Harman To Acquire B&W, Denon, Polk And Marantz From Masimo In $350 Million Deal

Shrinking values in a shrinking universe of HiFi (and MidFi) brands. 

Even the cornerstone legacy brands are suffering. 

I think that a peculiar alchemy of lost creativity (including sucky music), lowering competencies, really cheap electronics prices, declining disposable income of those under 50 and pretty darn good sound out of AirPods, Beats and wireless boom boxes has made the last generation (or 2) of consumers unwilling to matriculate into bespoke gear. 

I read somewhere (sorry I can't recall where) that the average age of high end stereo buyers is 57 years old.  If true, the guys that buy the stuff we all love here on the AG forum are soon to be unable to hear well, and then dead. 

Anecdotally I see HiFi shops that managed to stay open moving to home theater to stay alive as their $10,000 to $20,000 separates sales are not covering the overhead. It appears that only the really large city/ rich areas have Hifi shops now. 

Additionally I see used gear on HiFiShark being marked down pretty substantially of the seller needs it gone. Overpriced gear sits on there for months/years. 

The same thing is happening to pre 1960 automobiles. The last Goodwood auction was awful for vintage Rollers, MGs, Triumphs, etc. The only cars catching a bid were early 1980s and later Ferraris and other hand-built exotics. 

There are exceptions which do not invalidate the generalization. Of course this is just 1 man's observation.

@kofibaffour + 1

some very intriguing opinions by @yesiam_a_pirate @kofibaffour and others...it does seem apparent that traditional two-channel audio is aging out and that home theater is being supplanted by sonos/wireless and soundbars (all of which have improved considerably). i recently went shopping for a new mid-tier avr and was struck by how flimsy and aesthetically unimaginative most of the mainstream models are--the current yamaha and onkyo were notably more plasticy and less substantial than their forebearers. the marantz avrs, despite a very substantial price premium, seemed like same generic product with a fancier faceplate. i do note that jbl has a newish line of visually appealing, affordable avrs, though i can't speak to their sound quality.

PS Audio & Focal, I'm good!

@fertguy Focal is good because of their portable devices like the Wired Headphones and Wireless Headphones. Not because of their two channel stuff. 

If they didn’t have those divisions, they’re be struggling too. As for PS Audio, most of their money is from their music production/label end.

Just pray they don’t end up being unprofitable. It has gone bankrupt before