Where are the young audiophiles?


I find it alarming that 95% of all audiophiles are seniors.According to a consultant at my local HI-FI store,young people don't seem interested in high-end equipment.They listen to music on their phone.Sooner or later, all the great neighborhood HI-FI stores will not be able to remain open. Kind of sad,don't you think?
128x128rockysantoro
95%?? Where did you get that percentage?  Inflated. When I was 16, I saved and with my fathers help got a nice beginner stereo. His Air Force career started as a radar engineer and he loved electronics. That helped. I had much more money in my first system than LP’s. The younger generation is more mobile. Hard to be footloose and fancy free with high end equipment. However what they lack in equipment they make up for in owning music. Many “senior” audiophiles care for their equipment over content. My daughter, is a lighting tech and  owns music from well over 400 artists, but she is content with a convenient Sonos system. Although not ‘high fidelity’, it is in constant use. Both for listening and background.  For the price the Sonos sound is very good. My daughter will  jump from Sibelius to Tom Waits to Miles Davis, and then will move to Garage Band to mix her own stuff. Perpetual change at work. If the definition of an audiophile is based on the equipment one owns, she is not an audiophile. However if the definition is based on a passion for music, she definitely is an audiophile! 
Back in the days of yore (1976-78) when I had my first good corporate job at 24 buying HiFi gear of quality was far more affordable than today. Here's what I bought from my local audio store: AGI 511 preamp ($450), Son of Ampzilla ($420), Mitsubishi DA-F10 tuner ($280), Ariston RDII TT ($270), SME 3009 arm ($150 - new!), GAS Sleeping Beauty E mc cartridge ($200), Verion SUT ($375), DCM Time Windows ($660/pr). Add some Verion Triaxial ICs ($30/pr) and Mogami 2477 coax speaker cable ($1/ft). So for about $2K+ this was a killer system then! Today one would have to spend $20K+ for similar quality! The bar has been raised too high for too many! 
By judicious shopping on eBay I have over the past 5 years been able to buy again secondhand most of the above gear - for comparable or less prices! It does still sound as good as it did 40+ years ago! So maybe today's used market is the key to acquiring quality gear for the younger crowd!