you can thank iPods and Sonos..... Personally I would rather drive a crappy car and have a killer 2 ch system. In fact I drove many crappy cars for the past 30 years..... my current preamp actually cost more than several cars I have owned.
Today's generation wants quantity and convenience over sound quality... for example, I recently bought new speakers. I asked my 15 year old if he wanted my old speakers and an amp that I wasn't using, a pair of PSB M2 Platinums which are a great speaker and an audio design associates 200w stereo amp. He declined, holding his phone up and saying "i'm all set". I would have killed for gear of that caliber when I was 15.........
Today's generation wants quantity and convenience over sound quality... for example, I recently bought new speakers. I asked my 15 year old if he wanted my old speakers and an amp that I wasn't using, a pair of PSB M2 Platinums which are a great speaker and an audio design associates 200w stereo amp. He declined, holding his phone up and saying "i'm all set". I would have killed for gear of that caliber when I was 15.........