High End is Dead?

Nope . real dollars where worth a LOT more back in the day than the currency that has lost 25% against the Euro in last year .

How long did you look in their basement ?

Thats my point. In 1962 someone who purchased a hifi spent real money, sometimes many months of free cash flow, whereas today you can get a decent system for comparative peanuts. Additionally, gear today is pretty darn reliable. 

High end is not dead but it’s very sick. As president of a large company with a CPA background, my observation is that the dealer base has shrunk to an obsolete level, just look at the city you live in, how many dealers are left?

Kids don’t spend Friday nights in stereo stores any longer, they listen to downloaded music on iPhones, families can’t afford to buy houses so disposable income of the masses is lower than it has been historically, the facts are there. We are also just 10 years out from the biggest financial depression in history, that is a real truth. The fact is, who can afford to buy a new from dealer system with a $30k price tag (a modest system to say the least), people just can’t. 

High end manufacturers are very small companies that have brilliant product and design minds but very seldom are their business acumen’s in line with what is required to grow a business. That is a typical issue in the world of small business and that’s why so many fail. The fact that isolates high end is the retail pricing based on cost and manufacturing margins. Efficient producers will benefit where inefficient producers will argue that margins are low although their retail MSRP’s are high. Another fact is that audio is not a necessity so the companies are not forced to fall in line with a specific retail price range in order to compete. They will tell you they do but they really don’t do that consistently throughout their product range. Example, all consumer car companies have entry level cars, most high end companies do not. Remember, I said entry level, not $18k for a phono preamp!

Most everyone will argue my points but just ask a manufacturer if they have seen a mass decline in a dealer base to sell to, all will agree. I just spoke to one last week who blames the dealers for discounting retail prices for the industry failure. 75% of his sales are in Asia. I also asked him how much a full range speaker to fill a 26’x17’ foot room would cost from him and he pointed me to a living room dealer, a guy with a nice room in his house, and recommended a $185,000 pair of speakers. His company is well known and respected and he was wonderful to talk to but that is not going to happen!!!! That is another big issue with the industry. How many business models do you know in the retail space In today’s world that sell at 100% MSRP?

Look, I love this hobby and got the audio bug as a very young boy, I’ve spent much time horse trading equipment my whole life searching for the ultimate sound like many of you have but the fact remains that any industry that can only survive with massive pricing because they’ve created a market where only the super rich can comfortably afford their products will get used sites like Audiogon doing more used business than the industry sells new. It’s a true measure of how sick and “dying” our favourite hobby is.

sorty for the blues but it’s a reality!! 

Today's $10,000 wonder is tomorrow's $4000 white elephant.  I've been saying that kind of thing since 1980.  High end audio has never been a big market because the demographic of well-heeled obsessive-compulsive-neurotics who just HAVE to have the very, very best has always been small.   

Hi-end audio dealers not only compete with each other, they also compete with their own used gear.  People still lust after the Audio Research SP3 and SP6,  the Mac C22, Marantz 7 and even the Fisher 400-CX2 tube preamps, all of which go for big prices.    That 15 year old Nelson Pass designed power amp sounds just as good as it did when new and costs much, much less than a new amp.

Beyond that audio dealers are also competing with all the other personal technology products - home theatre, PC laptops, hi-end PC gaming systems, cell phones and tablets.   Not only do people have limited amounts of money to spend on technology products, they also have a limited amount of time and attention as well.  Time spent playing video games or watching Netflix is time not listening to music.

And as one other person here said, how many audiophiles under the age of 50 do you know?

The one audio sub-culture which never seems to die is the DIY crowd.  Audio dealers come and go, but Madisound and Parts-Express are doing just fine.

Ghasley, you have 00’s of posts registered here, it is you that possibly needs some more sunshine, please leave others alone who are just posting their facts and realities.

Also, you are incorrect about systems being cheaper today, a 1962 system from a specialty manufacturer isn’t relevant as there were few, move to 1975 where there was a base of specialty audio companies to make a fair comparison. Back then, 67% of families owned their home on a single family average income of $15k, a top line stereo back then was about $3k. Today the average household income is $72k with both parents working and a top range system is closer to $100k. Your numbers are flawed if you look at what you would have got in 75’ vs. today. You were buying the top of the line units back then, top of the line today would set you back over a million!