The “decline” in high-end audio sales: A new outlook
- Thread starter NorthStar
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It's a thoughtful article. But I think it omits an important bit of information which is the demographics of the hi-end audiophile community. The number of people truly devoted to the pursuit of hi-end sound reproduction in the home is simply decreasing by attrition. The author himself is 71. Look at the membership and the regular contributors on this forum. As a whole, they are probably not that much behind. You can point to other audiophile sites, but the members there have high overlap with WBF. The point is, there simply are not a lot of us. A few hundred? A few thousand at most? That's asking a lot individually to support businesses that cater to our unique consumer group. Nor would I count on millenials to rescue the field anytime. How many of them are living 3 and 4 to an apartment, or with their parents? This is hardly the place they can or wish to spend their discretionary income. The low cost and portability of MP3 works just fine for them for the most part. When they do spend money on music, they prefer to splurge on re-sale concert tickets by the tens or hundreds of thousands. $500/ticket for the top touring acts is not unusual. Let's be realistic. You can cite new business entries into the field as evidence by appearances at trade shows, but this should be balanced by how many have closed their doors and how many will be here 5 and 10 years from now. My sense of optimism here is not high. But the good news is that the quality of truly good sound reproduction for the home is diminishing at a startling rate. The "value proposition" is changing. What was once gear that was almost impossible to obtain at any cost, is now very much more affordable. There will always be audio jewelry and the unobtainium, but increasingly better performance for less money is where I see most of the high-end headed. It will indeed be hi-end performance, but will be priced much more like other relatively common commodities.
Agreeing to a great extent. The lack of data is the article weakest point. It could also be what is missing within the industry. Most High Audio companies are privately owned and sales data is not available. Thus the article is replete of opinions and inferences based on incomplete data.
It seems to me and there again this is only my opinion there is no data I have or know of to support this view, that the industry is not making a concerted effort to attract new blood. It seems content to raise prices and you will find for the most part that we the above 50 are simply complying. We continue to buy. The question remains, for how long? How many of us will be left in 30 years? WIll we continue to buy ever more expensive gears? So far the High End Audio industry has sustained itself by finding ways to suggest to us that their newer, more expensive is and will always be better... It has worked for some companies so far but ...Many of us for various reasons may not be able to (literally) buy into that... There is a glut of "great" product available and if I were to ask on the board I would say that many of us even the more capable are buying used gear... How many of us? WHat is the percentage of us buying used gears? This curtail growth. And we are not getting any younger and are not earning increasingly more ... ANd the industry has not seem to make much effort to attract the younger customers ...
Based on the above, it seems that the world decline is most appropriate in spite of the optimistic outlook of the 71 year old author.
Both hobbies may be "whistling past the graveyard" but I can tell you that high-end audio is doing a lot better than amateur "ham" radio, which truly is dying as its adherents die off.
I think some elements and segments of high-end audio seem vibrant. But I truly have no idea how all or even most of the high-end audio companies stay in business, especially the tiny, ultra-high-end companies looking to sell at a very high price just a few copies of some component per year.
I think some elements and segments of high-end audio seem vibrant. But I truly have no idea how all or even most of the high-end audio companies stay in business, especially the tiny, ultra-high-end companies looking to sell at a very high price just a few copies of some component per year.
+1
You're remark "How many of us will be left in 30 years?" prompted this thought. I just realized how many millenials are going to get into hi end.
They are going to inherit it!
My 35 y/o son-in-law was here for the weekend and for the first time, wanted to play a record. i was thrilled to educate him on the ritual:
-Here's how you take a record out of the sleeve
-Here's how to hold the record so as not to get your greasy fingers on the vinyl
-Here's how to place it on the Goldmund Studio table
-put on the record clamp, turn until light finger tight
-remove dust
(I'm saving stylus cleaning for the graduate course)
-hit the 12" button for the T3F arm
-turn towards the east, bow 3 times and say the following prayer (i assured him this would not make the sound any better but it was a nice gesture to the turntable god to insure nothing breaks in the next hour.)
-when finished, unlock record clamp
-here's how to remove the record, hold it and replace in sleeve
-wash, rinse, repeat
Lo and behold he decided to play 2 complete Opera's (Tosca and Butterfly) on his own that afternoon. It was a gold ribbon day because it was also the first time I've ever seen him read anything (libretto) that wasn't on a hand-held screen. He couldn't understand why one LP had sides 1 and 4, and the other 2 and 3. I explained it was from the "old days" when people stacked their records on a turntable, thus requiring only one trip to the table to flip the LPs and listen to sides 1 and 2, then 3 and 4 without interruption. He looked at me increduously and asked "what do you mean by stacking the LPs on a turntable?" When he was done, I asked him what he thought. His first comment was how well these albums seem to be recorded.
So now I know where my turntable and LPs may wind up. Hope springs eternal.
IMO the US market is different to markets in Europe and Asia. From what I have seen from visiting shows, US audiophiles are by far the oldest I've seen, probably between 60 and 70 yo.
In Poland for example, most audiophiles are in their 30s and 50s. I'm 40. Same if you go to Munich High End. Lots of younger people.
In Poland for example, most audiophiles are in their 30s and 50s. I'm 40. Same if you go to Munich High End. Lots of younger people.
And one of the reasons from the article of this thread; the decline in hyend audio sales, here in North America.
Yes, thx for the important observation, indeed.
Such a great perspective Marty, it includes the best of us and our pursuit... connecting the people we care about to the music we love. Nice.
It will be interesting to see if we become the shortest lived of all cultural species and to get a sense of what the actual environmental and social conditions brought about us... Audioanthropentricus and why we then became perhaps less relevant. I've got my own theories about what we expressed as a stepping stone or signpost in the development of human culture.
But in the end if we pass on an appreciation of music beyond the more fleeting and superficial experience of it then we have done some good then. Puccini and M. Butterfly... how transcendent and how much like us is capturing the eternal beauty in a perfect moment of existence. Love it!
High End Audio has nothing to do with the transmission of music appreciation to the youth. Absolutely nothing. We can find it nice and beautiful that our children appreciate an LP but the reality is that for each of us or them who will truly care about an LP there a millions who appreciate music and listen to it through their headphones on mp3... Music won't suffer from the demise of High End Audio as it is today. We are not driving the recording industry even less the Music Industry.
I do find however interesting the comment by eberoth ... In most US audio shows the participants are 50 + , very much
.. Perhaps European manufacturers are addressing this younger demographics better. A real ray of hope ...
I do find however interesting the comment by eberoth ... In most US audio shows the participants are 50 + , very much
.. Perhaps European manufacturers are addressing this younger demographics better. A real ray of hope ...
Good post Frantz, and very true too.
And Marty used his love the way he's set, to transfer/communicate it to his son. With the Long Play album and his turntable. It is romantic, it is pure, it is a natural.
It's life, part of all of us who grew up that way; with our love of the music when we had the records and our first turntable.
Some of the best music moments of my life was in my teenager years, back in the 60s and 70s. Some of my elders communicated me theirs, from the 40s and 50s.
And Marty used his love the way he's set, to transfer/communicate it to his son. With the Long Play album and his turntable. It is romantic, it is pure, it is a natural.
It's life, part of all of us who grew up that way; with our love of the music when we had the records and our first turntable.
Some of the best music moments of my life was in my teenager years, back in the 60s and 70s. Some of my elders communicated me theirs, from the 40s and 50s.
It would be interesting to know who and where we are.
Could we do a simple survey through a new thread?
Say:
How old are you
20 - 34
35 - 49
50 - 64
65 and over
Where is your country of residence
North America
Central and South America
Europe
Africa
Turkey and the Middle East
Asia
Pacific/Pacific Rim ( Australia.Japan,Taiwan,New Zealand, Phillipines and Pacific Islands)
My thoughts and open to other suggestions
Could we do a simple survey through a new thread?
Say:
How old are you
20 - 34
35 - 49
50 - 64
65 and over
Where is your country of residence
North America
Central and South America
Europe
Africa
Turkey and the Middle East
Asia
Pacific/Pacific Rim ( Australia.Japan,Taiwan,New Zealand, Phillipines and Pacific Islands)
My thoughts and open to other suggestions
I believe that "Audiophile" is a virus that we've caught and high end as it is the disease. Hi, my name is David and I'm an audiophile
!I do find however interesting the comment by eberoth ... In most US audio shows the participants are 50 + , very much
A lot of it has to do with the cost of admission and probably partially because the younger generation have been spared exposure to mind robbing audio rags of Pearson and Holt!
david
(...) I do find however interesting the comment by eberoth ... In most US audio shows the participants are 50 + , very much
Very recently our largest high-end distributor told me the same - the old classical consumers now 50+ and 60+ are not buying significantly, but the younger generation around 30 is now buying Sabrina's, Yvette´s and similar price Sonus Faber's. These people love music and are mostly attracted by rhythm and musicality.
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