Has the cost of HiFi gotten a bit too much?

The world of technology is a tribute to man’s ability to learn and contribute to those before him. So whether it be audio, financial or medical, the progress has been incredible. But those whom are ignorant and uneducated in the disciple but they feel they know better are the reasons civilizations fail. I am thinking of The Story Of Civilization (Will Durant). The complexity of the world (given by the hard working and well educated people starts to look like a conspiracy theory… because all must be obvious to the arm chair expert. As Will Durant. saw… civilizations rise like a spark and flame… but fizzle and die in ignorance.

My partner and I have five graduate degrees between us. We probably spend four or more hours learning each day (for me more) for the last 35 years… we know little… but quite a bit in several disciplines. Technology, finance, economics, philosophy, history, cognitive development… astronomy. Each day is an opportunity to learn more.

The increase in audio prices starters long before the current inflation crisis.  There just isn’t a large market for two channel audio.  Economy of scale has been lost.  Ordinary consumers will spend the extra money for to hear bullets whizzing behind them during movies, and the audio produced by these systems are more than adequate for casual listening. The elites who lead our hobby have been compromised by their loss of advertising by extolling the virtues of 10000 dollar phono preamps that can be outperformed by a 10 dollar op amp, and 1000 wpc mono locks fed by 8000 power cords.   My 20k system at a bricks and mortar store could be spent on a tonearm and cartridge in the blink of an eye

Audio is one of the few things I spend real money on as a hobby.    But without a doubt, the money I spend is worth it given the enjoyment I get from my system every day , hours a day.

+1, oddiofyl!

Seems like what one can buy for $1,000 - $3,000 (entire system) is far, far better than what was on the market 10 years ago - well in excess of inflation. “Mass market” quality and fundamentals seem to advance with crazy speed

To me, audio actually seems like a bargain with a marketing problem

As to serious $, who cares? That stuff was always (a) fun and/or technically interesting to read about; or (b) made for customers who don’t care about price

All consumer markets have segmentation.  The question is whether one’s segment is improving over time, and that seems an obvious “yes” for all audio segments, at least to me

Would love to hear differing views, understanding of customers etc - good discussion

Have a great day!