How could High End audio be improved?

Well, Dealers? How about it? It seems you are being named more often than not, as being a big part of this problem.
What do you have to say?

I walked into my first high when I was about 15.
Heard some Boston Acoustic mini moniters.
Thought to myself... WOW how much are those speakers?
They sound AMAZING! They must be really expensive (even if they are tiny). The Salesman turned to me and said, "Amazing what sort of sound you can get out of a $250 speaker when you are driving it with well matched $10k of electronics."

I was hooked right then and there.

KF

Ohlala, you're quite right that the subjectivity drives much of the fun and challenge in building a system. It also leads to the hype, confusion, high pricing and chaos which keeps this hobby so esoteric. The first thing I should have addressed is "what is meant by improve?". I defined "improving High End" fairly narrowly: Expanding the hobby to include many more people and being able to narrow the field in making decisions. Other responses clearly had other "improvments" in mind and they are all quite valid and the responses are great -- e.g., Lugnut's response addresses improving the music for all of us *and* expanding the hobby. Great thread Twl!

Another perspective: Audiophiles who have embraced a quality HT setup in their homes have been able to expose people to the soundtracks of films reproduced by quality equipment, to other forms of recorded information. People who enjoy watching movies with us will often inquire about the equipment (located out of site in a closet just outside the room), which will lead to a remark about the turntable (sitting in the main room on it's own rack on top of a two inch thick slab of stained and polished maple), which will lead to a request to hear something played on it. I allow the guest to choose what they would like to hear, and let the whole side play. Many folks I know who previously thought paying large sums of money for a "record player" as absurd, have become interested in getting more value and quality for their money than can be had from mass merchandisers. Those hard core 2 channel only (I count myself as one: I am vinyl 1st, SACD 2 channel 2nd) have to give some credit to the HT crowd for giving more people the opportunity to appreciate high quality equipment. It is easier to baptize someone with a visual image to go along with the audio, than trying to get someone to sit and listen. It gets them interested, asking questions, and perhaps becoming disciples.

Twl,

Perhaps the next step that really needs to be taken is for very successful websites like Audiogon to stimulate manufacturers to think differently about how they are marketing and delivering their product.