As usual I have a different take on things.When I was a teenager back in the 1970's,there was this speaker they took ads out for in the Stereo magazines.It was a tall tower speaker, unusually tall, even.Instead of one midrange and tweeter, it had a whole vertical row of midrange and tweeters.I forget how many.It was a little unusual in price too.It was a little more than $2,000 a pair which back then was a little pushing it, but that made it special a bit. Me and my friends would pick up the magazine and gawk at the full page ad depicting it,over and over.Remember how as a child you would look through toy catalogs over and over again.It was the same stuff pictured but each time you looked through it was a new experience.It was great fun.We would read the ad type over and over too.It recommended some LP's that would be good to hear on this speaker.It was well beyond the finances that your average teenager had at his disposal, but like the toy section of the Sears catalog it was fun to dream; and perhaps most importantly, it was not totally out of reach.High School would be over in less than a year.Factories would be hiring.If your parents would put up with your living at home a few extra years; it wouldn't' be that hard to save some money,who knows.You might just be able to swing it.
None of us ever did get to buy that speaker.Some of us could've at some point, but it would have cramped our style to spend all that money in one shot. It felt good to have some dough put away, but every now and then we let our mind wander and sort of flirt with the idea.We could, but at that point we probably knew that we shouldn't'.But it was fun to dream and flirt with the idea of it.
Fast forward to now.A young person picks up an audio magazine and looks at the ads and reads the reviews.The dream stuff isn't really just outside your reach anymore.It would take five years to save that kind of money.Once it was saved, looking back on all the self sacrifices you had to make over such a long time as 5 years, you wouldn't' feel like spending it.Back in the 1970's It might have taken you a year of sacrifice at an age you really don't feel like compromising anything, but it was at least a possibility.But saving for 5 years to buy a speaker that costs $10 grand.It's just too far outside the reach.The thought in most cases just isn't taken seriously; its dismissed.There are plenty of other things to spend money on instead.
If manufacturers want to get young people interested; they simply have to give them something to really dream about at an early age.Something that's just out of reach,but not out of reach too far or they will just go to something else to spend money on.They say our teenage years are our formative years.We develop personalities, values and start trying on for size what we really like in life.They say our basic personalities formed then,for the most part stay with us throughout life; and so do our basic desires, likes and dislikes.Give young people something to dream about,to go for, that's not too far out of reach.There is an occasional person who is impressed by a big price tag, but most squawk at it; wondering if its not a ripoff,but for the masses some dreams not too far out of reach will do.Once an audiophile, an audiophile for life; often anyway.Isn't that enough incentive?
