About the financial strength of audio manufacturer

@millercarbon LOL. Don't you sometimes wish there was a "thuhsaurus" specific to Audiogon? Additionally, tubebuffer has made an art out of intentionally typing (look at his old posts) from the "Tonto" version of same.

The "whole" world is not in the toilet. That doesn’t necessarily mean that "your" world isn’t in the toilet but any objective analysis of the data will show that the world economy is expanding at a rapid pace. This is good for workers, good for companies, good for consumers. Not so much for those who are idle economically: retired, unemployed, fixed incomes. Now, on to audio and away from the hand-wringing the sky is falling set.
 

The past two fiscal years have been remarkable for consumer product companies in general and the high end audio industry in particular. So many don’t understand the supply chain, what caused disruptions and how long it will take to normalize. Your gear will get repaired when they have the time and the parts. If you are fearful that your specific company is on the verge of going broke, they were more than likely in jeopardy before the pandemic.

@noske what is your point? Are you saying that economic growth inspite of a pandemic and supply chain constraints is good or not good? Record low unemployment, producer margins expanding, etc, etc. The doom and gloom outlook doesnt work with such low unemployment numbers. In general, those unemployed at present have made the decision to be UNLESS they are underemployed due to skillset weaknesses. If someone fits that category then I can imagine it would be frustrating.

Like every other industry, marginal operators or marginal products will doom some. Same as pre pandemic. As an aside there is a good cross section demographically who enjoy hifi, they just dont hang out here or attend tweaky club meetings. One of the better shops in Denver is owned by a thirty-somethingish young man. On a recent Saturday the shop was full of a good cross section, young people shopping for wilson speakers being demoed on audio research. Older guys were demoing dynaudio bookshelves. A cool vibe. Not all doom and gloom. In fact, many of the frequent posters here on Audiogon aren't frequent purchasers at audio shops so don't sound the alarms that the high end wont survive...it will be fine.

Every generation consumes and aggregates wealth in different ways. To be certain: the next generation after boomers will have more disposable income. The one after them will too....and so it goes. It gets a little tiring that some reach an age where they have achieved a numerical wealth goal that they set decades before, only to discover it isn't wealthy and then people behave differently.

No hand wringing necessary, hifi will survive and thrive.

@millercarbon rats I missed it. Was the post a good one?

A freshly minted college grad during sub prime (arguably they had no role) learned to be reasonably frugal and to take advantage of opportunities. Today they are mid thirites and they have played a large role in the economic expansion as well as the escalation in the cost of housing. They are buying and they have have large cash reserves to do so.

Quite a few in this group lived well below their means, in small rentals and those who were in to music had nice headphone based systems. They have now purchased homes over the past several years and have begun to expand their hifi’s. The vinyl boom is being driven to some degree by this group. It would be folly to assume they are irresponsible with their money. On the contrary, the thirty-somethings have spent far more wisely as a group than boomers. Gen x and overspenders from the boomers are the groups to worry about. As a matter of observation, you dont see that many in this age group whining. They pay cash for things and use debt judiciously. I have a niece who fits this demographic, a very healthy six figures in cash savings, a nice stock portfolio, solid retirement savings and a net worth that could certainly support whatever she chose to do. She admits she was a little late to the housing party and will wait for prices to settle down. How does she deal with rising rents? She negotiated with her landlord and kept her lease static by paying a year up front. In the event housing doesnt back off, no big deal, she will just pay the price then...she is only 30.

This is the new hifi buyer and vinyl buyer...the kids during the financial crisis had to grow up quickly and they did.