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High End is Dead?

Browsing used audio sites such as Audiogon and the Marts, high end gear ads are dominated by several dealers. Non-dealer ads are usually people trying to push 15+ year old off-brand junk at 60-70% of MSRP (when they were new). They don't sell anything. You could slash Wilsons, Magicos, etc, 50% off retail and no one will buy them.

No one buys if it costs more than 1k. It's not that they're not interested -- the ads get plenty of views. It's that the asking prices are just way over the ability of buyers to pay. Fact is, if you see a high end piece for sale it's probably by a dealer, often times trying to push it at 15% off retail because its a trade in, but also often they are taking a good chunk off the price 30, 40 sometimes 50% off. They can be famous brands with a million positive reviews. No buyers.

Are we just poor, and that's all there is to it? 
madavid0

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bdp24
10,096 posts
 
@crazyeddy, and Vivian Stanshall (Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) sang: "Jazz---delicious hot, disgusting cold".
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,096 posts
 

Being surrounded by other musicians my whole life, I was always alone in my hi-fi pursuits. Not only are they for some reason not particularly interested, they are also almost always far too poor to buy good hi-fi. The still-living ones I know now listen to CD's on their computers, not having a hi-fi of ANY sort. What disposable income they do have they spend on better (or more) instruments.

If you know any, you know they almost all have been supported, to one degree or another, by a girlfriend or wife their whole lives. Even semi-famous ones, who don't necessarily ever see much money. When Commander Cody was enjoying his only hit, "Hot Rod Lincoln", band guitarist Bill Kirchen complained that he was still making less than a Berkeley (where the band lived) garbage man.

When I met with Evan Johns the night before we began recording the Moontan album, he played on a boombox---his "hi-fi"---the demo tape of the songs we were to record. Not long after, his longtime girlfriend had finally had enough of him (he drank heavily, and could be "prickly"), and gave him the boot. He was semi-homeless until a disabled-musicians benefit organization gave him a room in their Austin Texas residence building, where he lived out his remaining years, finally dying last year at age 60 from liver failure.

I suppose the above has nothing to do with this thread, but I just was informed of yet another contemporary of mine dying, again of lung cancer. A lot of musicians start smoking (and drinking) at a young age. When you start playing in bars (even if you're 16, as was I), the free drinks make up for the low pay, and a cigarette sure goes well with a beer or whiskey.

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