Tony L
Administrator
In this months Stereophile, which landed on the doormat earlier, there is a rather interesting response from the editor John Atkinson to a reader complaining about some allegedly political comment made in an earlier issue. I found Atkinson's response interesting and worthy of a thread. The first part mentions global warming and I have nothing to add to that so will quote just the second part of it:
Do read the linked article too.
To my mind it's an interesting perspective, one that may possibly explain why I all too often find the current audio market somewhere between uninteresting and utterly irrelevant. Digital aside I find little to lure me from running classic vintage kit, but I'm very aware my interests are somewhat atypical and that is certainly not a sustainable business model for an industry. I'd always assumed audio was in decline as no one wanted it anymore, it hadn't occurred to me that it may be inequalities of wealth distribution may be leaving those who would have bought it too hard up to do so, hence the missing middle ground, if of course it is missing.
John Atkinson Stereophile Nov 2015 said:2) There is no doubt that there has been a large increase in economic inequality since the turn of the century, this resulting in a reduction of the middle class's disposable income, which in turn has had a dramatic effect on the sales of high-end audio equipment other than at the very affordable and very expensive ends of the market. The reasons for this inequality were not mentioned in the published letter, but see my essay on it's effects at www.stereophile.com/content/upward-price-spiral
Do read the linked article too.
To my mind it's an interesting perspective, one that may possibly explain why I all too often find the current audio market somewhere between uninteresting and utterly irrelevant. Digital aside I find little to lure me from running classic vintage kit, but I'm very aware my interests are somewhat atypical and that is certainly not a sustainable business model for an industry. I'd always assumed audio was in decline as no one wanted it anymore, it hadn't occurred to me that it may be inequalities of wealth distribution may be leaving those who would have bought it too hard up to do so, hence the missing middle ground, if of course it is missing.