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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
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

Hi ghasley

"I agree with everything you’ve said and the reason is its the music that moves you and your crew. Thats cool. It also sounds like you live around others who share the passion and thats really cool."

Yep it’s a cool ride! BTW your 55 going on 52, I’m 58 going on 152 :) I’ve put some serious miles on this body, I love getting older. There’s something about the building blocks of living that is very rewarding. We who have made it into our senior years are blessed. If we want we can look back, we can be in the now and we can see the future, if we don’t stay in the past too long. But, the greatest part is we can do any of these.

I guess I look at the Audiophile thing as being a huge sea of hobbyist, all legit in their own hobby within the hobby, whether it be a little group of old plug & play farts or the masses.

"No fuse talk, no cable talk, just music, humanity and fun."

I like that statement too. I think all parts of the hobby have their place and their following. Some guys were born to debate and others can’t wait to get to that listening chair or take in a live event or let their fingers do the walking through the record shops or make Amazon rich, it’s all so much fun we could scream. We are all music kings and queens living in the greatest of times.

My sound, job and life has always been based on the variables of audio, so I obviously think some of these "Fixed" or "Fix-it" tweaks are a little silly compared to having a Tunable system, but again everyone is welcome and deserving of their own hobby. In the future it’s all going to be variable so I guess these guys can knock themselves out with achieving change at the plug & play level. I am a little surprised that HEA got itself stuck in the revolving door for so long, letting the rest of the audio world catch up and pass them up, but that will all straighten itself out too.

Hey, we either get to enjoy the spin or enjoy the ride into tomorrow and it’s a blast any way we travel. I like your post too ghasley.

Good post kthomas and fleschler! One has got to love seeing the variety this hobby has. One thing for sure is while the HEA may be settling into a lower number (one fixed sound system) the Audiophile, and Videophile worlds are growing and have become every man’s (and women’s) home entertainment treasure.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

oblgny's avatar
oblgny
848 posts
 
...”Remember when?...  All it takes is hearing that first note on a higher quality sound system and you are hooked...”

Oh yeah. 

That’s IT!  (Lucy shouting as Schroeder angrily pounds Jingle Bells on the keyboard)

A crazy high school English teacher with a tube amp and Dahlquist DQ 10’s spinning a Charlie Parker record for me and my friends one night...I got it. 

Finally hearing Jimmy Page’s electric guitar underneath the acoustic on “Ramble On.”  Jeeze-Louise - ya mean that was ALWAYS there???
trelja
3,223 posts
 
@michaelgreenaudio I feel both thankful happy to read everything you've put forth here over the past several weeks.  Thank you for your perspectives and contributions 
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

Thanks trelja

It's been very nice reading the emails I've been getting from the members. And, nice reading the responses here on the forum directly. AudioGon forum mods deserve a thank you as well for letting me come up a share so much of the Tune with folks. I'm still very much pacing myself because I'm sharing some pretty bold ideas to folks who maybe haven't had the opportunity to dive into the variable side of the hobby all that much.

I'm also looking forward to sharing more on the thread "the method of tuning". I'm getting folks emailing me after starting to tune and they range from "never knew this existed", "been tuning for years and love it", "how can this be happening"....and on. It's nice seeing listeners looking at this hobby practically and empirically.

thanks again trelja

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

noromance's avatar
noromance
9,857 posts
 
@schubert Don't let the dumb majority get you down!
A friend of mine posted in FB last week that he was delighted his family had chipped in and bought him a new turntable. He was so proud, he posted a photo of the new gear. A fifty buck Crosley. 
I met a guy with a decent hifi in a record store. He was so tight-lipped about discussing his kit, I gave up. You'd think the guy would jump at the chance to talk hobby. Sigh.
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