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

One thing that occurred to me is I bet Covid 19 will hit the specialist audio magazine sector hard. From an online audio forum perspective I reckon I’m losing about 60% of my usual ad revenue (banner & link-affiliation) at present, and that is what keeps pfm afloat. I’m in the bizarre position where site traffic is very noticeably up as everyone is at home and bored, but the revenue being generated has fallen right off a cliff to the extent the site would technically no longer be financially viable if this were a permanent revenue decline. As I understand it printed magazines have very much the same business model, i.e. it is the ads that keep them afloat, not the cover-price, so I’d expect them to see similar. Plus they are far ‘heavier’ businesses with employees, rent, printing costs, maybe even loans etc to pay. I’m lucky in that pfm is really lightweight and I can personally survive effectively without a wage for a good while, plus it looks like I’ll be eligible for the government bail-out sometime in June which should give me much of the losses back (as I guess it will for the print market), but I’d not be surprised if a few print publications went to the wall before then if they are running tight asset-wise. I hope they all see it out.
 
I won't be able to buy my regular HFW this month due to all the bookshops being closed.
Another concern about the hifi mags is that the publishing team are mostly older and themselves vulnerable to the virus.
The average hifi journalist is not the healthiest individual
 
I've been disgusted with a lot of new high end audio gear for a while now. There are indeed a lot of new ridiculously expensive products chasing the money of the plutocracy. It also appears that if you don't price your fancy equipment at the 'fancy' end of the price spectrum, it will not carry enough cred and bragging rights and will not be taken seriously by the target market. IMO most of them do not really outperform lower priced well-designed equipment (not conjecture on my part; I've listened to some ridiculously priced set ups). And most of them do indeed have fancy and vulgar looking chassis and knobs complete with outlandish but carefully crafted marketing. I am sure a lot of cost has gone into the cosmetics and BS marketing. Jancis Robinson, the famed wine critic, recently stated that if there's one thing that she has learned in her long experience in the industry, it's that there is no correlation between price and quality (enjoyment). This applies equally to hifi.

BUT I think KK's view is wishful thinking. The pandemic will more likely hit the lower and middle class consumer very hard, putting them out of jobs and curtailing their spending. I actually think the hifi companies which serve the lower/mid end of the market will be the ones that will be decimated since they have lower margins and need to move a lot more units to survive. Perhaps those that put out truly very affordable gear may be spared. But the very rich will still be able to buy the luxury super expensive gear.
 
Most businesses that suffer in this current climate deserve sympathy. Prior to Covid, they were already suffering. Though high end is not where I circulate, it offers range to others who love hifi and I wouldn’t begrudge their survival. I hope they make it through, all of them. From Superficial and Richer through to Oxford and KK West.
 
We have an Aga fitted new 20 years ago and certain to outlive us - very reliable.

Running costs of £150/month ! Don't be silly, less than 1/2 that here even using oil and with the water boiler that is not fitted to new ones anymore.

Rayburns are different and again of various specs. The one in our holiday let is a cooker only but you can get them (and Esses, etc) that provide hot water and heating; the dual burner ones are quite a good idea.

Our Aga is very multi-use including saving the lives of many a day-old chick - just drop them in the double oven grove and drape them over hand rail; the cheeping can confuse the dogs, however.

Meanwhile, I used to read KK back in the HFNARR days and he seemed to be as interested in style as anything else. I recall in the 90s perhaps him reviewing some damn ugly DaVinci (or similar) amplifier that got too hot and by his own admission didn't sound as good as his usual reference, yet he waxed lyrically for ~5,000 words on it. After that I stopped reading as it was basically froth. His latest missive is simply insulting.

CHE

We took our figures from Which? who quote £33.60/week for 3-oven electric Agas (UK electric prices) - iirc, for UK buyers gas is meant to be lower, oil higher. Our fuel costs were higher in Ireland.
 
Electric Agas are truly silly money to run. I would not contemplate it. I have a friend who installed one in his barn, but so far as I know it is rarely switched on.

Mains Gas is much much more reasonable.
 
With the current oil prices, an oil powered Aga ought to be very cost effective to run.

WTF am I discussing cookers??? :eek::eek:
 
As to the OP and KK's wish for small companies to go bust well I've rarely heard anything so offensive!

KK has had it in for most high end retailers for a number of years now, he moved away from HiFi as he said it was over (i beg to differ Sir!) said we needed to up our game and present things like the watch industry or a high end clothing brand ....
Real people don't go in over pretentious places like this ,as a hi end dealer myself i think the main objective is to give a customer an unbiased choice and make them feel comfortable doing just that!
I am worried short term for a number of businesses
Especially the ones with high overheads Rented properties, over staffed
Well established shops or consultants that work from home i feel will have a better time of things once we get back to some level of normality
And as we speak the number of on line sellers will be doing good business (maybe not on hi end products)
Thankfully i myself own the property and i own all my stock
the local authorities have just furloughed our Rates this year
So at the moment our out goings are low as the shop isn't open to the public and we aren't consuming energy
So as long as we all stay well and heed the directives from gov.uk we al will live to fight another battle.
Stay safe Stay well
 
Well said John. Overheads are definitely key.
I usually bypass KK reviews in the magazines, I just don't feel it is about music anymore. Too many reviews of Luxury products that will only sell a handful of units. He would no doubt hate most of my system. The only thing we might agree on is how good Apogee speakers were.
 
Strange thread about hifi, range cookers and watches. Are we headed for Agas which tell the time and play music? I remember when I got my first universal remote control. I said to myself 'this changes everything!'

Apropos of that, this virus will indeed change everything for the best part of a long time. We may all become antisocial animals, which is where listening to music comes back in......
 
One thing that occurred to me is I bet Covid 19 will hit the specialist audio magazine sector hard. From an online audio forum perspective I reckon I’m losing about 60% of my usual ad revenue (banner & link-affiliation) at present, and that is what keeps pfm afloat. I’m in the bizarre position where site traffic is very noticeably up as everyone is at home and bored, but the revenue being generated has fallen right off a cliff to the extent the site would technically no longer be financially viable if this were a permanent revenue decline. As I understand it printed magazines have very much the same business model, i.e. it is the ads that keep them afloat, not the cover-price, so I’d expect them to see similar. Plus they are far ‘heavier’ businesses with employees, rent, printing costs, maybe even loans etc to pay. I’m lucky in that pfm is really lightweight and I can personally survive effectively without a wage for a good while, plus it looks like I’ll be eligible for the government bail-out sometime in June which should give me much of the losses back (as I guess it will for the print market), but I’d not be surprised if a few print publications went to the wall before then if they are running tight asset-wise. I hope they all see it out.

Just an idea, how about a paypal donate button on the front page, Im sure a lot of us would throw a few quid in, as like you say we are sat at home and reading this to avoid looking at the live feed from the Guardian
 
Just an idea, how about a paypal donate button on the front page, Im sure a lot of us would throw a few quid in, as like you say we are sat at home and reading this to avoid looking at the live feed from the Guardian

There is a ‘Donations’ button on the top menu-bar below and to the right of the site logo!
 
One thing that occurred to me is I bet Covid 19 will hit the specialist audio magazine sector hard. From an online audio forum perspective I reckon I’m losing about 60% of my usual ad revenue (banner & link-affiliation) at present, and that is what keeps pfm afloat. I’m in the bizarre position where site traffic is very noticeably up as everyone is at home and bored, but the revenue being generated has fallen right off a cliff to the extent the site would technically no longer be financially viable if this were a permanent revenue decline. As I understand it printed magazines have very much the same business model, i.e. it is the ads that keep them afloat, not the cover-price, so I’d expect them to see similar. Plus they are far ‘heavier’ businesses with employees, rent, printing costs, maybe even loans etc to pay. I’m lucky in that pfm is really lightweight and I can personally survive effectively without a wage for a good while, plus it looks like I’ll be eligible for the government bail-out sometime in June which should give me much of the losses back (as I guess it will for the print market), but I’d not be surprised if a few print publications went to the wall before then if they are running tight asset-wise. I hope they all see it out.
This was the case before Covid-19, print market has been in massive decline for years, circulation of nat-mags is miniscule. I used to subscribe to Cycle Sport magazine, it went under despite cycling being in a relative boom. The fact is that online has had a bit of everybody's lunch; it is 60% of the market by revenue & an effective duopoly. No other sector has been allowed to get such dominance. I am glad you are OK & kept a grip on overheads, many a small business hasn't done this.
 
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.
They have to be one of the most grossly inefficient means of cooking or heating in any form or shape - I suspect they, and their ilk, will become very difficult to sell along with gas boilers in the none too distant future (our current house had an oil fired Stanley when we moved in so I have direct experience).
Don't get me wrong I love the way they look and yes you need to adapt the way you cook BUT they need to be banned as one of the most inefficient means of both cooking and heating.

Regards

Richard
 
The current climate is good for high end
bargains
Kubala Sosna Elation 1.5m XLR Interconnect
£4,400.00 was £8,800.00
High end seems to be defined by name
the more absurd the higher the price.
 
I just wondered in USA they have Stereophile Magazine, In UK we have WTf, HiFi News, HiFi World, HiFi Choice and HiFi Plus magazines. Are we in UK more into HiFi than in America, or we don't get to know about all other HiFi magazines in US?
 
The Absolute Sound is still around! I’ve no idea if there are more downmarket US magazines, but I’d expect so.
 
Men in sheds will be the future of high end audio as it continues to contract

Richard Dunn predicted this and I think Covid 19 will accelerate this
 
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