gofar99 Messages: 1949 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I'm pretty much in sync with Wayne. I have heard the story over and over again. I bemoan the loss of many of the brick and motor stores, but welcome the availability of on line sales. True you can't audition gear now...but then I design and build my own anyhow. Listening to music though is still popular, but it comes in different formats than many of us grew up with. As long as there are artists making music then there will be some variation of hi-fi as individuals like to listen to it. Yes the quality of what one person desires vs another varies hugely. It really always has. The folks with 5 tube all American radios had different preferences to those with Scott , HK, Bogan etc. What I see now is an increase in interest in high quality reproduction by younger individuals. They are sparking a revival IMO of vinyl. Many of us never gave up, but if you look in the LP isles now they are stocked with new groups as well as vintage ones. I will be first to admit that I have a tough time getting into much of the new stuff and I suspect many of my peers have similar difficulty. So guess who is buying the new stuff? The big chain stores would not be carrying it if there was not a significant profit margin. As little as three years ago there was no vinyl in most of them. Now there are very limited CDs and DVDs but often more than one row of vinyl. So while the landscape of hi-fi has changed the underlying desire probably has not.