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Is the recession now hitting hifi buyers

andy831 said:
I slightly disagree with Steve, however I think this slow down in sales and confidence dates back a few years to shortly after the recession started. 5 years ago I was a prolific box swopper, because you could take a punt on stuff and know if you did not like it, it was easily moved on. Now its not so easy as people pull in the purse strings and watch the pennies. This means I no longer take a punt, but consider purchases very carefully before buying.
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Looking at that wonderful system you have assembled, I should think you'ed never have to box swap again.
 
Fortunately the holiday is already booked and paid for and I have my out of office ready to click as I scarper from the shite that is work. Looks like I'll have to put the box swapping on hold for a while.
 
markb65 said:
Looking at that wonderful system you have assembled, I should think you'ed never have to box swap again.
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"Shucks" thanks Mark. There has been a recent major change from 300b's to 845's which is nice but perhaps that's for another thread :D
 
jcbrum said:
CD players are already pretty useless and therefore 'worthless' devices
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My cd player plays all my cds, which demonstrates that it's useful; I paid money to acquire it, and could receive money in return if I chose to move it on, which demonstrates that it has worth.
 
kasp,

Don't be countering JC's opinion with your evidence. He don't like dat.

Joe
 
I've always noticed a major downturn in work over the summer so yep, that's probably what it is.... Not half as bad as xmas though! Often have virtually no income from around Dec 10th to March 1st ish :mad:
 
davidsrsb said:
The bubble has burst? Some VERY second hand equipment was selling for crazy money considering how much repair is likely to be needed
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Very true! I've now officially given up looking for a Quad 303 after a really tatty, scratched and dented one with only one channel working went for £78.50 today on sleaze bay! An equally bad one, also a non worker went for £111 a few weeks back! I only want one as a test bed for 303 upgrade ideas so I don't need it to look ok or even work.... I guess the market has decided they are worth more than I consider them to be worth.... even when knackered!

I've even considered making a lash up clone of one to test the ideas with as it would cost me nowt using second hand parts. Time and other commitments mean it will probably be yet another "round tuit" idea! It can join the 40-ish designs for hifi gear that have been either done in simulation or sometimes breadboarded.... a few even built properly. The perennial problem for the one man band being that you don't get paid for doing research, building prototypes etc :(
 
From being probably the best hifi market in the world after the USA 50 years ago the UK is now a hifi backwater. Not to worry though if we go back to vfm stuff made by people with passion (and ears) instead of over-engineered bling. More likely Made in China will be the new naim uh I meant the new norm.
 
Young people today do not buy separates as we did years ago. Technology has moved on and people sacrifice quality for convenience. I rent property to students and cannot remember the last time one had a 'proper' system. It is all ipods and ipads.
 
Nothing wrong with the audio quality from an iPod or an iPad, used as a source.

It's all down to the file format, and the speakers / headphones.
 
Colin Barron said:
Young people today do not buy separates as we did years ago. Technology has moved on and people sacrifice quality for convenience. I rent property to students and cannot remember the last time one had a 'proper' system. It is all ipods and ipads.
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Yep that's why so few customers for separates. So sales are down on real audio products. Also the economy is bad so people can't afford stuff even if they are into separates etc. So a double whammy :(

I have seen some youngsters take an interest but they are not so interested generally - the "internet" is where they hang out not their bedrooms full of Regas etc.

Same is happening in the car industry in US (and here a bit) where youngsters are not "into" cars like they used to be - going on public transport or bikes...into green issues etc...world it is a changing....:eek:
 
jcbrum said:
Nothing wrong with the audio quality from an iPod or an iPad, used as a source.

It's all down to the file format, and the speakers / headphones.
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I agree about the headphones (except add in a lot of other portable devices not just Apple). With a good pair of headphones, good replay quality has never been so accessible to so many for so little effort.
Darren
 
HiFi Audio over the last few years has diluted down to what I feel are three distinct groups, vinyl/analogue buyers, computer audio and portable audio/headphones, traditional hifi really for 99.9% of the population doesn't exist and is not wanted, but here's the thing, people are still listening to music just as before, but they don't want over priced bling HiFi like what you see at Munich high end show off, they want devices that look cool, are small, they can connect their ipod to, or their tablet, they want to listen to their downloads, they want earphones, headphones, things that fit in the hand, it's easy to blame the recession, that's the easy route, whereas the problem is in my eyes is these daft prices and products that most people don't want.
 
wacko said:
From being probably the best hifi market in the world after the USA 50 years ago the UK is now a hifi backwater. Not to worry though if we go back to vfm stuff made by people with passion (and ears) instead of over-engineered bling. More likely Made in China will be the new naim uh I meant the new norm.
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Whether we like it or not, hi fi is now essentially just a commosity like a washing machine or a television.

There remains an ageing and rapidly decreasing rump of people who long for the glory days when small manufacturer's actually did produce kit that was sonically & technically superior to the mainstream.

Nowadays, for electronics at least, it is trivially easy to produce completely accurate & transparent kit at very reasonable prices. Just look at the pro sector.

Stuff they produce is as good as anything coming out of, say, Salisbury or Glasgow.

Chris
 
adam69 said:
HiFi Audio over the last few years has diluted down to what I feel are three distinct groups, vinyl/analogue buyers, computer audio and portable audio/headphones, traditional hifi really for 99.9% of the population doesn't exist and is not wanted, but here's the thing, people are still listening to music just as before, but they don't want over priced bling HiFi like what you see at Munich high end show off, they want devices that look cool, are small, they can connect their ipod to, or their tablet, they want to listen to their downloads, they want earphones, headphones, things that fit in the hand, it's easy to blame the recession, that's the easy route, whereas the problem is in my eyes is these daft prices and products that most people don't want.
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Or can't afford :( A lot of it does not sound good either. However there are good brands out there. Unfortunetely the volumes are low now so the prices are high. I'm trying to develop good value designs so hopefully next year I will be able to offer a few things :)
 
Or don't want to afford it, when a interconnect cost more than a iphone, a laptap, a tablet, or whatever, they are just sticking two fingers up at it all.

I do agree though that there are also many good brands out there. It's the modern day daft pricing that bugs me ( and many others)
 
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