What's going on with the audio market?

 Dubya drove it to its knees. At least we are back up and standing, if a bit precariously.

56, 28 (for serious high end stuff), ~10.

I am fortunate to have growing discretionary income, so I have been buying some very good equipment at very good discounts to retail of late.  The problem is that we are all also having to sell our stuff for stronger discounts to retail than ever before.

I so think age demographics are a factor.  My kids have zero interest in hearing their favorite music played any better than off of their Mac Pros.  Same goes for all of their friends.  It is sad to me (and particularly grating on the ears!), but we each choose what we want.

I didn't know that tRump posted here.

I'm 61. I started buying serious gear pretty early, Audio Research electronics, SP-10 turntable, Quad 57s in around 1974 (I would have been 19).  I'll  continue to spend money on audio-related stuff 'til they take me to the nursing home or mortuary. The economy does suck, but the market for this stuff is niche to begin with. Despite the fact that a lot of young people seem to be losing, economically- bad job market for a lot college grads, etc.,  there are also a lot of pretty affluent people, young and old, around the world today, probably more than ever. This stuff just isn't first on the list- in fact, it never was, though we like to think so. Yes, more people had home systems back in the '70s, but how good were they? And how much did they spend to get there at the time? We've been lamenting the death of the "serious" audio market for decades, but somehow, more turntables, tonearms and cartridges, uber speaker designs, big money amps, phono stages, cables and accessories than ever. Somebody is buying this stuff---it's not just Silicon Valley money or Russian oligarchs. Last time I checked--it's been a while-- luxury goods hadn't been hit as hard as ordinary middle of the road products, and that's where the belt tightening is, i suspect. 

Jafant wrote,

"The gear that is made in china for openers."

Oh, you mean like iPhone and iPad?