A discussion of expensive real wood reminds me of statements made by Mirage with regard to their hand rubbed rosewood veneers that were fabricated in China. I believe a rep from the company stated that they sent their speaker enclosures to China because, even if they could find enough skilled craftsmen in North America to do the work (unlikely), they would have to charge more than 10X the MSRP to cover the cost.
Oh, if Arnie’s family ever wants to part with those tired “old man” prototypes he was working on, you have my number.
1 Like
Yep, because the market for audiophile equipment is surely not old men. 
1 Like
Which, as I point out, exactly the problem.
Harley-Davidson and others have this as an existential problem. Their customers are dying out and no one is coming along to replace them.
High-end audio looks to survive with the interest in headphones and the like which is attracting the less annuated, but audio will look very different in 20 years than it does now.
1 Like
And yet, there were those that said high end audio was dead 20 years ago. Almost like vinyl, I think there’s been some degree of rebirth, much due to the 20 something “hipsters”.
I expect the vinyl hipsters to lose interest, the dying of a fad. We will only know if I am right in another ten year or so. It would be nice to be wrong.
Perhaps in 10 years, those hipsters will be buying tired old man speakers made out of real wood.
2 Likes
64 here, I am doing my part. I buy music, I buy gear, it never stops until I do.
Maybe we give ourselves too much credit and the young not enough.
8 Likes
It’s an absolute insult to all local craftsmen to say that there is nobody who has the skills and that they over charge their products and services.
It’s just too easy to outsource labour to countries that allow salaries and benefits that are far below any of our living standards, rather then set up a network of cooperations in our own country that keep profit levels and sales prices reasonable.
Good examples 100% EU made and affordable are:
- Pro-Ject (Austria)
- REGA (Uk)
- Rowen and Swiss HD (Switzerland)
- Abacus (Germany)
Those extremely low paid craftsmen in low cost countries, perform good work, but are treated very bad. They will never be able to afford any of the equipment they have to work on. They die young due to lack of health care and fatigue. All just to just supporting the unlimited hunger for more profit of some companies.
2 Likes
Hmm… have you ever been to a Chinese factory? Most are definitely not the sweatshop you make them out to be. And I highly doubt a reputable manufacturer would allow those types of conditions. You would be right 20 years ago, but no longer.
Although you are correct that they can’t afford the equipment they are working on, but that holds to with many Europeans and Americans as well.
1 Like
I must have missed the pics of this speaker, because I don’t remember one with big “slabs of wood” on the sides. The only speaker design I recall seeing was the one that got included in the PSA brochure that shipped with my M700s and my P3, and it looked pretty much like a box speaker supported at its sides by an IKEA Poang ottoman. I may exaggerate, but only for effect 
.
They actually do. At some point I need to find a proper home for Arnie’s last speaker pair. Not sure about pricing but they wouldn’t be cheap.
It would be wonderful if this were true. 
1 Like
of all the people i know it is the young ones that impress me most and give me hope for the world. maybe i’ e been lucky 
2 Likes
Yes I have, multiple times, for as many factories I have seen in China, they were no sweat shop per definition but their pay grade and life style is not of those that benefit the most from their low salary and poor benefits.
I put the statement in relation / context to the statement that in the western world there would be no craftsmen and that you couldn’t afford them. Well you can, even with profit, as the examples I mentioned showed.
All those that feel we should outsource everything, have to realize that: if we can’t get jobs here anymore more we can’t buy audio equipment anymore, even if it’s made on low cost countries. I am also OK with world trading, but it has to be fair to everyone.
2 Likes
I agree with Al - I think there is a strong tendency to discount or devalue what the young value - just as older generations have always tended to do. Our biases are hard-won. Any given older generation did not grow up in the current environment with the current concerns, advantages and disadvantages. Us oldsters tend to be waiting around until the youngsters “grow up” and realize all of the magical True Facts we know, and so come around to agreeing with us.
I’ve recently read a couple of the entertaining Erik Larson books set in the early part of the 1900’s - when wireless telegraphy was invented - arguably by others - then expanded and popularized by Marconi; and when the Lusitania was sunk. Followed by WW1. That was when my parents were born - 1917 and 1919.
True - when I was younger, I didn’t know much, and I couldn’t even begin to comprehend or relate to their lives, and 50 years seemed like a thousand to me then. Now I feel like I have some sort of vague grasp on what a century is.
Anyhow - pardon the excursion down Memory Lane. Some 30-somethings I know think the 70’s gear aesthetic is way cool. Receivers with big knobs, windows and meters, mid-century wood look, etc. I suppose that will change over the next decade to some other period. Or maybe not🤷🏻♂️
3 Likes
Along with many of the more “developed” countries on the planet over the last 40 or 50 years we have shifted roughly 80% of our manufacturing tasks to China and sold them at least 80% of our national debt. In doing so we have made them the most powerful country in the world. They just don’t know it yet. Almost everyone in the USA with a manufacturing job has to keep looking over their shoulder for the “outsource” word to come into view. It is our own collective greed that has driven the shift. I don’t like it and have preached against it for 40 years but it mostly falls on deaf ears. I treat my employees with respect and pay way above average for the work but I refuse to make my business any bigger as then I would soon become a target for the outsourcers. High end stereo, cars, watches, etc. are somewhat protected just due to the small market and relatively high price of entry.
2 Likes
True.
But this is going off on a tangent.
The issue is that the average age of those who engage in many traditional hobbies, such as high end audio, is rising higher and higher. If these older enthusiasts are not replaced the market for these goods will disappear.
As I mentioned, I see positive signs in the proliferation of personal audio (headphones, IEMs, high quality portable players, etc.). The resurgence of vinyl is positive, although I expect this will prove to be a fad. On the other hand, it may lead to a continued interest in audio.
Reaching out to younger buyers with products such as Sprout is an excellent move, especially when it incorporates modern trends/technology such as Bluetooth.
1 Like
I can tell you they would join a very small family of Arnie’s protégée. I don’t know if I am the best home, or the most financially capable amongst us, but I can assure these speakers would come to life with tubes, and be fed with a regular diet of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3.
2 Likes
A good home for speakers.
1 Like