What’s really hurting the audio hobby?


Maybe it’s the audio dealer experience? Where else can newbies go to get started in this hobby. Isn't that where most of you got hooked?  Let me describe my latest visit to an audio store nearby. I won’t use the store name here, as that’s not the point.  Where I live there is really only one audio store left. That’s strange because I live in a very wealthy community. The Friday after Independence day, me and a friend went to this local audio store.  First time back there in years. We are both looking to upgrade. They have 3 audio rooms and two home theater rooms. The hi-end audio room (the store’s term) was an impressive room with extensive acoustic treatments. Mostly McIntosh gear. Sitting in the listening chair, you are looking at 600 watt Mac monoblocks running some nice tower speakers. A massive JL Audio Gotham subwoofer unit sat front and center facing the only listening chair. The McIntosh turntable was spun first. Sloooowww. It took my friend less than five seconds to point out the TT was running slow. The salesman had started to play Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here, and it was noticeably slow. So the salesman flipped the switch to 45 rpm. Yes, that happened. He figured out it was too fast all on his own. Fiddle and poke at the TT for a bit and then the salesman said- "I’ll let them know it’s broke". Then he said he would just stream some music from a server. Bass! All you could hear was bass, and NOT good bass. He turned the subs down a little when asked, but all you could hear was tubby, muddy bass. The big tower speakers were overpowered by the sub.  I really wanted to hear what the main speakers alone sounded like, but could not get the salesman to shut off the subs.  On to the mid-fi room (the store’s term). The salesman tried to play us two different turntables. Neither turntable worked. One would not power up, and one was not hooked up to a system at all. Let me point out we didn’t care what source they used. I did say we both run analog and digital sources. Nothing interesting in the mid-fi room the first time through. Next room (no name) was a wall of bookshelf and small towers run by a wide selection of integrated amps. Not bad sound from some. Again, we were told this is “streaming quality audio”. This was the third time he mentioned we were listening to streaming quality audio. I took a guess at what that meant and asked if we could hear higher quality audio. So he took us back to the mid-fi room. He popped in a CD.I could not tell what CD equipment was being used. I think a Rotel integrated was selected. Everything in the cabinet was black faced behind dark glass. Not sure what CD it was either, but since he only had one, I let it go.

Big change! The Paradigm towers were now making good sounds. A big difference from his “streaming quality” demo. Next we switched to a pair of GE Triton 1s. I seriously might get a pair! They make nice sounds. By far the best thing we heard. There was more that happened that contributed to a poor experience, but I will move on.

Here is my point- What would anyone new to the hobby think of that experience? It took two seasoned audio guys pushing the salesman for over an hour before he played anything worth listening to. Would you buy anything from this place. Would you send a newbie in there? Let me know if I'm off base in thinking these audio stores are killing themselves off by the way they do business. Or is it just my misfortune that I have not been in a good dealer showroom in years?

vinylfan62
Elizabeth - without thinking too long name 10 great pop/rock songs that have been released and played on the radio in the past 5 years - I can but none of them can be heard on the radio.  I assume our youth buy their music based on what is played on the radio as we did in the 70s thru 90s.  


Millennials are minimalist - minimalism and audiophile do not go too well together.  I have a small record/vintage shop (about 1,500 lps which are mostly classic rock) and sell (or at least try to sell) vintage stereo equipment.  My best customers are aged 16 thru early 30s and people in their 50s early 60s.  The younger folks universally acknowledge that the records I play on vintage stereo equipment in my shop sound much better than on the Crosleys and the like that they use.  They rarely buy stereos but buy the crap out of the portables from the 70s (GE Wildcat and such) which do at least sound better than the Crosleys, new suitcase phonographs, etc.    So the audiophile hobby is surely dying if considering the younger audience. The friends I have in the age group between my customers' age groups (40s) seem to have no interest in hi-fi.  To them Bose is the bomb.  Unrelatedly, in my business there is a rule - most everything makes a comeback sales wise in 25-30 years.  Lps and cassettes are now hot.  I'm stocking up on CDs for 2040 if I'm still around in this business - lol.  


Another factor is that high end is not mobile.  A prerequisite to assembling such a system is putting down roots - even if it's just an apartment. 

In my youth, there were only 2 audio goals: great home and car systems.  I wanted both, so I made the plunge into a top-notch home system in 1976, a year after graduating and having a "place."

I'm too old to know if this is part of the decline of the "audio hobby," but my hunch is yes.  Streaming, blue tooth, miniature components - these things are likely diverting young music enthusiasts away from high end to some degree.  Convenience usually leads to compromise.
"I assume our youth buy their music based on what is played on the radio as we did in the 70s thru 90s."
I have doubts that most of them even know how to use radio.

It is probably Spotify that may get through, radio less likely.
There is no one solution to the issues plaguing the audio  industry today. Most have been mentioned above, the demographic with money to spend and upwardly mobile are Millennials, most of them have a form of ADHD which stems from their diet, drugs (legal and otherwise) and overstimulation from using computers, pads and and cell phones. Add to that music being made (poorly) and sold today  largely isn't fit for consumption on anything that sounds decent. Then you have the relatively overnight disappearance of nearly physical media, coupled with said Millennials belief that everything should be open source (free to them no matter what it is).

Say what you want, and I don't mind decent digital audio, but my streaming experiences have all mostly negative. I wouldn't own a streaming device or subscribe to ITunes, Tidal, Pono or any of rest on a bet. Oh, don't forget the s*it show of continually changing formats in ar relatively short time, Vinyl and Cassette to CD was a decent interval change, however SACD, DVD/A, Blu-Ray plus all the high resolution formats were changing almost yearly over the last 20 years. One day a format was considered the last name in reproduction, next year they were not supporting it with music titles or equipment, something else had taken it's place. The same thing happened to home theater, which in and of itself gobbled up many potential customers,  yet another continually changing format with all the different surround sound gear and software titles. Here today gone tomorrow. Now we're seeing huge increases (relatively) in purchase and consumption of vinyl cassette and open reel.  

Don't forget by and large, (educators) haven't been teaching any sort of Art or Music,.. playing instruments, voice, or music appreciation of any type in schools (most anyway) the last 3 decades. I wouldn't call the garbage being sold or streamed music, it's mostly poor quality trite noise that likely does sound better on a phone or in ear buds. it sure doesn't sound good a decent stereo. I'm in my 50's, my dad always had really decent stereo gear and great music, having passed on this legacy to me. I was lucky enough to grow up when decent B&M stores were at their peak. We had The Discerning Ear, Gramophone and  Sight and Sound, when I was growing up. Gramophone is where I've bought 90% of my gear, Marantz, VPI, McIntosh, Sony ES, etc. There are not many places  like these today where you can go to see and hear what decent gear is about. Most places have a Best Buy, they have Magnolia but my experience there was the 20 somethings working there know/knew nothing about what the sell, which is a sin really, McIntosh used to be particular about the dealers representing them, I wouldn't put my companies gear in Magnolia to be sold,, but hey, you have to make money and to do that you need exposure, especially today in the audio business.

Younger people buying today either buy what someone else has they have seen or what is popular/being discussed on Facebook and other social media outlets. That includes, cars, phones, homes, stereos, whatever. They likely didn't have a dad who was in to music and stereo, didn't play an instrument in or out of school growing up and were not exposed to decent sounding music anywhere, no school trips to the symphony. Parents were too busy working  trying to survive tha to actually spend real quality time with them.No exposure or experience, things they do have experience and exposure, (cell phones, computers, tablets I-Pods/ITunes) they engage and support. Essentially it boils down to the world is a totally different place today, unfortunately.

I was very surprised at this whole analog/vinyl revival over the last decade. More than likely once the fad passes, and it's no longer the cool thing to buy and play records, the next generation will latch on to something else, the next big thing. So buy all the records you can while you can. In another 20 years they may pass into obscurity again, (along with this audio hobby/passion of ours) if we don't pass knowledge, desire and interest in music and audio down to the younger generations. Where it goes is largely up to us, those of us who are supporting this industry today. Once we're gone who knows what will happen to it...