@madavid0
“Anyone who says high end is changing to personal audio is just saying that the high end is dead. Cell phones sound like CRAP. Modern pop music is TRASH. I have a pretty good portable player and it merely sucks LESS.”
Personal audio in the 1960’s was a transitor radio with a single bad speaker with a single earpiece and it was AM only. Personal audio is light years better today!!! Listen to Astell & Kern products or a Chord Hugo 2 fed wirelessly or wired from an iphone lossless and then exclaim that personal audio sucks. While it isn’t my preferred method of listening, it sounds darn good. While I don’t like all pop music today either, I didn’t like it all 10, 20 or 30 years ago. I remember not so fondly that Helen Reddy, Tony Orlando and Dawn and the Captain and Tennielle(sp) not only had hit records but moreover, they were given weekly 1 hour network TV variety shows as well. The sky isn’t falling just because people listen to music differently than you think they should. Heck, I survived disco and remember well the record burning night at Comiskey Park in Chicago!
“Meanwhile I have a Technics network integrated up for 50% retail -- not a SINGLE response, even to tire-kick or to lowball. Is $2k a bridge too far? SAD!”
I’m sure the Technics network integrated you are trying to sell sounds great, probably better than the majority of integrateds from just a few years ago but I can’t imagine there are alot of people signing on to Audiogon searching for that particular type of gear. Don’t go looking for an Omega watch on a Rolex forum or a Porsche forum looking for an Opel or a BMW forum looking for an Audi or a Harley Davidson forum looking for a Ducati. I know it will have some value to someone but likely not any takers on Audiogon. No offense intended but a Technics dealer wouldnt give you 50% on trade even if you bought it from them. Im not trying to denigrate you, your gear or Technics.
I started out with a Realistic receiver in the mid 1970’s with matching speakers but I still remember the first time I played the Doors “Riders on the Storm”. Im sure it sucked to someone who had better gear but to me, it was transformational. It was better still at my friends house whose father had a McIntosh tube setup and massive Bozak speakers. Its transformational still today on my Audio Research and Wilson audio setup but if I were walking through a mall and they were playing The Doors, it would still be transformational. Man, its about the music and if you think you are going to convert someone to this hobby because of the gear then yes, high end audio will die. I dont happen to subscribe to that however.
When the young people are talking about the music that moves them whether its Meyer Hawthorne or Kendrick Lamar or Sugar Ray or whatever, cue it up and play it for them! Ask them what it is about the music that evokes and promotes thought and then the conversation inevitably shifts to the question “why does this sound so much better/different/clear/smooth than they have heard before”. Its the music that makes the gear relevant not the gear that makes the music relevant. If you vehemently disagree with that statement all is likely lost.
