Today's New York Times

I do hate it when greated by nude salesmen in an audio shop.

The Times article is typical lightweight fluff designed to fill some pages with a "general interest" level of fashion news. Again, the "high end" dealers and manufacturers have absolutely no idea how to get young people or ANY people interested in this hobby beyond "preaching to the choir."

My point is simply that the High End dealers don't care. There are 2 well known high end dealers near me in the Boston 'burbs and neither one has an email list of clients who might be interested in something. Like music reproduction and its beauty...live little show in the "salon?" No no no. Manufacturer's product seminar or little meet and greet? HA. My local tire shop does a better job of reaching out to potential clients. It amazes me, it's strange, and beyond these little rants I sort of don't care that much, but I feel better having ranted.

Example: Goodwin's High End has some nice salespeople as part of their "credo", and when I asked one of these guys how to find out about upcoming manufacturer's product rollout gatherings (you might notice these on their website), he said "well, we don't have a mailing list or email list"...it's 2013! Goodwin's is a shrine to high end and known far and wide for having the latest and greatest stuff, and even audiophiles are left out, making even less sense...very weird. Most people around here who aren't audio geeks (meaning 99% or more of everybody) don't know Goodwin's exists. I imagine their Magico and Boulder customers might get a call from a sales dude if something interesting shows up, but overall it's just lame.

I get that. That's the definition of business elitism, and I understand Goodwin's is happy with their current level of grey haired 65 year old wealthy lawyers from Wellesley (I sort of fit that demographic although I'm not a lawyer). My point is more about younger audio fans not being marketed to, and that's just lame and very shortsighted. I doubt that Goodwin's would be overrun with people if they emailed general announcements, and I can bet they will eventually be overrun with empty space if they don't.

$500 dollar cables have helped me retain my hair. Not sure how, but hey.

A rig does NOT have to be expensive to make music, it merely has to be demonstrated to the "great unwashed" that great sounding music is available to everybody who might care even a little, and my gripe about "audio salon" culture is that it ignores this in large part by not trying much to engage people not already signed on to this stuff.