"Will COVID-19 Take Out High-End Audio?"

[vln]

I disagree with Ken Kessler on many things, but I couldn't help agreeing with some of the stuff he writes about high end audio here:

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/inde...uk/1394-will-covid-19-take-out-high-end-audio

Specifically,

What I would like to see happen is something which should have taken place decades ago. I would like to see the fly-by-night manufacturers go out of business. For good. Yes, I did write that: I would like to see 50 to 75 percent of all the so-called high-end audio brands just go away, close up shop, vanish. And you know what? We would still have too many choices.

Ask yourselves this: in what galaxy do we need 200+ speaker companies, 300+ power amps, and 200+ turntables? In what other industry are Two Schmucks in a Garage with a Soldering Iron considered a “high end manufacturer”?

and

Yet still we encourage the arrival of $100,000 turntables and $50,000 amplifiers and $10,000-a-yard cables from guys using their mothers’ credit cards to bankroll them. Sorry, but it’s no longer good enough. I don’t want to review something from a manufacturer with a turnover equal to selling one unit a year. I don’t want people buying something on the strength of my review, only for that company to go bust and leave him or her with a dead power amp, good strictly for ballast or as a doorstop.

When browsing sites such as monoandstereo.com and others, I am baffled at the amount of high end brands even I have never heard of, offering product costing tens of thousands. I don't necessarily oppose those prices (although many many times there are good reasons to do so) but giving that amount of money to a company where you have no idea if they will still be around a couple of years down the line.

 

[Tony L]

I don’t begrudge any business its existence, though I certainly have no use for or interest in the oligarch/veblen class of high-end audio myself. I just look at it the way I look at expensive yachts, diamond-encrusted Rolexes or Leicas etc, it’s just not me even if I had the disposable cash. I guess the difference between myself and Ken Kessler, who I always enjoyed reading back in the Hi-Fi Answers days (but haven’t read anything recently), is he is paid/required to take an interest in it, whereas I can entirely define my own little rose-tinted world of audio interest and not really look outside. I’d certainly get a bit frustrated if I had to cover that stuff, but live and let live and all that...

 

[ArtK]

I'm sorry. I read this as "Take out, high end audio!"

 

[TimF]

At ArtK, yes, kind of like a McDonalds drive through, yes please, I think I would like the Nait2 with Kans, and a side order of Linn K20, um, no, make that NACA5 please...or should I do maybe the Sonneteer uh...

 

[Bairnstorm]

He makes some interesting points but if someone wants to build an amplifier/turntable/DAC in his/her shed funded by mummy's credit card who are we to stop them. I do find it strange that it would cost big bucks as it is a product with no heritage or track record.

I am mainly cautious and buy more established although sometimes out of favour brands.

I went through a short phase of going for quirky but when they keep breaking you realise why the majority go for big names.

 

[John Channing]

It is certainly taking out a large proportion of the high end spenders as it is mostly lethal to the over 70s

 

[davidsrsb]

It's the professional sportsman taking big pay cuts that will hurt the Veblen end of the market.
But my fears are the established end of the market, the Rega and Linns of the world. They actually have experienced staff to pay and retain

 

[John Phillips]

… But my fears are the established end of the market, the Rega and Linns of the world. They actually have experienced staff to pay and retain

I suspect there is over-supply in the new equipment market and that this is driving individual product sales volumes down and prices up in an unhelpful spiral.

My speculation (probably over-generalized) runs along the lines: to what extent might a reduction in manufacturer and product diversity increase the sales of surviving products? Even with constant whole-market sales, increased sales for an individual product could ease price increase pressures. And possibly increase the size of both the product's market and the market as a whole.

As long as enough supply remains to avoid scarcity, of course.

 

[Cereal Killer]

If they're making it (any high-end product is the same in fact) and people buy it, who's actually the problem or to blame?

For example if i were to buy an oven from B&Q for £200 or an Aga for £10K, would my chicken taste any different?

 

[Weekender]

If they're making it (any high-end product is the same in fact) and people buy it, who's actually the problem or to blame?

For example if i were to buy a oven from B&Q for £200 or an Arga for £10K, would my chicken taste any different?

Yes. But not £9,800 different. Same for all luxury goods.

 

[GT]

It will be those small High-end manufacturers that will survive after this crisis. Those with big factories and a large wage bill are the ones at most risk. HiFi started by a guy or two in a shed making a speaker or an amplifier. Check out the Paul Voigt story. Peter Walker didn't just suddenly appear on the scene with a large factory making amps and speakers...

I do agree about the vast number of unheard of brands, especially from eastern Europe. It is well known that EU money funds small businesses in these countries, just like it did in France in the mid to late 1990s.

 

[Cereal Killer]

Yes. But not £9,800 different. Same for all luxury goods.

Not in the watch market, time is still time.

 

[Weekender]

Not in the watch market, time is still time.

I'll give you that, though there are ancillary factors such as accuracy, how well a watch maintains time...I'm no watch expert...

 

[Ptah]

Kessler's spent his professional life reviewing and using high-end (American) equipment. Sure, his personal favourites are the old British companies (inasmuch as they exist now), but his 'is it a Rolex or a Patek Philippe' reviews have dominated HiFi News for decades.

 

[davidsrsb]

It will be those small High-end manufacturers that will survive after this crisis. Those with big factories and a large wage bill are the ones at most risk. HiFi started by a guy or two in a shed making a speaker or an amplifier.

I see some of the Veblen makes as being more like a bespoke jeweler making a fancy casing and sticking in an eBay PCB. Most of the money and skill goes into the marketing.

 

[DGP]

I don’t begrudge any business its existence, though I certainly have no use for or interest in the oligarch/veblen class of high-end audio myself. I just look at it the way I look at expensive yachts, diamond-encrusted Rolexes or Leicas etc, it’s just not me even if I had the disposable cash. I guess the difference between myself and Ken Kessler, who I always enjoyed reading back in the Hi-Fi Answers days (but haven’t read anything recently), is he is paid/required to take an interest in it, whereas I can entirely define my own little rose-tinted world of audio interest and not really look outside. I’d certainly get a bit frustrated if I had to cover that stuff, but live and let live and all that...

Interesting myth this - Ken Kessler never wrote for Hi-Fi Answers. He wrote for Hi-Fi News.
DGP

 

[Tony L]

More my fuzzy memory than myth! I bought a random selection of hi-fi mags back then and I can’t really remember who wrote for which. I remember Kessler’s reviews and columns well though, he used a modified AR turntable, Audio Research pre, Krell power and LS3/5As, and IIRC vintage soul/R&B such as Sam & Dave. I bet it was a system I’d have loved.

PS Did he have Spica TC50s at one point? Seem to remember those being raved about too.

 

[dna audio]

Yes. But not £9,800 different. Same for all luxury goods.

With an Aga the buy in price is only the start. You then have another £150 a month for gas or oil. My friend has one and he loves it but did say you have to change your cooking style to match how the aga works.

 

[Weekender]

With an Aga the buy in price is only the start. You then have another £150 a month for gas or oil. My friend has one and he loves it but did say you have to change your cooking style to match how the aga works.

We've used a ew of them in holiday lets..they're really nice to cook on and add something wonderful to the home with the way they heat the kitchen. One of our retirement dreams. £150 per month is slightly eye-watering.

 

[dna audio]

People who are really wealthy will always be wealthy. I doubt that the superyachts in the big harbours around the world will be affected much. I just hope that following this massive catastrophe that is unfolding the world can become a fairer place. I also hope that the reputable suppliers that we have who support their customers and product can get through this as unscathed as possible. In the meantime I hope the pinkfish community continues to enjoy great music at home on a decent hi-fi sytstem.