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Current Trends In Home Audio

This is not a question, but a personal observation.

For the past few weeks I've been house hunting in the Ann Arbor area and consequently I've walked through about 25 homes. Not a single audiophile setup in any of the houses. Not a single phono rig, though one household had about 100 albums next to their CD collection. There also weren't any elaborate home theater setups. The most common audio systems were mini systems with built in CD/DVD players and computers with satellite/subs. Also saw a few Bose Wave radios. In talking with our broker he stated in the new subdivision construction, which he specializes in, that whole house audio systems are a big selling point. He also stated that in the high end housing market ($1 million plus in Michigan) that dedicated media rooms are the norm, but all the speakers are in wall/ceiling types.

Apparently audiophiles are a small chose few.
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aroc
760 posts
 
I agree, I think it's exposure, like my girlfriend suggests. Most people simply do not know the equipment exists and what level of fidelity is possible. once you get that established, people will spend the $$$ according to the priorities in their lives. But if one does not know, how can one spend.

Also dealers, try not to **tackle me** and other teens and twenty somethings when we walk into your store and want to crank a $100k stereo. it helps to build a customer base if you seed lust for the equipment and high fidelity experience in future customers. Just a thought.

Also, if I was showing my home during an open house, I would likely box up and hide my stereo. I don't see the point in living it out.
prpixel
876 posts
 
Over the years I've let many people listen to my system. All have had nothing but praise for the sound. When I tell them the cost, they loose interest quickly. I've even given some hi-end equipment (new) as gifts over the years (NAD amp/pre-amp, rega intergrated and CD, pair of Apogee slant 6 speakers). All the recipients thanked me for the gifts but soon returned them to me. They all said the same thing "It's really nice, but I have no use for it" so I gave up trying to convert people because they just had other priorities.
aroc
760 posts
 
In addition to music instruments, does anyone see other people (especially affluent people) with large music collections? Most homes I see have 20-30 CDs and no instruments. I have more CDs than that in my dinning room alone. And those are just string quartets. Swimming pools seem to be far more common. I also don't see a lot of books either. Different strokes for differnet folks.
prpixel
876 posts
 
I have only seen one large music/movie collection in all the higher end homes that I've been in. Most of the homes only have a few cd's and movies. Sometimes, you come back two years later to change a piece of gear or update the remote and the same dvd is in the machine from the last time you were there.
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