Thank you, all, for your comments. I will ignore Sluggo's remarks and expand on the purpose for starting this thread. One editorial after another in the audio press, supported by annual sales figures, indicate that our hobby is not growing - infact, the contrary is happening. When I first became serious about audio in the early 1960's, there were many notable audiophile/music lovers in the business: Saul Marantz, Avery Fisher, Henry Kloss, David Hafler, etc. Note that I used a combined description: audiophile AND music lover. One of the business and social objectives of early "stereo" was to make high quality MUSIC reproduction available to a large number of people. The "average person" in the 1950's and 1960's usually had less expendable income than today, so designers and manufacturers of "stereo equipment" had to make GOOD equipment to a relatively lower price point. I have a real concern that today's "higher end" audio gear is often beyond the means of many potential hobbyists. Combined with a general lowering of expectations in audio fidelity (witness the growth of MP3 and other compressed recordings methods), lots of potential audio hobbyists may never get exposed to truly fine, MUSICAL sound. I acknowledge the specific truth in Sluggo's comments - without someone buying new high-end equipment, there is no high-end USED market. However, that begs my point. High end audio prices are affected the same way as real estate when the market is saturated with a small number of people with a lot of money. The housing market in Seattle, WA, is a perfect example, where Microsoft millionaires and billionaires have driven up home prices to the point that many young adults and couples are unable to purchase a home - new or used - here. I am a regular contributor to the Audiogon forums because I want to share information with our newer members of the 'phile fraternity. I believe one way to do that is help them build systems that are VALUE-BASED - i.e., provide a high ratio of quality to cost. Some of the ways that audio hobbyists used to acquire good gear was to build it themselves, either from scratch or from kits (Heathkit, Fisher, Dynaco, etc). Tried to find any good kits lately? Hence, today's buyers must sift through a lot of information, much of it essentially useless, to help them identify good audio equipment that they can afford. If we can begin to stimulate the high-end audio industry by focusing on VALUE, rather than cosmetics or grossly over-engineered "audio eye candy", younger buyers may be encouraged to adopt the hobby. Sharing your ideas about VALUE is, contrary to Sluggo's comments, central to the hobby, not peripheral. I will close by adding some of my nominees for value-based audio products: Adcom; Rotel; Rega; VPI; Musical Fidelity; Bryston; Parasound; Paradigm; Shure and Grado (cartridges); Magnepan (particularly the 1.6R speaker); Mondial's Aragon and Acurus lines; and my personal value-favorite, Vandersteen Audio. I encourage other readers to add their thoughts.
