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High End is Dead?

Browsing used audio sites such as Audiogon and the Marts, high end gear ads are dominated by several dealers. Non-dealer ads are usually people trying to push 15+ year old off-brand junk at 60-70% of MSRP (when they were new). They don't sell anything. You could slash Wilsons, Magicos, etc, 50% off retail and no one will buy them.

No one buys if it costs more than 1k. It's not that they're not interested -- the ads get plenty of views. It's that the asking prices are just way over the ability of buyers to pay. Fact is, if you see a high end piece for sale it's probably by a dealer, often times trying to push it at 15% off retail because its a trade in, but also often they are taking a good chunk off the price 30, 40 sometimes 50% off. They can be famous brands with a million positive reviews. No buyers.

Are we just poor, and that's all there is to it? 
madavid0
craigl59
307 posts
 

Musical style also has an impact on high-end audio purchase. Classical music requires significantly higher audio quality to sound pleasurable than do most popular styles. SO, as classical style fades significantly out of our culture, there is less style-driven support for high-end equipment. When I put together my first audiophile quality system 10 or so years ago, I started listening more and more to classical feeds because on better systems they blow you away with the musician's skill and overall power of the ensemble.

This is akin to what has happened to piano sales. Most players today buy electronic instruments and few have ever played on a quality grand. So, like those who are not used to audiophile sound, they attribute little value to what they do not experience.

schubert
7,386 posts
 
Amen to all that craigl59 !
Few days ago I went to a Symphony Concert with a good friend of mine who is a Psych Prof at the U of MN . And a very prominent one at that .
Looking at all the white heads he threw me a line I had not heard .

"As the country gets dumber and dumber , fewer and fewer people read
books . People who don’t read books in the digital age have too short an attention span to listen to classical music ."
I said, and have bad taste as well !

Looking at this post, which has a lot of smarts from a lot of smart people leads me to say out loud what I have said under my breath for a long time .
People who don't go to live concerts of acoustic music on a REGULAR   basis , no amps allowed , have no reference in reality and  therefore have no idea what music really is . It's not a hobby for us , its a consuming passion .
In terms of streaming etc , music has become no different than any other commodity in that more and more is controlled by fewer and fewer . More than half of the phrases an average American utters were written by a marketer !
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astewart8944
499 posts
 
+2 craigl59
+1 schubert
The better my system has become the more I want to listen to classical music on it. I always have enjoyed classical music, but it seems the hardest to "recreate" electronically.
Live music is the gold standard; un-amplified live music is the platinum standard. My kids learned to play acoustical music on a high quality instrument. Now they all seem to have a keen sense for and appreciation of dynamics, timbre, and the emotional investment a musician needs to make an acoustical instrument convey meaning beyond words. 
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
craigl59 - Musical style also has an impact on high-end audio purchase. Classical music requires significantly higher audio quality to sound pleasurable than do most popular styles....
+1
pkvintage's avatar
pkvintage
199 posts
 
2 simple comments. The younger generation are into pocket hifi (cell phone) and head phones. It's the instant gratification, download it, listen for a week than onto the next pop star song. Not about the quality. Although there is a nice little push from old soul younger generation for good vintage gear. 

Baby boomers are still buying good gear. They have the $ and the memories of those pounding Kabuki speakers but now they want the real thing so open up the wallet. 

One more. If you told  Audio Note high end audio is dead I don't think they would beleive you. Just sayin. 
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