Rant against the industry with hopes for discussion on positive change

High end audio---or even hi-fi on any level---has ALWAYS been a niche market. Out of, say, a hundred young people I knew when I was in my 20's (in the 1970's), only two other than myself cared enough about having a good system to actually be willing to spend the $ necessary to get one. And of the musicians I knew, none. Zero.

But listening to a complete album was a "destination" activity back then. Music was considered an art form, not mere entertainment. There are young people now who are just as pre-occupied with music as we were then (some of the most passionate make and post videos on YouTube), to whom music is a major focus of their lives. Knowing how to find out about how to assemble a quality hi-fi---or even caring to---just isn't a "thing" for most youngins. When in my 20's, the guys I found myself surrounded by in hi-fi shops were middle-aged professionals. Hi-fi is just not a passion of most young people, and never has been.

It's the current crop of middle-aged professionals who haven't gotten into hi-fi that is the problem. The ones I meet now have ceiling-mounted Bose mini-speakers, and aren't aware of even mid-fi products. They don't see the ads for receivers and loudspeakers they way their counterparts in the 70's did in Playboy and Penthouse (at least that's what I hear ;-) . As for musicians, they listen to music on their computer's speakers. THEY are hopeless ;-) .

If you feel you have the pulse of your generation, stop your ranting-start your own business.

EVERY industry  has a questionable  side. Welcome to reality.

most millenials would not want the product you are descibing

the muillinial mindset is portable and cheap

+1 @tablejockey - This is exactly why I went into business. More people have to help the less aware better understand the wonderful experiences of high end audio.

OP - IMO Too little effort has been placed to help demonstrate the value to others, or to help them find value in it. Obviously the best way to do so is to place people in the listening chair, but even more so it also requires empathy and nurture in helping to guide people wherever they are along their journey, connecting with them and learning about what they currently value and how these value can grow even if it’s just through a forum thread.

Everyone starts somewhere.

In the late 1950’s, from the age of nine to fourteen, my "system" was a battery powered portable Sylvania transistor radio with seven (7) transistors that in the high altitude air of West Texas would pull in AM stations from Chicago, New Orleans, Nashville, Oklahoma City and the Mexican border stations, "Put your hands on the radio and pray with me."

I learned to appreciate all of it, blues, pop, R&B, country and now, in my late 70s, I still appreciate all of it, plus classical, fado, West African and many others.

Yes, I appreciate it more because of my Raven Audio Blackhawk and Reference 3A de Capos but it was the music I was chasing, not the hardware.