Future of High End ? It's OK, I think ???????

[twich54]

I decided to take the digressed topic from the Audio section and bring my thoughts over here. Attyonline commented about young people and the future of our hobby, well I see his point but at the same time I feel he is missing the point. And that point is .... The Music, not the rap, hip-hop crap but rather the classic,jazz,folk,blues,etc. Case in point, two weeks ago my family took my dad down to the Kimmel Center in Phila to see Peter Nero and the Philly Pops perform his tribute to Gershwin (George), and while there was the usual crowd of "blue hairs" it was refreshing to see the number of YOUNG people in attendence.

This brings me to my next point, having raised two sons, one of whom has been involved musically( percussionist) throughout high school and College and myself being one of the "Parental Roadies" I know first hand that there are plenty music savy young people out there and in time, when they have the means, they will attain the equipment to enjoy it, afterall it is the Music that counts !!!

 

[Joey_V]

Dave,

The future of hi-end is perfectly OK... I'm 99% sure of it.

Take these facts:
1. On hardforum.com, a site dedicated to 25 and under people revolving around computer technology, is full of threads of young kids (14-18) in search of the perfect multimedia computer speakers. Some of them have bigger budgets than when I was 18 looking for computer speakers... up to $500 or more!
2. On headfi.org, a headphone enthusiast website, kids there (14-25) are constantly trying to reach headphone nirvana (much like we are with speakers) with system investments RIVALING our own system investments! It's not uncommon to find a kid surfing that site with over $4000 in headphones, DACs, CDPs, interconnects, power cords, and amps... not to mention the numerous guys who spent $10K on a single headphone amp! These are kids!
3. Several of my friends are now thinking about future systems in the $5K range (once they finish med school) after hearing my system. And these are the same guys who have iPods and listen through $30 computer speakers!

All I'm saying is the potential is all there. I think that hifi is NOT DYING.... if one looks at the facts, hifi is FLOURISHING!

With the internet in full swing, more are able to link up to better products, more are able to link up with others in the same hobby, more are able to link up to reviews/hype/comments regarding potential systems, and more are able to feel the urge for the common disease, UPGRADE-ITIS!

Also, in my family of 3 brothers, 2 of us are audiophiles, with my younger brother (19 yrs old) running a $1,000 PC setup (including $400 headphones).