Having worked as a video supplier for automotive market research firms for much of my career, I learned a lot of it by osmosis. The danger of too much market research is that you end up with a watered-down product rather than the original vision of the designer. “Nothing offensive about it”. Many of us are driving examples of that (the many true gearheads here being excepted, natch). It can be a bit like too much measuring and not enough listening in audio products. On the other hand, not asking anyone about what you’re doing (or showing prototypes at shows) is you are at risk of working in an Ivory Tower Bubble, and the world may not agree with your vision.
There are hundreds of reasons for going in either direction, from “we want to sell the most product” to “I want to create a SOTA Statement product”…and everything in between. And there are lots of reasons NOT to go in one direction or the other from “The original design is impractical/costly” to “In attempting to make it please everybody, it lost what was interesting about it in the first place”. I have the sense that between the currently planned six speakers in the the AN and Stellar lines, a fairly broad swath of this continuum will be covered.
Amen! Generally, asking customers what they want will get you suggestions that simply add features or incremental improvements instead of producing true innovation. For example, there were no focus groups clamoring for the Walkman (remember those?) or the iPhone, where Apple used relentless prototyping to refine the design (https://www.cultofmac.com/488008/jony-ive-book-excerpt-iphone/). Here’s to the stubborn innovators.
OTOH, there is a fine edge between a “visionary” new product and ending up in the Museum of Failure (https://failuremuseum.com/)
“The Edge…There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others-the living-are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later. But the edge is still Out there.” (Hunter S. Thompson)
As Bad Beef points out it’s not this or that. But for every Edsel, supposedly the product of too many market research cooks in the kitchen, there are many who have lost their way by not listening to and observing customers.
I have nearly 20 years in this industry, including work for Silicon Valley Titans, Detroit Big Three, and many more, and I cannot think of a single case (I will admit this is a very tiny sample) where the product or service was watered down by incorporating too many insights from consumer research. Having consumer intelligence says nothing of how it will be used.
In many more cases, especially in the IT realm where I have done most of my work, insights that challenge the “vision” of the decision makers or engineers are watered down, not the other way around. Innovations rarely come from thin air. For example, it was social scientists working at Xerox Parc who led to the development of the mouse and the graphical user interface. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniaki, who are credited with inventing the first PC with a mouse and GUI, simply borrowed the technology. It’s untrue that invention cannot arise from user research. It’s not the only path for sure, however, the eureka moment of the solo inventor in his laboratory or garage is overblown.
Most HT decoders, let you specify there is no SUB, it is not a given the LFE goes to the main speakers. Moreover , if you specify the surround speakers as small and there was, let’s say an explosion behind you, would the sound below the crossover be sent to your front speakers as it would be to the LFE channel?
Yes, I’m extremely biased! That’s how I’ve stayed in business for nearly 20 years.
I attended a panel discussion at AXPONA about attracting the “next generation” of hi-fi enthusiasts. The theory being that the average age of audiophiles does not bode well for the industry as a whole. Also, the narrow demographic concentration—though I was heartened to see African Americans at the show. No one mentioned research.
I also spoke with a number of representatives from significant audio companies. None of them are conducting UX or CX (customer experience research) research.I don’t think this is an industry that suffers from focus-groupitis.
Given that there were 25 speaker introductions at Axpona alone, it is looking like micro-breweries in terms of popularity as a business to start with the money you made running a hedge fund (or whatever) ; )
It does remind me of the wine industry where it takes multimillions to make thousands. The wine industry has 100s of vanity labels who gave no clue how to differentiate themselves. Making good wine is not nearly as hard as selling it.
Classical music performers and promoters have been terrified for many decades that the audience would age out. Yet, audiences are still packing the halls, although marketing is now much more aggressive, etc.
Apparently there are a good number of middle-age listeners who are replacing those who . . . er . . . retire from concert going.
I am in my last 30s and I was one of the younger folks, this industry DOES NEED younger folks to come into it. They MUST have affordable rooms, rooms that play YOUNGER MUSIC, headphones emphasis, AND maybe a new up and coming artists to attract crowd! It was overwhelming even for me, so a younger person not knowing the brands, all the lingo, etc… is not gonna enjoy it as much. Like if they can somehow afford a newer artist for Sat night, JUST because of that artists, younger folks may end up showing up…
Am I allowed to judge the sound quality over a YouTube video? LOL
The fact that anyone had anything positive to say about the speakers bodes well.
Years ago I heard the Sunny horn speakers in a huge room (30,000 cubic feet) then a short time later in a normal sized room. It was a completely different experience, with them being not impressive in the huge room and magical in the small room.
A friend used to have massive sound lab U1 speakers in a way too narrow room and when he sold them to a friend with a large room they supposedly sounded completely different.
Since the AN series isn’t designed to be played in an airplane hanger, I have to imagine they will perform well in a domestic sized room.
Also I have been fooled hearing unfamiliar music when evaluating speakers, which is what often happens at shows.
