Current Trends In Home Audio

Over the years I've let many people listen to my system. All have had nothing but praise for the sound. When I tell them the cost, they loose interest quickly. I've even given some hi-end equipment (new) as gifts over the years (NAD amp/pre-amp, rega intergrated and CD, pair of Apogee slant 6 speakers). All the recipients thanked me for the gifts but soon returned them to me. They all said the same thing "It's really nice, but I have no use for it" so I gave up trying to convert people because they just had other priorities.

I have only seen one large music/movie collection in all the higher end homes that I've been in. Most of the homes only have a few cd's and movies. Sometimes, you come back two years later to change a piece of gear or update the remote and the same dvd is in the machine from the last time you were there.

I've been hanging around a few "hi-end" stores in my area for about 20 years. All of them are in to "whole House" audio. The trend has been "ease of use" and "I don't want to see it - I just want to here it" for about the last 8 to 10 years. Most of the systems are designed around Denon, yamaha and sony entry level stuff with in-wall or in-celing speakers. The stores keep a few hi-end pieces on display, but their bread and butter is custom install. Even the big hi-end stores like Soundex in Philly make the majority of their money on custom install. Makes it really apparent how small a minority we are.

A few years ago, I programmed the home automation system in an $18,000,00 , 22000 square foot, 7 car garage home. They spent over $1,000,000 on the audio system - over $200,000 on the crestron stuff alone. The system took over three years to complete from the planning stage until we sat down with the owners and staff to show them how to use the system. Guess what type of equipment and speakers they use? Yes, that's right, Denon equipment and all inwall/inceiling speakers.

My wife and I have been shopping around for a new home. About the only way you'r going to get a room for audio/HT is have them add a room above the garage. That's what we did in our current home.

We looked at a model that advertised whole house audio recently. The place had one of those cheap ass intercoms with an am/fm radio. I guess Bose is high end to these people. And, who listens to FM anymore with Clear Channel owning the whole industry?