Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.
03-20-01
Wow and for the same price as a gnu beemer ? where do you sh ... Detlof
03-20-01
I shop at autogon, where else? ;~) the buell is my one con ... Sedond
03-21-01
Thanks doug, you make me feel all nostalgic. the last time i ... Detlof
03-23-01
The question should be why do we love audio? it's clear tha ... Limabean683
04-05-01
We share the "perfectionist" mindset and aren't ev ... Wehamilton
04-05-01
A splendid analysis, wehamilton. how come you know me so wel ... Detlof
04-05-01
Limabean, my hat's off to you and your shipmates. installin ... Wehamilton
04-06-01
Wehamilton, i was (self)diagnosed, but that did not help eit ... Detlof
04-07-01
Wehamilton, thanks for the miles davis dedication. his &quo ... Limabean683
04-11-01
For @ least the following reasons: 1. very few people know h ... Tciborow
04-16-01
Much of the above thread emphasizes a people are lazy-stupid ... Docwarnock
04-17-01
Although basically i would agree with you, that since the be ... Detlof
04-17-01
I don't think the emphasis is so much on people being lazy o ... Kthomas
04-17-01
Kthomas, following on yr thread, audio is not (yet) a lifest ... Gregm
04-18-01
Home theatre better matches the "zeitgeist" of the ... Wehamilton
04-18-01
Wow wehamilton, excellent! i wished, i would have been able ... Detlof
04-18-01
Wehamilton, your reference to people not wanting reality and ... Gregm
04-18-01
Wehamilton, interesting post and your analysis of our popula ... Docwarnock
04-18-01
I suspect that there is more innovation in a/v gear because ... Tubegroover
04-18-01
Isn't the basic question how the hi-end defines itself, at l ... Kthomas
04-18-01: Wehamilton
There's no question the electronics industry is always looking for the next big thing. And when they find it, all the manufacturers seem to move in lock-step to saturate the segment with product as they push their mature product lines to the back burner. And we all know that high end audio equipment has reached the flat part of the curve where the law of diminishing returns starts to limit the size of the next incremental improvement. Still, having said that, the fact remains that audio today delivers a level of performance we only dreamed about 20 years ago. So if all else were equal, it should be enjoying an upsurge of interest due to the high level of performance and value that it now offers. Afterall, greater numbers of us listened to inferior equipment 20 years ago; yet interest in high end declines when in fact, the opposite should be true.
So getting back to the spirit of the original question, what has changed? Well the short answer is "we have." Getting back to my previous post, new products only take-off when there is a convergence of new technology with a receptive public. That receptivity is most dramatic when a product taps into the prevailing mindset of consumers. We all know of the stories of good technologies that failed to find a market because they were out of synch with the mood of market in one way or another. So while the manufacturers can offer a supply side push with an array of new products, they end up pushing on a rope if it isn't striking a resonating chord with the customer.
In the 60's, Marshall McCluhan wrote "The medium is the message." I would update that in 2001 by saying "the technology is the message." Getting back to my post of yesterday, the receptive chord that has been struck with today's consumer is the technology of home theatre delivering the desired heightened experience. The experience becomes more important than the programing, and as a result, the technology (or equipment) becomes the "message."
A previous poster raised the valid point that pop culture has always been banal, and the mass market will always be bigger, which is true. I was reminded of this watching Ken Burn's Jazz that Ella Fitzgerald's first big hit was "A Tisket A Tasket"- not much better than the Spice Girls when you get right down to it. But I think one thing that is different now in various aspects of society is the switch in influence from a "top down" to "bottom up" paradigm.
This really started in the 60's. Prior to that trends in fashion or most anything else filtered down from the top- rich people, jet setters etc. But since the 60's the dominante influences in society have been "bottom up." Now you could say, "Well wasn't jazz the classic bottom up influence?" And I would say absolutely it was, but they were all wearing suits and ties while they were playing it- just like the upperclass people they were playing for. When the Beatles quit wearing their short jacketed suits in 1964 that was about the last vestige of any pop culture personalities still influenced by the top down paradigm. And not insignificantly, they then proceeded to blow it into oblivion.
So what's the point of all this? In the bottom-up paradigm we now live in, the influence of the banal pop culture is greater than ever before. When combined with greater disposable income than every before it is little wonder that the taste of the common man now dominates the Board Room when product decisions are being made. So it's not our imagination that there has been a lowering of the bar in a lot of areas, music and audio being on top of the list of casualties. The "mass market" no longer aspires to the same things as the high end market in many areas, and audio is the classic example.
Wehamilton (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
04-18-01
Uh-oh, i see a chicken versus the egg argument starting. no ... Docwarnock
04-18-01
There's no question the electronics industry is always looki ... Wehamilton
04-19-01
Docwarnock, i agree - ht as a phenomena exists because of th ... Kthomas
04-19-01
Those of us interested in high-end do say "whoa!!!! coo ... Metaphysics
04-19-01
I was going to say 1 in a 1000 but thought it might sound ov ... Kthomas
04-19-01
I have to disagree on your last statement. almost nobody th ... Metaphysics
04-19-01
Kthomas sez: "ht as a phenomena exists because of the ... Sedond
04-19-01
Meta, the reason that people don't ask where they can get on ... Docwarnock
04-19-01
People used to being hyper-stimulated don't like to sit in f ... Wehamilton
04-20-01
There is one notable exception to the rule that audio gear i ... Neubilder
04-20-01
I agree that most music out there is pure pap with no worthw ... Neubilder
04-22-01
I think that most people are not experienced listeners.whate ... Johnny7
04-23-01
I feel that there are a lot of people who can afford excelle ... Audio_unlimited
04-23-01
Hi audio-unlimited. ah, if only what ewe are saying were tr ... Sedond
07-05-01
Because too many audiophiles listen to their equipment not t ... Nrchy
07-07-01
They do; they just can't afford it. Mdorsam
07-23-01
There is the category of a rich guys that come to audio deal ... Marakanetz
07-23-01
Clearly there must be many in this category - during a recen ... Kthomas
07-31-01
I think the ultra high end does market itself pretty well an ... Don_t
09-02-01
Because they just don't realize just how good it is!!! lack ... Zane
09-05-01
Because you don't need anything better than a ghetto blaster ... tidemah@
09-15-01
I'm a recent convert to the high end. i think my conversion ... Ponzio
09-18-01
We're guilty of projection. most of us are into gear as a m ... Whknopp0713
10-03-01
Because most people don't have the time to listen. from tho ... Pbb
01-23-02
I have a couple of friends who make absolute nuisances of th ... Bishopwill
01-23-02
My personal feeling is.....there are not to many people love ... Twinaudiovideo
01-24-02
Because the more revealing the hardware the less enjoyable t ... Joekras
01-24-02
Joekras, got to love'ya. short, to the point. the undoing ... Pbb
01-24-02
Will, you hit the nail on the head. audiophiles should do l ... Lngbruno
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