That's funny Gary, who do you think is roaming the halls here?
Don't just blame CES and no, its not all Bush's fault either. Stop offering the same old, same old, if you're looking for new blood, otherwise for the most part its either the same old greying guys (if they still have any hair left!) who either had it and don't want it anymore or those who wanted it but never can afford it. It was the same even back then in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The hi-end dealer/distributors sold to a small network of friendly high net worth individuals with grey hairs and their adult children, but had to make their money selling mass market boutique brands like JBL, BA, etc. to the public. Only unlike a manufacturer they could change brands after a few sales. Things have changed and are evolving, the old business models don't work and if you think 25k is expensive now just wait until obamacare, this admin's energy regulations and the butt end of their fiscal policies hit us in the next couple of years. Vegas is all union and they will drive up all costs, I guarantee at least 40k in expenses for the same deal in 2-3 years for now. Europe went through this phase and became irrelevant, Munich is just emerging as the US is waning following the same socialist policies. I remember spending $100k to $150k in the 90s for some of those European shows before pulling out. I couldn't blame the venue, it wasn't working for us so we changed our marketing strategy and spent those resources on direct, face to face approach which ended up working very well for us.
I don't know what you expect but in every country there's only one or maybe two real major hi-end distributors and they're loaded with products, the rest are hand to mouth operators with small market shares who fall off after a few sales and you're forced to start looking for fresh blood as you put it all over again. Even the many of the old movers and shakers that existed here like Lyric and Singer have gone away or are slowly disappearing. For the most part those who remain have to either compete with some new faces, the importer vendors that know how sell into the audiophile markets at a fraction of the imaginary retail prices or with the manufacturers who need to make a certain amount of direct sales at trade or often at even lower prices just to survive. Maybe you need to take a breath and look for alternatives to CES and the old ways of distribution. At this point you have a number of options open to you.
david