Spatial Audio Raven Preamp

I will be buying the Raven preamp (which has CanCon) and also spending 6 weeks up in Toronto this summer. Spending my money in the Canadian economy to fight the good fight.

My young son is a picky eater, and it seems he likes a lot of stuff that is grown in Canada (buying in Costco). We will pay that extra 25% and support Canada. Will be buying Canadian as much as I can from here in the USA.

I started as an audio designer at Audionics in 1973, so I’ve seen a few ups and downs in the audio industry. Don’s been doing his thing in Canada since the early Eighties, so between the two of us, we’ve seen what’s been happening in the North American market for quite a while. Players come and go, fads come and go, as well as turnover in big-name reviewers and gradual shifts in consumer tastes.

Will the high-end itself survive, given the aging demographics? Good question. Headphones, and the specialized amps that serve them, are a growth area, since they have a compact footprint and can live on a computer desk as a peripheral. Late-night headphone listening is also well suited to young families living in urban apartments.

Big-rig systems that take up a whole room? That seems to be a declining market, unless the system is domestically acceptable within normal living room decor ... the traditional "stereo system" we saw in the Sixties and Seventies. Swap in a digital streamer for the classic FM Stereo Receiver of the Sixties and Seventies, and it looks pretty much the same.

One thing Don and I find gratifying are a new breed of medium-to-high-efficiency speakers that work well with 25-watt amplifiers. This is a sweet spot in the market that’s been ignored a long time ... moderate power amplifiers that are optimized for listening pleasure, not bombast, and speakers that have low distortion and effortless dynamic range. More, please.

Indeed on the speakers.  I own 95 dB speakers that are an easy 8 ohm load.  The giant 84 dB speaker that takes 200 watts to wake up really don't sound any better to my ear.  In general they sound worse.  Give me a 90+ dB well behaved speaker every time.  Then I can drive it with a 20 watt tube amp and be happy:)

As for tariffs, we shall see.  Now there are more negotiations going on.  One thing business hates is uncertainty.  Consumers hate it too.

Do the tariffs affect the used markets as well? I'm thinking yes but not sure.

@dz13    Yes. Think of it in terms of shortages. This will push the used market up as new prices go up as well. Its a manufactured inflation. 

We make our boards here in the US, but I expect materials to make those boards, plus parts that go on the boards (for example, tube sockets, resistors, semiconductors, capacitors) will likely go up even if they are made in the US.

That’s the logic of inflation. Buy Now, because it will cost more tomorrow. Once this gets baked into everyone’s consciousness, it affects pricing (and expectations) throughout the entire economy.

Deflation is the reverse, but is far more dangerous, since businesses hate to sell at a loss, so prices are "sticky" in the downward direction. Deflation of much more than 1% is associated with demand collapse and economic free-fall.

The ideal target for stability and maximum steady-state growth is about 1~3% inflation per annum. Shocks in either direction are very bad.