Quadophile
You are making the assumption that anyone who buys high end audio gear has to take the time to set it up themselves, work at tweaking it etc.
Here in the Big Apple, I know non drinkers who collect wine, non drivers who buy Porsches, and I have at least one ex girlfriend who pays people to DRY HER HAIR every morning.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think concerns about wasting a weekend terminating the ends of speaker cables and tweaking tube traps is what keeps them from rushing out and buying Magneplanars.
I have discussed this concept with certain members of this forum, and maintain my stance that high end audio should be no different from any other luxury item, and it is only so because of marketing and sales failure.
To review, I respectfully suggest that a $30,000 audio component might best be defined as a "luxury" -- regardless of the owners' underlying enthusiasm or experience with our hobby.
But no, for some reason, none of this is luxurious, it's simply "wacko".
A few questions for you to ponder: Do poseurs who order "Supple Leather" "tiptronic transmissions" and cup holders in their Porsche 911 Turbos even know what a "heel/toe" downshift is?
The London market has one of the highest per capita sales of cabriolet cars and Ferraris and Porsches are everywhere in South Kensington, an area where the it OFTEN RAINS and traffic averages 3 MPH?!?!?
But who cares!! ITS A PORSCHE, or a FERRARI, or an ASTON MARTIN.
How many Manhattan kitchens, buffed out with $50,000 of Viking ranges, Sub zero fridges, Thermidor Double Convection ovens, and authentic "Boos" butcher block counters never see any more "cooking" by their owners than opening a paper bag of chinese food? MANY, I can assure you.
But WHO CARES?! Because the place LOOKS amazing and fills its owner with pride and joy when they reach into their 8 foot stainless steel fridge for a mineral water when their neighbor drops by after her Pilates classes.
How many Rolex "Sea Dweller" wearers dive any deeper than their 4 foot deep, "infinity" lap pools?
Or indeed swim any deeper than their glass and polished nickel showers? I have one friend who wont even do that because he hates to clean soap out of the clasp?!
If you don't believe me, just ask the next Rolex Submariner wearer you see, how often he goes spear fishing or something and see what kind of a look that you get.
I have never met Albertporter, but from his posts I consider him to be a leading light in this obsession and a rare individual that is trying to make a change, reaching out to audiophiles and non audiophiles alike and promoting our hobby in a sophisticated and gentlemanly way.
Most of the audio industry, however, couldn't market its way out of a paper bag, except perhaps for the snake oil selling sharks who lurk in the shadows, prey on our endless fascination for all of this and who could never build a high quality, long term, repeat business market.
Most audio businesses are hopelessly stuck in the old model -- wackos selling to wackos.
Or even worse -- eccentric, condescending wackos arrogantly trying to convince affluent non wackos to BECOME wackos.
History has proven that trying to incubate audiophiles from American Express Black Cardholders who might wander into your emporium is a lousy business.
But year after year after year after year after year, the wacko lemmings trek to CES and stereophile shows, delicately placing a single long stem red rose on top of a mini monitor in an ugly hotel room, perhaps while letting their aesthetically challenged wife or girlfriend pursue her dream of becoming a "model" in their brochure, while at the same time desperately trying to convince fickle, sophisticated and not necessarily even rich enough to buy their product wackos like ourselves that their latest offering "blows away" yesterdays state of the art.
It is really, really sad.
This - and NOT the publics indifference to expensive, high performance products - is at the root of why most audio salesman don't drive Ferraris and why we are all considered weird.
If I sound pissed, it is because I am. Music and audio are wonderful, joyful things that everyone should enjoy and incorporate into their lives.
And in the meantime, BOSE and MP3 are taking over the world and moving us in the direction of the dinosaurs, not because they are any good, but because they are marketed by smart, tough businessmen who try to think like their customers -- however uneducated and misguided they might be -- and don't waste time trying to convince Mr and Mrs Rich and Glamourous that they should study up on the finer points of power cables.
If a high end audio "businessman" was somehow recruited to become the Chairman of Rolex, he would probably suggest revamping -- better yet perhaps cryoing (?) -- the swiss movements to improve the accuracy of the time 1/10000th of a second -- thereby "blowing away" last years model and competing watch manufacturers and diminishing their trade in value by 80%. Who in their right mind would even THINK of buying a Patek Phillippe ever again, when they improved it even more?!?!?
Another great idea -- the audiophile CEO of Rolex could offer their customers seminars and demonstrations on SCUBA diving. Surely this would increase the sales of Submariners and Sea Dwellers when 9 out of 10 of their customers become avid SCUBA enthusiasts.
Another essential, he could add disclosure documents inside every Rolex green leather and wood presentation box, explaining that all Rolexes require a "break in" period (typically a day or two longer than the warrantee period) before you should really judge whether or not its cryoed movement keeps time to within 1/10000th of a second. The boys in the returns and accounting departments will surely applaud that one.
Well, guess what? It's NOT about the TIME?!?! folks. And it's not about the number of feet that the a Submariner can be submerged under water.
It's about STATUS and BRANDING and LUXURY and QUALITY and PERCEIVED VALUE and FUN and STYLE and PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP and KEEPING UP WITH THE ZETA-JONES.
Now we wackos know that all of these things can be found by digging into the wonderful and quirky universe of high end audio products, but thanks to the elegant, charismatic geniuses running this industry, the public has NO IDEA and therefore could care less.
For years, I have been thinking about giving up my day job to correct this issue in the universe, and would therefore welcome ideas or private emails from any of you who might be interested in the subject or in getting involved.
OK, I feel better now.
Thank you for your time, thank you for listening and best wishes to all of you.
