YouTube Indicates What the Future is For Audiophiles - Interesting Demographics.

@dr-boop 

It's a hobby that appeals to older gentlemen with spare cash. Relax..everyone gets old some time.

Agreed, the concern is that once the current batch of older gentleman kick the bucket there doesn’t seem to be another batch in the pipeline to replace them.

My kid bought himself a Technics turntable on craigslist when he was 17, plugged it into a little system I game him, and he buys vinyl albums that cost more than the turntable.

There is too much of a push to high cost hardware when good affordable equipment can be made. The young today are too busy paying rent, utilities, buying organic food and electric cars to have the excess cash to spend on stereo hardware. The industry is its own worst enemy. I'd like to buy a new tape deck to take 10 inch reels, but will not spend $10,000 on up for one and we can afford it.

Interesting thread.  I am going to guess that Darko and his “futurefi” channel (that includes reviews of vinyl products) has a different viewership than the OP’s results.

In the 60s and 70s, when the current gray beards were starting out, an amp or a receiver with two wired speakers were the most common way to reproduce whatever came out of your source of choice.  No streaming, no earbuds, no wireless speakers.  Music and musicians were a cultural force, leading a shift in values and perspective for western society.  That placed a high value on the means to listen just as transistors made decent sounding gear widely available, and many of us imprinted on that 2-channel experience and have been refining it with our rising living standards more or less ever since.

Both my 30-something children have 2-channel systems. My son who is in tech has a better “stereo” than I do, and he aspires to continuously improve it and the room where he listens.  He is also deeply knowledgeable about streaming, music servers and headphone gear but also has a very good vinyl playback system anx enjoys collecting high quality pressings.  My daughter started with a vinyl rig that belonged to my father, and I have helped her upgrade it over time.  Her 3 and 4 year olds especially like listening to it, which is why it has only a modest phono cartridge(!!) I have a midfi rig in my office, and my staff in their 20s and 30s love it.

There is hope for music reproduction and a passion for it to persist.  It just won’t look like it has in the past.

kn

Krell is a legacy brand from the 1980s...same with Levinson. So that explains the age demographic.

If you were to look at YouTube age demographics for YouTubers that promote mid-fi and chi-fi, you would find mostly men under 50...the Reddit crowd. 

So I disagree with your conclusions that the hi-fi industry is dying. The chi-fi and mid-fi demographics will gain income over time...and while Krell won't be relevant to them, McIntosh will be. It's a legacy brand that like Harley, is still relevant.