New York HiFi Show: Tubes and Turntables

Guys as a dealer participating at this and other shows here is some perspective.

The show was small

Part of the problem is the lack of business being generated and the high costs to do a show.

Show promoters are doing a terrible job of bringing notice to the non audiophiles

Imagine a show with thousands of people who dont know about hi end audio were suddenly introduced to the experience that we take for granted.

Did you see coverage by the new york times or forbes or local papers?

High end audio is like a great secret that most people dont know about.

As per affordable the Legacy Calibres wtth built in amps were $6700 add a streamer with volume and you got a killer rig for under $9k okay not cheap but still reachable and the baby Legacys sounded fantastic.

A full Technics set up is about 5k

Cambridge Audio was showing 

$1299 floorstanders and $599 monitors
With a  $899 amp.

So there were actually a number of great setups that were affordable.

The Cambridge setup was amazing.,

Dave owner
Audio Doctor NJ

Audio Troy,

I don’t know what Cambridge demonstration you heard, but, to my ears, the sound I heard was by far the worst in the show!

@audiotroy Dave, leaving aside the costs and challenges of the typical hotel show, the niche nature of quality audio has long been an issue--the people who attend are typically people already engaged; the difficulty of introducing "normal citizens" to the hobby has existed as long as I have been involved in the hobby (which is pretty long).
Add to that- hi-fi is not an aspirational product -- I can see "guys" going to a car show to lust after some high priced iron (well, now it’s mostly plastic) as a "thing to do" but hi-fi? I think the checklist of essentials that included a good stereo went out with the waterbed.
This has been the challenge of the industry forever- and I don’t think it is necessarily linked to high prices (by audiophile standards). Someone not terribly interested in the field isn’t going to find a 5k total system price attractive-- even though that would seem to be budget pricing- when they can buy some pod with streaming and a few cheap little better than desk top speakers for what? A grand or less? (Apple Store type stuff). People will spend that money on a phone, though..

Saying the show was good in anyway is a sad joke.It had no publicity except for 1 free line in the Stereophile club  section it was put on by a sad very cheap company that has no idea how to put on a good show. 

EBM totally agreed Chester sucks. They said they had some sponership on WBGO I wonder what that meant.

Seeing the same old faces is both great and horrifying. One person commented that they say no one under 40 yikes!

The industry is doing a piss poor job of educating the public that hey there is  world beyond Sonos and Bose. 

Whart I disagree, hifi was in the 50, 60,70 and to some extent the 80's and 90's was everywhere.

When I was growing up, kids had stereos in their rooms and a house had a couple of TV's people listened to music. 

Now between the internet, and a new generation of kids that listen to music through crappy headphones and think this is great this is why we are makinng new audiophiles. combine this with cutting of music eduction in high school's  leads to where we are.

Did you see CNN, New York Times, Forbes, Business insider? Did you see underwriting with the local progressive music stations, WFMU, WFUV?

Nope and Nope, High end audio is a heavily American industry that most people if given a change introduction might be interested in moving to some kind of better system.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ