Funny 25% was the number I was tossing around in my head, as to the expected price decrease PS Audio should enact.
so if thats the case or even if its not while this is happening and with no plans to upgrade / trade in past my next purchase my BHK300 / Pre and DSD just went on hold ā¦
Maybe the DSD at least will get the special treatment with the next OS release, like it did last time.
I hope so, as an existing customer always felt we where looked after around upgrades etc. and thats the reason why iāll continue to buy these great products just concerned when there is some uncertainty around price and future support models outside the US
I like that you said ājust like Appleā in one sentence and then said this will shut out a lot of the younger ānew bloodā in the next.
Luxman is part of an interesting and successful approach to global audio for smaller brands. It is part of IAG Group Ltd based out of Hong Kong. The brands are mainly from the UK, including Quad, Wharfdale and Audiolab, as well as Luxman in Japan. The brands get on and design equipment as they have done for decades from their bases in Huntingdon and Tokyo, with the same engineering teams, but everything is made in a state of the art manufacturing village in Schenzen, China, from where it is distributed through established regional distribution networks. It is clearly highly efficient with economies of scale with a single manufacturing location for multiple brands and exceptional quality control. As a result they can make products at extremely competitive prices. Luxman is very popular in the UK. The key has been to maintain individual brand identity.
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I bought a pair of KEF R7ās from a dealer in March this year. I didnāt know the speakers; there werenāt any reviews; but there was a dealer. And I listened to several speakers in the range I wanted, and chose the KEFs.
This is France, and a secondary home, and nothing like the state of things in the USA (where Iāve happily bought from Music Direct, Audio Advisor and PSA ). I was extremely pleased (and surprised) to find a dealer with a serious bunch of kit available for listening. He didnāt have the R7s in stock - had to order them - but at least I could listen. (And yes, I know that room effects are extremely important, but my previous experiences had told me that I could tame the worst excesses of rooms with Dirac - and indeed I could). There were substantial differences between the R7ās, a similarly priced B&W, and a French speaker with which I wasnāt familiar.
It was just like dealing with my old dealer in Austin TX. (Who has now retired and sold the business to an audio video installation company. Who stock nothing, and want to charge full retail for buying anything when all they do is place the order. Music Direct etc are a lot more convenientā¦)
So I can well understand PSAās decision for the USA. Now all I have to do is persuade my French dealer he should carry PSA as well 
(Iāve bought some Stateside products over the internet from here in France - computer-y stuff. Thereās substantial import duty and then 20% VAT whacked on top. So you get to pay 30% more than the price paid in the USA. So any future such acts will put my patience to the test - Iāll buy in the States, use the machinery, then hand-carry)
Oops. Bit of a ramble, all that. No single specific point, beyond perhaps - in the USA traditional dealers have dealt themselves out of the game, so now weāll be in a different game.
Best to all. When I get home I shall have to dig through my pile of good-condition no longer used stuff and see what I can come up with. That Stellar Phono looks attractiveā¦
ā Pete
I still go in there Pete. The shop on Koenig is still there, itās nice to go in from time to time to browse and chat. The same guys still work that store, though, like you said, the owner has changed.
But France is 230V, right? You going to use step-down transformers on US bought gear?
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As far as where IAG Group Ltd. brands are manufactured, many are indeed made in China but Luxman is an exception being designed and built in their own factory in Japan. I recall that there may have been a period when under different ownership they may have been made elsewhere, but since I own their reference C-900u and M-900u electronics I can attest to them being made in Japan. 
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Nice looking design though the schematic they show uses an op amp on the input. My moneyād be on BHKās design sounding better but thatās just from looking at their schematic.
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Of course Paulā¦nothing beats a home brewā¦
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Luxman T-4 tuner has been in my system continuously since 1980 & still sounds great. Over those years it has been my most frequently used source. Still is. So Iām a great admirer of Luxman. That said, I bought the BHK300ās instead of Luxman for the simple reason that the BHKās sound better.
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In light of the move to direct sales and maintaining the same MSRP for the products, I hope that PSA will consider raising the trade-in max to something like 40% of the value of productās full MSRP.
ā¦I knowā¦hope is not a good strategy.
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Bottom line is you will pay more for PSA gear now. No matter how you slice it. I was hoping to buy AN series speakers down the road, but now. I doubt I can. Time will tell I suppose.
Hmmm. Emotiva sells 10x maybe 100x more product than PSA with excellent customer service from what seem like a small handful of people.
With the population of our hobby rapidly approaching any ability to support multiple (expensive) manufactures I foresee only Emotiva and Schiit surviving.
Russ
I actually disagree on some points.
I do think our hobby is at peak stage and there will be a āweeding outā so to speak as baby boomers retire. Iām talking about non general consumer audio ( Pioneer a/v equipment, etc are pretty much general consumer gear).
I also think the turntable -LP trendiness will ease quite a bit as well. Especially among the hipster crowd. I think the TT is not going away, itās just that every swinging you know what company has a turntable and a plethora of models.
There will always be a place for super exotic blingy audio gear for the wealthy.
I think the younger audiophiles will lean toward Integrated systems. Fewer boxes and smaller boxes. Post xāers will have less space for such
Smart companies who adapt will be fine just like any other business. That is why you are seeing an increase toward hi end headphones and small amps with many manufacturers.
Many smaller companies ( like Van Alstine, Decware, Odyssey, quicksilver, Atmasphere, Modwright, etc) will only be around as long as the owner is alive or not retired.
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Emotiva is hardly high end audio.
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There are already hi-end boxless systems. Iām impressed with things like the ELAC NAVIS B51 that can be used wirelessly or for better sound quality with an external unit.
To the younger generation headphones are far more important that static audio. If you think Beats was bought by Amazon 4 or 5 years ago for $3billion, that would buy you a large chunk of the high end audio industry, and it was only founded 12 years before they bought it.
The innovators are companies like Ultimate Ears, now owned by Logitech, that a few years ago was a small headphone manufacturer, and now makes just about the most popular consumer audio product around.
I reckon you could lose about 80% of hifi companies and the consumer would still have more than enough choice and quality.
I agree. When Apple purchased Beats, they were looking at the shifting demographics of the consumer plus a subscriber base for their upcoming streaming service.