Hi AMG
I hope your feeling ok, btw!
HEA will never disappear. It will always have a chapter in the Audiophile world. How big the camp remains depends on how many younger folks follow in the same footsteps of our generation. Gaming is already a much bigger hobby than in-room stereo listening, as well is AV.
AV is so different from when we were doing home theatres. Now you can pick up a projector around a hundred bucks, paint your wall, set up your computer (smart phone), do your acoustics and speakers with simple amplification and surf the net. Back in our day we did FM and it was a big deal visiting with our friends. Today’s visiting is the same in many regards except the net is now their FM. A big record collection means nothing to the new generation of kids (up to 35) hanging out.
Last year and this year I set up 3 of these systems close by me and was actually pretty impressed. They were using my speakers (and subs), RoomTune, my cable and all the stuff you would normally see with one of my setups except the front end and simple amps. Very impressive I might add, and the appearance was pretty cool too.
I know for a lot of high end audio folks it was kind of weird going from a living room full of listeners hanging out on a Saturday night to being the only one in the room. It’s not that people all of a sudden stopped visiting, it’s that the types of gatherings changed socially. It’s not even any of the types of systems and rooms changing, it’s simply a matter of there being more choices now. Dad or Grandpa enjoy their private listening room and the gathering enjoys a newer form of media. HEA audiophiles thinking the next generation are going to follow in that idea in our minds of massive amplifiers and components in front to stare at is probably going bye bye in the next few years and dying off with us for the most part. But I think maybe that's the way things should be.
MG