What High End Manufacturers Could Learn From Bose

Ed, and please, I did not take this or very little personally(to manys dismay) , my point is more that the diamond or ruby or whatever precious stone or metal it might be, will last beyond many liftimes without maintenence and care and will be of some significant values, unlike many many pieces of high end audio gear.
Now I will take exception that it has to be expensive to be high end, I consider some of the lower line Magnepan, Adcom, Pioneer Elite, and actually there are many other high end bargains, though as I wrote earlier, high end is tiered. I am also always amazed by how a compnay can start out building an incredible value(B&K as an example)but suddenly become very expensive.

I really have enjoyed reading all the above posts because every single poster has added something thoughtful to this discussion. Let us audiophiles just face the facts, for what ever reason, the masses just don't find sitting in front of and attentively listening to music as important as we do. Why? Is it because they are not aware and if indeed they were, would it be important to them to travel down this road to the absolute sound, whatever that is?

Bose started out with a product that actually happened quite by chance. It wasn't "Better sound through research", that was the marketing ploy from the very beginning. My understanding is that the design was a haphazard garage experiment using multiple drivers because they were available. Amar Bose lent his name to it and Bose mushroomed from there. The 901 is probably the best known audio loudspeaker that has ever been manufactured and we audiophiles have a hard time dealing with that fact.

Lets also face the fact that even among ourselves we can't agree on what constitutes a great music making system. I have seen too many threads on this forum that berate excellent products. Why is this? Bose is the ultimate manifestation of this thought process among audiophiles. "I have chosen this so therefore this is the best". This is of course an exaggeration but there is in my observation much ego gratification and elitism among hi-end afficionados. Some of the above comments confirm this.

Bose makes their products accessible and affordable. It is indeed about marketing. They aren't exclusive and don't pretend to be. All they really pretend to be is better than they really are. Well what is wrong with that? There are many guilty of that. It is a business and marketing strategy that has been successful to a degree that most hi-end manufacturers can't grasp because

1) They don't have the resources of Bose
2) Most don't really know anything at all about marketing

Marketing is very complex. It is not always easy knowing how to reach the folks you want to let alone reaching them. The most EFFECTIVE marketing strategies create a NEED for their product and I really believe Bose falls into this category. How do you do it? Put your product out there in as many places as possible and MAKE people aware of it so its presence can't be escaped. This takes money and most hi-end manufacturers don't have the budget for this type of strategy.

The future of hi-end 2 channel audio is dubious indeed with all the aural stimuli that surrounds our culture. Listening to music for its own sake seems almost quaint to the masses that don't. These people buy products like Bose because of their most effective marketing strategy. Rhyno your analogy with scotch whiskey is a good one indeed and gets to the final point.

Hi-end is and always will be exclusive for the same reason that the best single malt scotch whiskies are and always will be. Most people just don't know, or even if they did, care enough to bother. Both are hobbies for enthusiasts. There must be enough enthusiasm otherwise it is just what many people ask after they listen to my system "Is it as good as Bose" or "Why don't you have Bose" or "Have you heard the Bose..." Damn I don't even know how to respond to such comments.

Well reproduced (hi-end) audio is about reproducing music that requires our attention because we WANT it to. Bose lifestyle systems are about low profile sound reproducing systems that fit into the way we live without bringing too much attention to themselves or for that matter our attention to anything remarkable that they do. The term "lifestyle" is appropo for this product, marketing strategy at its sublimal best, for the masses.

This is a great thread. I still remember reading that BOSE went after Thiel & actually stopped them from using the decimal point in their 2.2 speaker. Would anyone have dreamed BOSE could copyright the decimal point?! How would you like to work for, or purchase anything from a company that is that predatory!
They should just change their slogan to "The Microsoft of Audio".

It's Miller Time..

very enjoyable thread...the comment about the porsche deserves response.

yes, its a typical strategy to have a high price product as the intro to get snob appeal and status in the mkt (ala mercedes--used to start at $70k, now down to $30k), and then introduce lower price product that has substantially higher volume. some audio mfgs do this...not many though.

why?

it is my sincere belief that the high end audio industry is an anomaly..what you have are a lot of hobbyists who are DIYers and ultimately tweak enough until they decide to start a company where there product is their best effort--and they're concerned about iterative product improvements, rather than a long term profitable go-to market strategy. lots have done it, and lots have failed. very few have the business discipline to do it properly--as a business. the most notable exception, to whom i give all the credit in the world, is mark at rogue audio. from what i gather, same boards used in every pre and every amp.

smart man.

there's way too many speaker manufacturers to serve this small, niche market. if it weren't for low overhead models (i.e. guys working at home and using the tax write-offs), you'd see far fewer companies. anyone out there want to be a speaker manufacturer, here's a hint: use the same drivers and cabinet base in every model, differ products by # of drivers and crossover parts (inexpensive relative to drivers). electronics mfgs--see rogue for an example how to do business.

and btw: be prepared for bankruptcy if the industry rags dont like you.

(exception: an alternative that may be viable is to go the ULTRA high end route, ala Rockport's $70k turntable and its low cost $30k entry level model--this assumes you have the knowledge to be the best engineer out there, and frankly, there's few guys with that capability...maybe 5. want names?)

all of this may or may not be a good thing. but it is what it is.

rhyno

Justacoder's car analogy is most revealing. I for one have never driven a Ferrari, but I know know their mystique. I don't expect high end companies to battle for mid-fi market share, but I want high end companies to at least define in the public's mind what is high end audio. Harmon's deal with Lexus for Levinson car systems is an excellent example. I also think Red Rose's Whitney Museum store is an example of the type of marketing high end companies need to be doing. The audiophile world needs to look outward to the uncoverted if it is to avoid shrinking to the point of irrelevance. There will always be a state-of-the-art products that by definition have no mass market appeal. But that doesn't mean that reasonably priced, good sounding, easy to set up and great looking high end products cannot become made and sold in reasonably large numbers.