The death of ultra hiend audio

I feel confident that if the increasing sales data, was supported by Origins of Products sold. The Countries with increasing sales will have a secondary data, which shows sales made to produce the figures are a large volume of imported items.

It could be strongly suggested the Imported Items are quite different in their purchase costs in comparison to home produced designs, where either is a design  that functions in a very similar way.

Imported Items being acquired direct from a Producer, outside of audio dealer networks are cheaper to buy into / substantially cheaper to buy into. This when known as an option for purchasing, can only be an encouragement for individuals to spend. How many of these sales are captured in the sales data being presented? 

I know individuals who have received imported individual audio items, sent direct from the Producer, without their being directed to the Countries Sole Importer of the products. This has proven to be very satisfying for the buyer, as a cost saving for a purchase method. What this means in monies, is that the buyer has saved 30%-50% on their other options purchase price, especially when compared to the Sole Importers asking price. Take this a little further and in relation to a home produced design that is suggested to be a competitor/equivalent performer, 150% - 300% is saved in outlaid monies as the minimum.    

Imported Items with Sole Import arrangements with Dealer Networks, creates an outcome where selected designs, are able to be presented by a Organisation as being a competitor to home produced Hi End Audio. Follow Up media coverage of devices usually puts a substantiation to such claims in place.

An initial cost of an Imported audio device to the Dealer Networks is quite an attractive bottom line. The arrangements made on supply prices,  leaves substantial wriggle room for appreciating the retail value of a audio device.

Pricing can become one where a substantially marked up in price Imported Device, is as a cost to a buyer, a cheaper device, than an equivalent home produced audio device is able to be purchased for from the producer by the Audio Dealership.

The above is an obvious reason why Imported audio devices have become household names, there has been substantial efforts made by homegrown businesses (not foreign businesses) to get audio products that are very viable as a sale item extensive exposure in places where purchases are being considered.  

The Dealership will be very quick to point out where their chosen Import Devices have attraction over home produced alternatives.

I don't see how a Business producing products on their home soil are able to contend with such retail costing being created by competitors buying into much cheaper items. Hence, home grown businesses are out sourcing production to foreign lands, which is very common and not only limited to audio. Where Items for sale are not produced on home ground, but sold as home land produced.

The Dealership can be one with a small overhead (I know these types and have a knowledge of a Mark Up used and what that means to the business) and a few sales closed won of a particular device with their full mark up, will enable their overhead to be fully covered, additional sales within the trading year are icing and cherries on their cake. Visit these dealerships at certain times in the year and see demo' models at 50% - 70% off, where the Dealership is still being remunerated and also receive a reasonable Mark Up on their spent monies. 

What really matters is that audio is still of interest to individuals and the interest is enough to encourage spending on audio devices.

This being keen to spend is able to be seen as a result of marketing data.

The Data is timely, as the common suggestion usually seen used, is that the enthusiasm for the interest in using a dedicated audio equipment to replay recorded music, is now at the place of being the embers of the fire.

There is substantial monies being made by certain Businesses, as a result of affordable pricing due to high volume sales. Not high Mark Up for the pricing on low volume sale items. 

I have witnessed Imported audio items present their capabilities extremely well.

A few of the same above imported audio items, I have experienced in use, following simplistic modifications, where the change of design has produced a device that is an unashamed competitor to other devices it is in comparison to. 

Producers of such imported devices that have their ears open to what is going on in and around their exported products will have been able to see very valuable free R&D is done for them and the details are easily accessible. These Producers may even consider to have a well respected audio designer, commission design a model to be produced. Many household name Companies known today, had their earliest devices produced / co-produced by using the commission design / build method.

Certain Businesses / Brands that Export their products, are destined to get to a place, where their name is household and their products are always a consideration on a shortlist. If a shortlist has a particular budget constraint, the products will most likely be on the Top Line.

Regardless of my financial capability, I will always be the frugal audiophile.  Same holds true for my other passion, guitar/bass playing.  I generally buy high quality used gear in both categories.  I am smack in the middle of boomer land.  I worked in a nice family owned electronics store in the 1970s and, between that and my earlier tube amp kit / speaker building hobby, I became an audiophile for life.  While at the store, I made a whopping $90 per week take home, plus some bonuses for targeted products.  A Pioneer SX-727 sold fair trade for $300 at that time.  Mid fi was over twice my $125 monthly rent!  Fast forward to now.  I have two systems anchored by either Altec 604 or Magnepans with appropriate (except digital sources) vintage electronics to feed them.  Went on a road trip with an audio friend to an Atlanta high end store.  Listened to the very same Dave Grusin track I heard at home the night before on a system priced at $250k (McIntosh + Sonus Faber + Lumin), and left the store thinking my ragtag stuff was, to my ears, equally enjoyable even if not remotely capable of producing the same SPL.  So that's comment 1.  The second point is, back in that SX-727 timeframe, music, and especially new music, the latest LP from a favorite artist, was a reason to gather together with friends to enjoy together.  That was one of the reasons folks wanted a shareable system vs today's portables.  Yesterday's portables were the walkman, Discman, ipod, etc, but they were accessories to extend the home system, not replace it.  But, things change.  And us boomers think (know) we had the best music ever.  How does this relate to the original topic?  Well, the other thing that has happened  to audio gear is the scale of diminishing returns has also changed.  While the ultra high end will always be better, the distance between it and high end that is affordable for many is a lot closer than it used to be.  And if the boomers are the life support for what's left of the high end market, it will continue to shrink.

@pickindoug +1. Very well said. Its all about building a system that brings you joy for what you are willing and able to spend. Its not a competition- its what works for each of us, all with different ears, tastes and budgets.

I am not sure I can describe what the "ultra high end" means. I have seen systems not in shows but in brick-and-mortar stores that approach seven figures. I suspect those are sold to very few for undisclosed amounts while those products are halos meant to light the way for buyers to more affordable gear made by the same maker or sold by the same dealer. Other stuff is nearly purely bespoke, custom cabinets, drivers sourced at auction, built by specialized craftsmen who duplicate nearly every step in the manufacture of an original many decades out of production for the very rarefied group of fans/buyers who may travel to other parts of  the world just to hear a special setup. There is only so much of a market for those things and the market is expressed by the costly development of new materials and products and the equally costly need for roadshows arranged to draw the interested.  Then there is the other high-end market, disparaged by some as appealing to "lifestyle" buyers, which is to say people with money who have expectations that high priced gear be made so it can be compatible with well-furnished living spaces and sound good. Usually that excludes vintage technologies and favors makers that consider good design and engineering that delivers performance without imposing on living space, so B&O, Linn, Dutch&Dutch, Grimm, Kii and others find buyers among whose not-unreasonable needs they meet. 

How many people were buying premium Marantz tube preamps in the day, or high-end turntables or Tandberg reel-to-reel decks? Not very many. Most people who might have chosen to buy a better sound system might have bought what my aunts each bought, a KLH Model 20, an all-in-one TT-receiver (AM and FM, germanium transistors--"solid state")  and those were seen as not-inexpensive systems for people who liked recorded music. There wasn’t a market for stratospheric gear, it didn’t exist. The ultra high-end as we are referring to is a phenomenon of the past  30 or so years.

Consumers have moved on. Financial pressures in the costs of ordinary things, attractions of portable audio, wireless audio technologies, audio in cars, laptops that can host whole high-definition collections ready to stream to a BT speaker or wireless home system, the disappearance of the recorded  "album". Who is meeting these consumers? Smartphone makers, web content distributors like Spotify and Tidal, Amazon and Apple, Chi-Fi developers that deliver inexpensive and decent-quality components that make buying a sound system an attractive and low-risk proposition. Producers of gear at nosebleed prices almost nobody can afford? Not so much.

@chenry I concur and have nothing to add. Excellent post. Thank you!