High End is Dead?

The new HEA $$$$ market is fading and has been since the mid 90’s. in the last 5 years the decline has been accelerating. That’s not a bad thing, just reality. Those companies that have dealt with the decline successfully have found a nice following. On the flip side budget HiFi is doing great and getting stronger. Audio itself is heathier than it has ever been and growing faster than it ever has. We simply live in a different place 2018 vs 1993. You can’t expect that the way audio is presented or sold today is going to be the same as back then. At the same time the different camps of the hobby are going to have and will maintain their own special portion of the action, but it won’t make a dent in the mainstream, nor should it. There are those that say "look at the shows" as evidence, but in reality I’m sure mainstream audio sells more in an hour, than all of HEA does in a year. That is probably me even being generous. The engineers from mainstream audio stopped looking at HEA as a reference in the mid 80’s to mid 90’s, and once the mainstream caught up and past up HEA technically that left HEA out of the cutting edge race, again, for the masses. When the CES became the CTA (Consumer Technology Association) HEA all but dropped out of the picture. There was a time when High End Audio was the teacher, but that was brief. Electronic innovations move so fast, it’s like 1 Hi-tech yr = 15 HEA years.

I saw this profoundly with the progress of CDPs. HEA didn’t have a clue how to do CDPs. In fact 5 years ago you could pick up a $29.00 CDP that out performed most of HEA’s competition. We conducted these listening tests ourselves on TuneLand. Any time you see an audio group have to go backward in technology you know that they were not able to move forward. Vinyl and tape aren’t better than digital, HEA just hasn’t conquered digital. Digital doesn’t have the same ingredients as vinyl or tape, but HEA treated digital like it was the same language as analog. So, certain parts of the process went horribly wrong. For example: you can’t throw a big transformer in the same chassis with digital parts (chips and laser), so no wonder these "Low End" players beat the tar out of the audiophile ones. When CDPs came into play some High-enders (including myself) said "don’t do that", but the reviewers and market didn’t care. Evidently they just wanted to move boxes and never took the time to explore the new parts and pieces that makes the reading and conversion function in regards to fields, Ooooppps!

When you make BooBoos like that, that are obvious, and more, you are no longer the leader. Ultimately Hi-tech audio is going to put High End Audio’s lights out. Not with turntables and tapedecks, but pretty much all the rest. And this is why you are seeing so many of the big ticket items popping up for sale all over the place. Honestly it’s a lot like the big laser disc. Once Hi-tech moves in prices and size go down, performance goes up and the laser disc and big tube TV’s become collectors items (hopefully). HEA is going through the exact same thing.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

Hi Guys

I was gone for the last couple of days but was looking forward to reading more on this topic. First, why I was gone was because some of the members here asked me to help them with their "final" system. I find that interesting that they made the point of saying "final" instead of first or another. The Harry & J Gordon audio kids are in our late 50's-80's. The HEA revolving door lost a lot of it's steam, and fun to be honest, because the magazines were keeping us under their spell. When the magazines started loosing that hip generation of reviewers I think many of us began thinking "is the end near". After the mid 90's the industry had a different feel to it, which I mentioned earlier. When I read some of the comments made, the image in my head is the guy driving on threads yet still trying to pump air into those over used tires.

The Kool Cats to me are the guys who have enjoyed this hobby for what it was and what we have explored together with all of the great personalities and products. However we have also grown in wisdom and discernment as listeners. We are the guys who lived through the golden era of HEA. The quest of making it better, was a different one from those with one foot in the polish and the other in the bucks. There are younger Kool Cats out there now, but I don't see them all that interested in HEA. A great sound in their room yes (still having dedicated rooms), but no interest in the same language or chassis. The younger newer guys (and gals) have no desire to go to the HEA shows. Why? Because they have their own shows of advanced audio. I did a system for one of these younger gents just 3 weeks ago and it was killer, only he didn't call it a listening room or a home theatre. The name for this room was "the gaming room". The focus was on sight & sound but no huge amps sitting on display along with their hard to drive speakers. We did a simple Tunable setup, and I have done two of these setups since because of the demo he gave to others.

The hobby has changed, and as great as the listening hobby or movie hobby still are, the gaming hobby has become the latest addiction for the senses. After we built this gaming room/system the owner played a video from "Tool" and I think I left sometime in the early morning, after being turned on the tons of artist through his eyes and ears. He didn't once mention anything HEA, but was totally into the soundstage I had created for him. Things were floating in and out of the room's dimensions, appearing on and off the screen. Sound Stage!

I don't see the new generation debating the meaning of soundstage like highenders do. These folks are all about the electronic soundstage, and either the system can play it or not. HEA is a very hip thing, but it's somewhat weird for us to hang our hat on something that will be archived as a past technology. Yep, there are a few youngsters that are going to keep HEA alive, but compared to the mainstream HEA is a declining species. And, why shouldn't it be? I have to apologize to some of you on here for me being so bold, but if you think newer recordings are crap, you need to literally consider the source. Soundstaging is and always will be advancing. If you have a system that can't play it, that's a different issue than the recording.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

Yep I believe we were part of the greatest HEA generation, and what fun it was! The camaraderie was genuine. I remember Frank Doris took me over to Harry’s place (early 90’s) and set me loose. The place had all my acoustical treatment and the racks, and custom built ampclamps for this amazing sea of the top ender amps at the time. I was having a blast all by myself until I heard this voice "so your the one" I turned and then went on with my tuning. A few moments later I heard "mind if I do" so he took over the chair, listened, and then said to me "this will never be the same again". Harry understood the era that we all built together. I tuned Harry’s systems up several times after that and each time it was like "this will never be this good again". Harry Pearson’s absolute sound was not a product, it was a moment of listening. Another time I was there set free to do my thing, and especially choose my favorite sound (which is impossible at Harry’s place with so many toys). I was in town for 2 or 3 days and finally landed on the sound I was going for at that time. I got the biggest smile of approval when I chose a small Beard amplifier over so many options and price ranges. You could just see that look on his face "this is the best there ever was".

There was something about that particular time in this hobby where listeners really were giants and equipment listening was more than a 3 day trade show or a test report. Mimic as they might try today but to those of us who lived it, there was a depth and anticipation that you can’t duplicate. Generations of listeners are just that. It’s a moment that isn’t suppose to be kept on life support forever, it was an era that we entered into together, and because we had music as our guide and friendships as our family, we did something great! And most importantly every recording was a treasure to some and a nightmare to others. It was a generation that was a main meal and not leftovers.

Today is new and fresh, and different. And the quality of today is the same as when our elders look at us saying "what is that your playing" because they didn’t understand it. It’s a language of new and our moms and dads look at us wondering how we could listen to such trash. Today that trash is our beloved classics. Each generation brings it’s own into the world. We’re not going to reverse this, it already happened.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

60’s-80’s HEA was very much in the mainstream. The market was progressively balance top to entry level. Marantz, Mac, Pioneer, Technics, AR, Advent, Hitachi, JVC, Klipsch, Altec Lansing, Quad and several hundred other brands, all being part of a united audiophile world. It’s when the Stereophile type Magazines teamed up with cottage industry manufacturers, that the divide began to take place and the Stereophile & TAS club separated itself from the mainstream. For those of us who lived through it, the sides taking was very clear (Harry & J Gordon never denied this). The formative brands of home audio were pushed aside with these 100,000-250,000 listeners being told they (mainstream brands) were now inferior to the smaller bench based companies. Of course it wasn’t true, but the magazines found their market and the split happened. So the millions of clients that were shared before, went on their marry way while the HEA success would eventually fade with age. And that’s exactly what has happened. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just reality. When HEA removed itself from the mainstream, within a couple of years the HEA started to decline. Everyone could see it here in Vegas when we were at the Convention center and Sahara. As soon as that location split happened further away from the convention center the crowd size was cut 75% that very first year. It was like the new blood vanished, and excuses started being made from then on, plus false growth.

it’s like this

Walk up to someone on the street and say do you know who Toyota and Lexus is, and they will tell you of course. Now ask that same person if they know who Sony and Rogue Audio (just using you guys as a name example, you make great products). They’re going to know Sony, but will say "who is Rogue". HEA took itself out of the mainstream, and from that moment forward limited itself to a smaller crowd, with a few of the companies breaking through, but most of the HEA brands we see at these trade shows are never going to grow beyond that because they have no sustaining interest built up. And as I said earlier now that they have all but left the main CEA (CES) arena it will even be harder for the HEA to be noticed.

Don’t get me wrong, the audiophile world is exploding with hobbyist including in home listening clients. They are just still so so about the HEA or don’t even know it exist. I don’t see how that can grow if all there is is HEA trade shows and not tied to the innovative electronic shows. Plus, picture younger home entertainment buffs looking at gigantic amps sitting in the middle of their living rooms. There might be a thousand or two of these guys out there, but that’s about it.

The home entertainment hobby is changing and it is exciting to be a part of it, but it is quickly taking on a new face.

nkoner, I would say your chart is pretty much on the money

And as Geoff says "Coming back down to reality" that’s what I see as well. Where ever that reality ends up at, I don’t see it being what we saw 15 years ago in HEA with these super complicated systems that only provided one sound. Music is far more variable than a guy sitting there with a huge system with simply a volume control to get them to accurate sound.

If I wasn't going to use my room and system as a tuning device, why wouldn't I go with headphones? The whole idea is to use your in room system as a tool to dial in the conditions of the recording. Where HEA lost this is and always has been very strange to me. If I was only going to go as far as plug & play I'd be using my cans.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

Hi ghasley

"A multi box shrine with its sundry rituals to some aspiriation that no one else aspires to can get pretty lonely."

I have heard people say this before in HEA, but I've never personally experienced the lonely side. Maybe it's just me and the friends I attract or am attracted to. I have never hung out with people who didn't do music, or who didn't have these cool listening rooms. Whether it be a recording studio or playback room. I don't see how this could ever get boring, lonely or anything but exciting. In fact we go so long it runs into the next day many times.

I'm an artistic type and have always been around folks who couldn't wait to get to their listening room. Last night for example, four of us were sitting down in our outside common talking about what we were going to be listening to later. When we were done gossiping I'm pretty sure we were all grooving on our choices for the evening. I know downstairs was cause he was vibrating my floor :)

How can music ever get lonely, one? And what's wrong with wanting to do nothing but music? HEA audiophiles many times sound like listening to music is a chore. I don't think I have had one day in my life where I have ever felt that way.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

Hi ghasley

"I agree with everything you’ve said and the reason is its the music that moves you and your crew. Thats cool. It also sounds like you live around others who share the passion and thats really cool."

Yep it’s a cool ride! BTW your 55 going on 52, I’m 58 going on 152 :) I’ve put some serious miles on this body, I love getting older. There’s something about the building blocks of living that is very rewarding. We who have made it into our senior years are blessed. If we want we can look back, we can be in the now and we can see the future, if we don’t stay in the past too long. But, the greatest part is we can do any of these.

I guess I look at the Audiophile thing as being a huge sea of hobbyist, all legit in their own hobby within the hobby, whether it be a little group of old plug & play farts or the masses.

"No fuse talk, no cable talk, just music, humanity and fun."

I like that statement too. I think all parts of the hobby have their place and their following. Some guys were born to debate and others can’t wait to get to that listening chair or take in a live event or let their fingers do the walking through the record shops or make Amazon rich, it’s all so much fun we could scream. We are all music kings and queens living in the greatest of times.

My sound, job and life has always been based on the variables of audio, so I obviously think some of these "Fixed" or "Fix-it" tweaks are a little silly compared to having a Tunable system, but again everyone is welcome and deserving of their own hobby. In the future it’s all going to be variable so I guess these guys can knock themselves out with achieving change at the plug & play level. I am a little surprised that HEA got itself stuck in the revolving door for so long, letting the rest of the audio world catch up and pass them up, but that will all straighten itself out too.

Hey, we either get to enjoy the spin or enjoy the ride into tomorrow and it’s a blast any way we travel. I like your post too ghasley.

Good post kthomas and fleschler! One has got to love seeing the variety this hobby has. One thing for sure is while the HEA may be settling into a lower number (one fixed sound system) the Audiophile, and Videophile worlds are growing and have become every man’s (and women’s) home entertainment treasure.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

Thanks trelja

It's been very nice reading the emails I've been getting from the members. And, nice reading the responses here on the forum directly. AudioGon forum mods deserve a thank you as well for letting me come up a share so much of the Tune with folks. I'm still very much pacing myself because I'm sharing some pretty bold ideas to folks who maybe haven't had the opportunity to dive into the variable side of the hobby all that much.

I'm also looking forward to sharing more on the thread "the method of tuning". I'm getting folks emailing me after starting to tune and they range from "never knew this existed", "been tuning for years and love it", "how can this be happening"....and on. It's nice seeing listeners looking at this hobby practically and empirically.

thanks again trelja

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net