The demand for HiFi and Hi End audio is diminishing. The younger generations don’t spend large sums of money on this hobby. Yes there is a turntable guy here and there, but the ones they buy to spin records are not high dollar investments in tonearms, cartridges and isolation. It is more a hip trend than a serious hobby. Plus I don’t think they have the money. If they do they spend it on other things...they don’t buy expensive really old vacuum tubes, they buy expensive coffee from Starbucks. One year I bought about $750 in tubes for my newly purchased tube amp. Do you know how many chai tea lattes with soy milk... one can buy for that kind of money?
What happened to all the highend stereo shops
What happened to high end stereo shops I mean real high-end stereo shops. I am 78, my father bought me my first stereo when I was 12, I have been hooked ever since. I remember the days when you can go to a nice audio store and not just audition what they had in the store but if you saw a couple of tuners, preamps or some cables that you liked, you could give them a blank check and take the equipment home to audition on your system. Bring one or both back Pay for what you want to keep or get your check back. I don’t understand how someone can buy an expensive piece of audio equipment and not audition it in their system first. Many places today, you buy it and your stuck with it. OH yes you can sell it on Audiogon or eBay. Reviewers are nice and give good reviews but the problem I have is the equipment they are auditioning is on their system in their treated music room which is going to be different than what you have.
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Dying way of listening to music. Dying sales model. Dying customers. The local shops in my area concentrate on selling equipment and installing theater rooms. Other, but fewer businesses, have adapted to Internet sales. Smart phones and EarPods dominate the market. The photography equipment market has had an identical fate. |
It goes back to what the majority of people want. Sadly, it is not quality 2 channel audio. Why is an entirely different topic. There are however, many more stores that sell the audio equipment people want - seems like every where sells bose, or bluetooth speakers, or sonos, or an AVR receiver and HT speakers, or ear buds and phones. |
@ghdprentice got to the first answer I had too, yep "the internet". That happened. It opened a new world of used gear, then more new gear. It offered up a few hours drive -or- mail order options across a continent which hurt local dealers for sure. Now people complain about not being able to "go hear it somewhere". Well... Our last remaining local dealer (2 of 20) in my region is 55 years in business. He survives because nobody offers what he does. Has a loyal following, with lots of experience, and people willing to pay for it. In return they receive lots of amazing musical enjoyment, trade-in options, and more. Offers an experience the internet and forums cannot offer. Some customers drive a full day just to go there. Some manufactures are slowly getting back to protecting dealers again.
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