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Krell, MBL, Levinson, et al... What if 50% off?

Lot of talk about the death of high end audio, which is warranted.  But is it just about price? 

What if a Krell K-300i was $4000 with DAC and not $8000 - would you buy it? The i800 monblocks were $40,000 not $73,000? Would they sell 4x as many? 

What if an MBL 100 MkII speakers were $45,000 and not $95,000 and could be paired with their digital streamer for $6,000 not $11,000 and N15 mono amps for $7500 ea instead of $21,000...  that gives you a state of the art digital system for $66,000 instead of $150,000. 

Is that the answer, or is it something deeper (system is still big, requires a big room, space from the walls, looks odd, etc)?

msheldonsb

Showing 1 response by musicfan2349

musicfan2349's avatar
musicfan2349
268 posts
 

No, it's not just about price. It's about priorties IMHO. As @jijoh123 points out there's lots of other things competing for one's financial attention. Necessities...

Additionally younger listeners have smaller spaces and are more mobile than older generations. Personal music appliances (headphones, digital players) are more and more popular. Smaller homes don't support big floor standers. And there's the fact that younger audiences prefer to enjoy experiences (travel, camping, etc) than to have "stuff". We've had younger dinner guests and they marvel at my modest rig.

Happy listening.

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