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Hard times for Linn

It's not wildly off the mark that Linn customers today are well into their mid 50's and 60's, when their hearing and age takes its toll, Linn and many other high-end manufacturers of niche product will suffer from drop in sales and upgrades.

So we are assuming you either work for Linn or a company that that has access to all their company sales and clients?

Unless you know the facts I respectfully suggest you stick to facts not fiction.
 
It's not wildly off the mark that Linn customers today are well into their mid 50's and 60's, when their hearing and age takes its toll, Linn and many other high-end manufacturers of niche product will suffer from drop in sales and upgrades.
Absolutely, but isn't that the point of the Linn (and Naim) lifestyle products of the past few years? The Selekt DSM was not a small project and looks like a big push to attract new 'younger' customers.
 
Absolutely, but isn't that the point of the Linn (and Naim) lifestyle products of the past few years? The Selekt DSM was not a small project and looks like a big push to attract new 'younger' customers.

But just how would a Selekt starting @ £4000 be palatable to a 25 year old earning 30k with 800 p/m mortgage and 200 p/m car plan? That's being generous, without the SWIMBO and children factor.

The 20-30's lot are very clued up with digital domain products, so to see something with a single function to play streamed music at 10x-15x the price of a Sonos does not tempt anyone - except for elder Linn owners who been nagged by their spouses to reduce the box count - dearest, our framed photo of our grandchildren would look nicer in place of those silly pair of monoblocks, you tool.
 
So we are assuming you either work for Linn or a company that that has access to all their company sales and clients?

Unless you know the facts I respectfully suggest you stick to facts not fiction.

Sorry but you are just being disingenuous there.

I seriously doubt manufacturers/retail outlet captures customer data such as age, sex and ethnic background - although marketing practice would cover that area pre and post sales.

Do I need to gather sales receipts as 'facts' from JD Sports to prove most their customer base are young males?
 
But just how would a Selekt starting @ £4000 be pallet-able to a 25 year old earning 30k with 800 p/m mortgage and 200 p/m car plan? That's being generous, without the SWIMBO and children factor.

The 20-30's lot are very clued up with digital domain products, so to see something with a single function to play streamed music at 10x-15x the price of a Sonos does not tempt anyone - except for elder Linn owners who been nagged by their spouses to reduce the box count - dearest, our framed photo of our grandchildren would look nicer in place of those silly pair of monoblocks, you tool.
My point is that both companies are trying to enter new markets, not sitting back and waiting for their traditional customers to die off.

Obviously a £4k system cannot attract the same number of potential customers that a cheaper system can. But I reckon there are a reasonable number of late 20-to-early 40 year olds with well paid jobs and plenty of spare cash, especially as many people seem to be having kids later in life. Whether or not a sufficient proportion want to spend it on HiFi remains to be seen. Nice cars, fancy holidays and lots of posh meals out are probably more of an attraction these days. It's a tough challange for a relatively small company like Linn. Like you said, car makers have done it but can HiFi companies do the same on a vastly smaller budget.
 
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@JoeJoe, what is the design flaw that the Radikal is supposed to have? I’ve had a Google but can only see mention of the motor housing sometimes touching one of the Trampolin mounting screws - is that what you mean?

Yes. For a £2500+ upgrade, I think that’s woeful. Linn make a big thing about being an engineering firm and the performance of the Radikal motor is most definitely compromised if it’s jarred against something as simple as a screwhead!
My Radikal upgrade never impressed me and I moved to Technics but it’s left me wondering if mine suffered the same fate.....

I watched that thread closely and I have no recollection of Linn commenting once. I know it’s coincidence that the forum was shut down round then but I had noticed less and less interaction from Linn on threads, so the decision to shutdown the forum may been made earlier....
 
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Sorry but you are just being disingenuous there.

I seriously doubt manufacturers/retail outlet captures customer data such as age, sex and ethnic background - although marketing practice would cover that area pre and post sales.

Do I need to gather sales receipts as 'facts' from JD Sports to prove most their customer base are young males?

If the data isn't captured by manufacturer or retails outlet how does the marketing cover that area? Just where would they get their data from?
 
The likes of Linn can only milk the cow so far from the customer base they built in the 1970s and 80s.

There would be some market from the Chinese and Russians aspiring to own 'luxury western goods' to keep things afloat - how long that will last I don't know.

The younger demographic here are not interested in hifi, and Linn has shown no interest in them.

TBF the younger demographic has rarely been interested in HiFi, not in and decade.

(If you pop your head up to say "but I was" remember you are an outlier as demonstrated by buying HiFi at an early age and by being here)
 
It would be nice if they did. It’s been out of production for 20 years though so I’d say that’s unlikely.

Anything that is actually repairable can still be serviced by Class A HIFI (Darran H), who are an authorised Linn service agent, and it will be cheaper than Linn’s own service rates.

I can repair my own stuff but don’t have the time to do it for others, so I recommend Darran.

Class A would not countenance looking at a poorly Kairn recently.
 
Do I need to gather sales receipts as 'facts' from JD Sports to prove most their customer base are young males?
If you did in KL, you would discover that the majority of their customers were adult females. Times change.
 
At least Naim have products under the £1k mark such as the Mu-so to open the doors to a wider demographic, but even so to many this is excessive for a bit of home audio, and that the old-duffers on the internet tried to condemn such product.
I’d be curious to see how many buying a sub-£1k naim lifestyle product go on to buy naim hifi systems later on. The likely retail outlet for this stuff will be John Lewis etc. and youre going to have to shift a hell of a lot of them to scoop the equivalent margin you’d make on a power amp. The iPhone or iPad doesn’t drive sales of macs, it replaces them and on the matter of age of your target market- guess where the lion’s share of disposable income rests in the UK? Ultimately though, how do you replace those sales when the old guys shuffle off?
 
What they do is too dear and they have become a niche company.
The same will happen to Rega.

Wow. I hope not. Rega are still at a nice 'sweet spot' as regards price/performance. If they go down, it would be a real blow to high fidelity -- buying an all-Rega system is an easy way to get a balanced, musical system relatively affordably.

I've been worried about Linn, though, their pricing has been headed into the stratosphere.
 
My point is that both companies are trying to enter new markets, not sitting back and waiting for their traditional customers to die off.

Obviously a £4k system cannot attract the same number of potential customers that a cheaper system can. But I reckon there are a reasonable number of late 20-to-early 40 year olds with well paid jobs and plenty of spare cash, especially as many people seem to be having kids later in life. Whether or not a sufficient proportion want to spend it on HiFi remains to be seen. Nice cars, fancy holidays and lots of posh meals out are probably more of an attraction these days. It's a tough challange for a relatively small company like Linn. Like you said, car makers have done it but can HiFi companies do the same on a vastly smaller budget.

Cheese leases or PCPs for Linn hi fi? That’s how most cars are bought by that age group - on tick.
 
I’d be curious to see how many buying a sub-£1k naim lifestyle product go on to buy naim hifi systems later on. The likely retail outlet for this stuff will be John Lewis etc. and youre going to have to shift a hell of a lot of them to scoop the equivalent margin you’d make on a power amp. The iPhone or iPad doesn’t drive sales of macs, it replaces them and on the matter of age of your target market- guess where the lion’s share of disposable income rests in the UK? Ultimately though, how do you replace those sales when the old guys shuffle off?
Naim's higher end kit probably helps shift more Muso's etc. As does there collaborations with prestige car marques.
 
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Wow. I hope not. Rega are still at a nice 'sweet spot' as regards price/performance. If they go down, it would be a real blow to high fidelity -- buying an all-Rega system is an easy way to get a balanced, musical system relatively affordably.

I've been worried about Linn, though, their pricing has been headed into the stratosphere.
Rega will be fine as long as vinyl continues its resurgence
 


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