Reviews of $10k plus ics, speaker wires, and pcs

05-05-14: Tbg
With the top 1% now having a majority of our country's wealth, manufacturers might well only direct their products toward sales to the top 1%.

Haven't they already done that? I don't think any manufacturer out there hasn't at least doubled the price of their top of the line gear/cables in the last 5 years. The current model seems to be working for them, they won't change their business model until the economy forces them to do so. I expect to see prices continue to skyrocket into the stratosphere.

Long ago Henry Ford realized that if his employees not afford to buy his cars, he would not sell many. Modern businesses may be making just that error.

Modern businesses are making this error, but greed won't stop by itself. The pendulum won't start to swing back towards the middle until some movement stops the momentum of the direction it's currently headed. Gravity won't stop greed.

As for reviews, who really cares? Do people still read those fluff stories? Does anyone really take them seriously? If so, I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn. ;^)

05-06-14: Tbg
I do wonder if the top 1% having 61% of the wealth is at the root of all of this.

Absolutely! The audio market is not unique, it is just chasing the money trail like every other market out there. Do we really need $10,000 watches? Diamond studded dog collars? Gold toilet sets? The path the audio industry is following is the same path every industry is following. The prices go up as society continues to develop into a society of haves and have nots. The middle is vanishing.

Tbg, I don't see that happening at all. Most expect the Republicans to take over the Senate when the midterms are run this year as well as hold onto the House. That's two more years of stalemate. No changes in sight, the pendulum will continue to swing in the same direction for the foreseeable future. Someday things will change and start the pendulum to swing back again, but not anytime soon.

Denon1, you bring up a good point. There are many smaller cable manufacturers who are always complaining that they are not taken seriously because they do not price their cables high enough. Some "have had" to come out with new, higher priced models just so they can compete in the marketplace. It seems that folks really WANT to spend more money, or at least own some cables with bogus retail prices that makes it appear as if they spent a lot on cables. The old "I have $10K cables" club, even though it only cost you $2K to get in.

There are manufacturers that refuse to get dragged into these games, and I have the utmost respect for those manufacturers.
As one of them says: "I realize that if we want to be taken seriously we need to retail our products at obscene levels, then we can offer $12,000 cables for only $2,500, but we refuse to play this game. Audio is dying because of these games and manufacturers need to offer real world pricing - and customers need to support these companies - if we are going to see two channel audio twenty years from now. Each set takes 14 man hours (person hours?) to complete. We swear your friends will think these were $2,000 and will not think you lost your job and are downsizing, especially after they hear them. Retail $ 16,968,324,578,999 or the national debt whichever is greater."

LOL! I love it!!

05-23-14: Roxy54
You certainly have the "constant repeating" part down.

+1. Well said Roxy54!

06-01-14: Judyazblues
Pot, meet kettle.

The irony is delicious! LOL!!