the consumer. OK, so maybe the audio consumer did not demand the digital player -- that was forced down our throats. But audio mediocrity is basically consumer driven.
The main problem for the high end designer-manufacturer is that their retailers are being undercut by the internet -- primarily Audiogon and EBay. It was possible for high end manufacturers to enjoy respectable margins when they could protect their authorized dealers from price competition. But now, you can buy pretty much anything you want at deep discount. At first glance this would appear to be a wonderful development for the sophisticated consumer -- those of us who do our own research and can bypass the retailer (or the unsophisticated buyer with an audiophile friend). But is it really? How long can the high end designer-manufacturers and retailers last under these conditions? Could savvy buyers force high end manufacturers either out of business or into less service-oriented marketing?