Audiophile Marketplace and Manufaceturer Nervosa

[Dynamix]

But please don't justify gear spend with music. I have a different hobby for music. Involves spending a few thousand on concerts a year.

I get what you mean. I play in three bands, that's my music "hobby". Buying HiFi components is a seperate thing.

 

[Gregadd]

The point is it is much simpler and profitable to take advantage of an exiting fad or trend than to take the risk of creating your product and market. If someone created a market for a $200k speaker you better believe it's going to attract speculation. Some of those products will be competent and represent good values. Others will be exactly what they are intended to be. An attempt to exploit a profitable market. They probably will not be around long after the trend wears off.

 

[FrantzM]

We then can surmise that an effective product or valid theory can be corrupted by incompetent execection or the profit motive. Both solid state and digital often suffer from these afflictions.

As opposed to analogue and Tubes? Come on Greg!

 

[Gregadd]

As opposed to analogue and Tubes? Come on Greg!

Smile.
I initially typed tubes and vinyl. Then I thought this was more likely to provoke a response.

 

[Gregadd]

Let us pick on vinyl for a moment. If someone's design has a reason for making his tonearm 12 inches long.

How does the marketplace react? I certainly don't want my design to sit on the shelf even if I don't see any sonic benefits from it being increased to 12 inches.
You can call that competition or anxiety. Odds are I'm going to release 12 i.nch version

 

[bonzo75]

Let us pick on vinyl for a moment. If someone's design has a reason for making his tonearm 12 inches long.

How does the marketplace react? I certainly don't want my design to sit on the shelf even if I don't see any sonic benefits from it being increased to 12 inches.
You can call that competition or anxiety. Odds are I'm going to release 12 i.nch version

Competition is good, if he realizes that 12 inch is better and hence produces it, customers have more choice

 

[Gregadd]

Ican try to rap this thread up. We may want to think of this as a purist hobby with sonic excellence as the only consideration. At least from the manufacturer point of view it is a bisiness. Normal business practices are in play. So even if premium gas is unecessary car makers are going to require it and gas stations are going to sell it.

 

[Atmasphere]

All you said is basically true.
Let's not stop there.Take a simple thing like balanced design. Have you heard the term "true balanced design. Despite the fact that many deem singles ended superior or at least deem balanced design is unecessary there is a serious temptation to offer XLR input/output.The reasonable explanation is fear that some might pass on thier equipment because it is not balanced. It's the same with diamond tweeters or eotic measurements. I may not think diamond tweeters are warrannted, but I don't want my speaker tok sit on the shelf because the cutoemr thinkst's nanother product issuperior.The same thing applies fancy measuring techniques.

You might be surprised, but when we introduced our balanced products (which were the first offered anywhere for high end audio), audiophiles really were not interested. Neither were dealers. We did it because I liked the idea of a technology that could eliminate the need to audition and then get just the right cable to make the system sound right. Balanced does that, and contrary to this very popular myth:

Balanced is theoretically better, though the advantage is moot unless you have long cable runs. High-end design choices that are theoretically superior but practically unnecessary are a hallmark of the high end. No need to single out ARC, or any other company. Is it a form of audiophile nervosa? If they believe it makes an audible difference when it does not, sure. Otherwise, it's just marketing.

Tim

-the fact is that length has nothing to do with it. Balanced can be an advantage even if its only 6" of cable. The issue is noise in the environment and the fact that single-ended cables seem to have artifact, hence a muti-billion$/year industry!

But oddly, audiophiles did not want to let go of the need to pay big bucks for interconnect. So we had an uphill battle all through the 1990s and its only been since 2006 or so that we've not really had to fight so hard. The problem we have now is most of the high end audio gear that has balanced connections (and including ARC) do not support the balanced standard. As a result, you can pay big bucks for balanced cables now!! That part should not be happening, but as best I can make out, most high end audio manufacturers that make balanced products simply are not aware of the balanced standard (AES file 48, if you are still reading this).

So in our case, taking a stand for the rather obvious improvement that balanced lines offer audiophiles really didn't help us all that much. It stood right in the way in fact, and likely I was just too dumb to realize the problem until much later. I've never been very good at marketing.