As someone who is 35 and sees a lot of young people thru my gym I can tell you there are many reasons why younger people are unlikely to get into Hi-Fi.
1. Everything cost a ton of money and wages at work have not kept up. Good lord budget model cars cost 17k now. Even middle class people are under finical strain.
2. The people I know that have enough money for this stuff have zero time to sit and listen to music for hours. Its really hard to justify 5k or 10k or 20k on something you won’t use that much. Especially when you barely have time with your family and friends
3. Our society has changed. The pace of life is nothing short of chaotic. At work we are expected to do 5 things at once. To make up for a smaller workforce we use technology to multitask. In addition with less time we try to do the same thing with our personal lives with social media. All done through a phone that is with us 24/7. So unhealthy. I hate it.
4. The options for entertainment are endless. So how is something that cost a good bit of money and that you have to bend over backwards to hear at a store going to win out? If its work to buy something its not going to be popular.
I can see why headphones are so popular. They can be quick on the go to meet lifestyle demands. Plus you can spend so much less and get so much more. Yes they are not speakers but its a personnel experience that can be integrated into the lifestyle people have now. I just got a 250 pair of headphones from music direct. They can be driven by a iphone or labtop. To be honest they sound really good. For most people the price to get this lifestyle headphones SQ in their living rooming with a speaker systems would stop 98% of people in their tracks.