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Absolute Sounds ££

Seeing so many very high priced products being developed in audio atm, I'd be really interested to know how many units at this kind of level (for example, a £50K amplifier) actually sell in the UK? The market really can't be *that* big, yet seems to be flooded with an ever-increasing multitude of very high end products on offer at rapidly increasing prices.
 
AS have always positioned themselves at the Veblen goods end of the market. And I suspect some of this pricing is partly to create a halo effect for the models a little lower in the food chain. Either way, if people wish to spend their money this way, it's not like they're going to be the sort who have to scrimp elsewhere to afford it, so there's no real harm. I prefer to think of it as wealth redistribution from the obscenely rich to the humble hifi salesman and installation guys. We need more redistribution like that. Riccardo as a class warrior, who'd have thought it!
 
I heard an AS system estimated at around £250,000
Played tracks I knew. Underwhelmed
Played same tracks back home. Much better
Rega Isis, Belles Pre and Mono blocks, TAD E1s, Coherent cables
2nd hand but even new would have been around a sixth of the AS system
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
AS have always positioned themselves at the Veblen goods end of the market. And I suspect some of this pricing is partly to create a halo effect for the models a little lower in the food chain. Either way, if people wish to spend their money this way, it's not like they're going to be the sort who have to scrimp elsewhere to afford it, so there's no real harm. I prefer to think of it as wealth redistribution from the obscenely rich to the humble hifi salesman and installation guys. We more redistribution like that. Riccardo as a class warrior, who'd have thought it!
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Indeed, as crazy as some of those prices and products are, purchase is optional, and as you say, those few that do make a purchase have the means and the desire, nobody is harmed by it.
 
The bizarre thing is programs like the BBC’s Top Gear make Veblen goods appear commonplace. I find the whole thing fascinating both from a political/sociological perspective and from a certain bafflement that extreme wealth exists in such quantity that so much competition appears to exist in what I’d have thought was at best a niche/micro-market.

This links well with the Michael Fremer vs. The In Groove ‘fight’ over Veblen-grade vinyl and acetates that resulted in a lengthy YouTube debate last night. Thread here in the music room.

PS I have no duck/horse/sea turtle in this race. I’m neither a fascist nor a communist so I don’t care in the slightest how people spend their money as long as they pay their tax and haven’t arrived at that wealth by sex trafficking, dodgy PPE contracts or whatever. I do however think this rather ugly ostentation puts a lot of people off audio, especially those who are young and on a budget, i.e. the very people the industry needs to survive long-term.
 
Absolute Sounds have probably exhibited at all the hifi shows I've been to. They usually have a couple of big rooms and have them organised very professionally. They are the big draw and put on bit of a show, I personally love to hear what they have. I think it's beneficial to the market that AS and that end of the market exist and support shows for the rest of us.
 
fortunatley for me I have spam filters that wont allow me to see the page. Am I missing anything? a good laugh? serves them right for trying to be clever
 
Tony L said:
a certain bafflement that extreme wealth exists in such quantity that so much competition appears to exist in what I’d have thought was at best a niche/micro-market..
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That's it exactly! I have no beef at all with people spending big money on this stuff (there are worse things to spend it on, after all) I'm simply surprised that the market is big enough to support so many high end products.
 
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