60’s-80’s HEA was very much in the mainstream. The market was progressively balance top to entry level. Marantz, Mac, Pioneer, Technics, AR, Advent, Hitachi, JVC, Klipsch, Altec Lansing, Quad and several hundred other brands, all being part of a united audiophile world. It’s when the Stereophile type Magazines teamed up with cottage industry manufacturers, that the divide began to take place and the Stereophile & TAS club separated itself from the mainstream. For those of us who lived through it, the sides taking was very clear (Harry & J Gordon never denied this). The formative brands of home audio were pushed aside with these 100,000-250,000 listeners being told they (mainstream brands) were now inferior to the smaller bench based companies. Of course it wasn’t true, but the magazines found their market and the split happened. So the millions of clients that were shared before, went on their marry way while the HEA success would eventually fade with age. And that’s exactly what has happened. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just reality. When HEA removed itself from the mainstream, within a couple of years the HEA started to decline. Everyone could see it here in Vegas when we were at the Convention center and Sahara. As soon as that location split happened further away from the convention center the crowd size was cut 75% that very first year. It was like the new blood vanished, and excuses started being made from then on, plus false growth.
it’s like this
Walk up to someone on the street and say do you know who Toyota and Lexus is, and they will tell you of course. Now ask that same person if they know who Sony and Rogue Audio (just using you guys as a name example, you make great products). They’re going to know Sony, but will say "who is Rogue". HEA took itself out of the mainstream, and from that moment forward limited itself to a smaller crowd, with a few of the companies breaking through, but most of the HEA brands we see at these trade shows are never going to grow beyond that because they have no sustaining interest built up. And as I said earlier now that they have all but left the main CEA (CES) arena it will even be harder for the HEA to be noticed.
Don’t get me wrong, the audiophile world is exploding with hobbyist including in home listening clients. They are just still so so about the HEA or don’t even know it exist. I don’t see how that can grow if all there is is HEA trade shows and not tied to the innovative electronic shows. Plus, picture younger home entertainment buffs looking at gigantic amps sitting in the middle of their living rooms. There might be a thousand or two of these guys out there, but that’s about it.
The home entertainment hobby is changing and it is exciting to be a part of it, but it is quickly taking on a new face.
nkoner, I would say your chart is pretty much on the money
And as Geoff says "Coming back down to reality" that’s what I see as well. Where ever that reality ends up at, I don’t see it being what we saw 15 years ago in HEA with these super complicated systems that only provided one sound. Music is far more variable than a guy sitting there with a huge system with simply a volume control to get them to accurate sound.
If I wasn't going to use my room and system as a tuning device, why wouldn't I go with headphones? The whole idea is to use your in room system as a tool to dial in the conditions of the recording. Where HEA lost this is and always has been very strange to me. If I was only going to go as far as plug & play I'd be using my cans.
Michael Green
www.michaelgreenaudio.net
