More potential bad news for some big names...

I recall Paul McGowan saying that the universe of real HiFi buyers is about 20-25,000 in the US and shrinking. 

Let's face it the younger generations  have little regard for quality and even less regard for bespoke HiFi gear. They are in debt up to their gills and have little discretionary income. They are not keen to own homes, or even cars if you believe the consumer analytics. They don't generally long to be rich like my generation did (I'm 63) and they don't care to be married either. 

Add to that the quality of the AirPods Max, the Bluetooth boom boxes that sound pretty darn good plus the mid-fi brands being poorly made and you have what we have here today. 

I don't know how to remedy this, and I don't know anybody who has proffered a good solution.  

I miss Oldsmobile, I'm finishing restoring my IH Scout II, next will be a 1968 Olds Cutlass Convertible - love that car.

I'm also looking for a turntable, have an old Dual, thinking of getting a VPI. I'm not done with this hobby either.

What will the lack of these products do to the used market is the question. Many products are all ready higher than they used to be. I’ve seen Palladium ll monoblocks and Aragon 8008 BB amps, each nearly 30 years old selling for $3k and $2k respectively. That’s simply one example of the used market that I’ve observed that’s truly out of whack. These products were available for less than $2k used when they were 3-4 years old. Now they’re 27 years old and selling for more? I don’t get that!

There was a day that you could spend $2k and acquire a very solid audio product. It’s rare to find a quality product at a great price anymore. Well, at least that’s one thing I’ve noticed. 

There's not a lot of point to be made discussing what young people today are going to do with their money.  Their seniors (you and me) grew up with terrible products and experienced a revelation when they almost accidentally found themselves in a high end audio place.  For me it was when a friend and I cruised down to Jacksonville and I heard Dahlquist DQ-10's.  Nowadays it is an easy matter to get acceptable audio at low cost, and it's ubiquitous.  Also, things are tighter for this generation and the entertainment options broader and widely distributed.  How many of us would have gone crazy over audio if we had had computers to play with?  We had the opportunity to access audio as an art form, literally.  I can see where today's up-and-comers have more things to get involved in, and I imagine some will become audio nuts, but the numbers will be smaller and the days of the revolutionary engineers are probably over.  What's out there now is excellent and affordable, making the hobby aspect of it less attractive.  One more thing:  the quality and diversity of the media.  Classical music used to be a widespread thing.   Now it is most definitely not, and if you know a young person with any knowledge of such whatsoever of it you are dealing with a music major.  That's just one example. Popular music is dominated by low quality artists doing low quality things. And it sells.  There are still great recordings made, and the technical abilities are better than ever, but the stuff that makes money, the stuff inputted into it, is mediocre.  So who needs fancy equipment when earbuds will do?  In the meantime, enjoy what you have and don't worry about everyone else.  You can be a niche.  It's ok.  

It is interesting to me how every commercial has a silver faced 70's era receiver, turntable and speakers in the background. It's considered cool I guess but for looks more than real function. I have a collection of older equipment from the 70's that I still use to this day. All of that stuff is worth 3-4 times what I paid for it. There are also plenty of audio companies trying to capture the retro vibe market with components that have the vintage look. Maybe the younger generation will latch on to that once they get into the working world. I think college kids with a stereo are rare as hens teeth. Polar opposite of my years in school.