This is very timely...

It sounds like Lyric finally got “religion” only recently.
When I saw the name “Lyric” in the article I cringed at the thought of the place due to my experience with them many years ago.
‘Not dissimilar to others here, I was met with total disdain by the salesman, who, when I mentioned I was a musician, foolishly trying to impress him, he just raised his eyebrows, but still couldn’t wait til I left the store.

First off, Jay Jay French is a pompous you know what. 

First off, Jay Jay French is a pompous you know what. I find his writings to reek of self aggrandizement and narcissism.

Unfortunately, the audio industry has always had too many stores that were staffed by pretentious arrogant fools. Too bad because no customer deserves to be treated poorly. But I suppose with the demise of most brick and mortar audio stores the arrogance problem is solved.

I really enjoyed the article.  I hadn’t seen Butterworth in print lately, and it appears he has moved to headphone world, which just isn’t for me.
  I agree with most of what he says.  I have no opinion on the high sensitivity speaker issue.  I am however a big fan of Room Correction and Subwoofers, and their dismissal by most of the Hi End community is for me just one of the curious traits of this hobby. Other difficult to understand issues for me have been the (initial) abject praise for MQA and the use of exotic materials in speakers.
  He doesn’t touch on the main reason for decline of the Audio Industry, which is that people just don’t care.  In the seventies my contemporaries were greatly concerned with having a decent system, and most of us couldn’t afford bupkes.  My friends now have much more disposable income and now use Apple buds, cheap Bluetooth devices, or perhaps cheap AVRs.  Television speakers satisfy them, or if they upgrade it is a soundbar.  The lack of interest amongst the millennials and Gen Xers  is well documented .  In response the High End manufacturers chase the declining number of senior audiophiles or else listeners in the far east.  It isn’t a healthy trend

The high end market actually has more potential customers in the far east than they ever had in the west at any time. It's a status symbol in parts of Asia.