Death of High End Audio in US

[sidvee]

See attached a disturbing article in audiogon following news that Sound by Singer - one of the high end dealers in Manhattan, NY was shutting down:
AudiogoN blog: The Hub
I wonder if this means that Asia (China and India) will pick up- which means that it is a good future to look to for us Indian Audiophiles.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[square_wave]

I think it has much to do with how the market has evolved and how purveyors of hi-end audio need to change with the times.

The landscape for business has changed. If you see in the USA, a lot of hi-end audio customers are much more educated than before. They make educated and sensible choices. A lot of them do not buy into fairy dust tales surrounding most of the esoteric hi-end that is on sale now at these kind of stores. If you see the Singer customers, most of them are the rich and famous and not necessarily audiophiles. It is not easy to survive on a customer base like for a long time.

Hi-end sound and the hi-end-market will survive in the US market but the folks who purvey them will change. The brands will be different and the market landscape will change.

 

[sidvee]

Square - You are probably right - in the fact that the average high end audiophile is getting better informed and educated, but my concern is that when one wants to audition high - end equipment (when I visited Singer last month they had a room with approx. $350,000 of equipment), the demise of such retailers is going to be a big disadvantage. Audio shows are probably the worst venues to audition equipment and the next best was a decent high end retailer (who sometimes - if you were a big spender - would provide home auditions), but now how does one audition equipment? I guess it will be a russian roulette of buy blind and test your luck.
Cheers
Sid

 

[iaudio]

Square - You are probably right - in the fact that the average high end audiophile is getting better informed and educated, but my concern is that when one wants to audition high - end equipment (when I visited Singer last month they had a room with approx. $350,000 of equipment), the demise of such retailers is going to be a big disadvantage. Audio shows are probably the worst venues to audition equipment and the next best was a decent high end retailer (who sometimes - if you were a big spender - would provide home auditions), but now how does one audition equipment? I guess it will be a russian roulette of buy blind and test your luck.
Cheers
Sid

Dont we do that all the time over here?

Hi fi seems to be dwindling while HT seems to be booming. At the most, the well off just want aesthetically pleasing lifestyle systems in their living rooms for background listening.