“I don’t think high-end audio is about music,”
…of course (at least I believe) high-end audio “is about music”.
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OTOH, I also believe this to be true.
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Both of your posts are absolutely correct; high end audio is about music and one not need to have expensive equipment to enjoy music.
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It’s more about people funding their love for music in a way that they best see fit. For many its a pair of $8 earbuds and Spotify. For some it’s spending $100k on a very special once in a lifetime opportunity to indulge. In the grand scheme one doesn’t directly influence the other. My son (late 30’s) uses a Sprout 100, Elacs and a 15 year old JBL sub. Very heavy on the sub.
We both enjoy music but in very different ways. He has no interest in anything more even though I have had as high end of a system that my income at the time would allow for my entire adult life. I don’t try to influence his decisions and he doesn’t try to influence mine. I have instilled in him the importance of value at any price point.
Will the kids support expensive high end components? Not until the time in their life when they can afford them. Same as it has been for the last 100 years. In the end it is still all about the music.
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…and then they won’t be “kids”. This (financial wherewithal), along with “disposable time”, is strongly correlated with age, no?
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Yes. Exactly. The kids have never been able to afford high end anything until they’re not kids anymore. Same as it ever was.
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And, youth is still wasted on the young. 
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I used to say that I liked it better when I was sixteen and knew it all but after a lifetime of self education I have long ago retracted that statement. We spent the first twenty years of marriage living below the poverty line, slowly crawled our way out of that distinction and have no intentions of going back although we both know we would survive just fine having been there before.
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There are articles online like this one:
What is high end audio? No one knows.
As the article says, and I agree, people prefer so many different sonic presentations, and there is NO agreement on what is good sonic quality (only that every manufacturer will tell you theirs is the best), there is no absolute reference and personally I don’t consider domestic audio approaches live performance.
My personal view is that High End is a marketing construct to turn the wheels of capitalism, i.e. moving money around from one pocket to another. Nothing wrong with that at all.
There used to be a thing called “high fidelity”. That used to be measured performance, low noise etc., People refer to hifi all the time, but have they forgotten what it means?
“High end” crossed the Atlantic more recently and the perception is that it is a marketing/$$$$$ thing.
So if you, like many people, including me, spend what you feel comfortable spending on audio equipment, then it really is more about money than music. If it was about the music, and the equipment was poor to the point that the music was no fun to listen to, you wouldn’t buy it.
There will always be a market for high end everything, until the Revolution. There will always be demand for supercars, even though most owners don’t know how to drive them anything close to their performance, and more than one audio dealer had told me that many high end systems are so poorly set up they a system at a fraction of the cost properly set up would sound better.
In the final analysis, from my perspective, these exclusive products exist not primarily because of any outstanding performance criteria, but because there are people around with money to buy them. It’s what I learned on Day 1 Economics, supply and demand.
My other thought for the day is that the change from physical to online media is so traumatic that younger generations will never understand audio in traditional terms (source/amplifier/transducer) and traditional manufacturers will largely be replaced by new ones.
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The problem with the young is that they are far more free-thinking, inventive and less risk-averse (having nothing to lose) than those burdened by years of prejudice and a large bank account.
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Here’s what the original AN3 looked liked. The side panel in the front speaker appears to be Rosewood, probably veneer over an MDF core. The back speaker (that Scott is next to) must be just gloss black and I think it is the other side of the cabinet since no woofer slots. For reference it was shown at AXPONA in 2019.
Assuming you meant this excerpt I have quoted above to be some sort of response to my stated belief that “high-end” audio is “about music”, all I can say in reply is that I find this post to be a non-sequitur.
Regards.
…and I found this to be a very attractive prototype.
To each his own.
Cheers.
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Me too!
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I certainly thought it attractive and could have lived with it, if I had a bigger house. Unfortunately, as Paul explained, it was very expensive to make. Most things with gorgeous curves tend to be expensive and beyond reach.
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Often true (with regard to fairer sex as well)…
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Very unfortunate and sad.
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I was clearly thinking of another speaker, which I now see from the brochure is the FR-30. I didn’t realize there was more than one in development.
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Same first speaker development, but a different design and a name change.
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Why is everything sad for you today?
One thing about audio that makes me sad. I had a valve amplifier for sale for about 6 months and some chap wanted to buy it, but it was expensive for him so he lied to his wife and took a loan. Had I known before meeting up and him telling me this sad story, I would not have sold it to him.
I make the same analogy as I have before. I’ve been going to the same concert and opera venues since I was. student. I enjoy the performances much the same, I just now tend to have better and more expensive seats. With more disposable income I buy more expensive tickets, just like people buy more expensive hifi.
If I want to see something I’ll get a ticket anywhere, I don’t mind. What I do find sad is friends who will only come to the theatre with us if we get good seats, otherwise they’d rather not come at all.
Luxury goods are often about perceived value and status. I don’t think audio is any exception. I’m not saying it’s wrong. Quite the opposite. I’m sure there are plenty of audiophiles whose wife’s are genuinely never happier with a nice new handbag or pair of shoes.
PS Audio is quite cheap in the context of what I think of as High End, which is a lot more expensive, so I think I get Paul’s pitch that his products provide High End (whatever that is) at more affordable prices.
p.s. observe the demographic
