High End Passion and Craftsmanship For Sure . . . But Also Occasionally High Cost and Unreliable?

[Lagonda]

High-end home audio seems a lot like high-end automobiles to me. There are vehicles for the masses, and vehicles for the passionate. Similarly, there are audio components for the masses, and others for the passionate.
I've owned Lotus, BMW, Porsche, and Aston Martin, among many others. Lotus was a "mad scientist" company that absolutely advanced the state of the art and pioneered innovations that trickled down to typical daily drivers, and many other high-end car companies also did so.
On the subject of literal "garage industries," Aston Martin is a classic example of a company that was driven by irrational passion, illogical processes, irresponsible management, and unsustainable costs. This resulted in the company going bankrupt several times, and vehicle purchase prices that make most people roll their eyes. The owners of the company and the owners of the cars share the pains of this approach, but many are willing to pay them. I know my Aston Martin DB9 extremely well, performing both its routine maintenance and extraordinary repairs myself, and doing so has brought me closer to those who first dreamt then designed and finally hand-built the car. I cannot work on the car without (and I know this sounds silly) feeling the presence of those who made it happen. And when I drive it (about 4,000 miles a year), I am just so happy. It is not transportation...it is transport.
The closest car I had to it on paper was my Porsche 928 S4, at about one-fourth the cost, and from a profitable company. I liked that car a lot, but it didn't touch my soul the way my Aston does.
I suspect that many high-end audio companies are similar. Someone has a dream, and in dreams we can sometimes fly. But when we wake up, the compromises required to compete in a commercial mass-market world often seem too painful, and the refusal to make those compromises often results in extreme prices and low financial sustainability.

Once i needed a relay changed on my handbuilt Aston Martin, the dealership in Palm Beach called the factory in England and asked the guy that had built most of the car where he had placed it. The engine has a "gold"plaque with the name of the guy that assembled it !

 

[Lagonda]

High End Passion and Craftsmanship For Sure . . . But Also Occasionally High Cost and Unreliable?



It is another set of manufactured hypothetical questions.

Yes, the impact on me as a consumer is also interesting, experienced with brands like Krell and Aesthetix have shown me what can happen when esoteric designs are sent into the marketplace and the customer becomes the long time tester, insufficient stock of spare party can really mess you up too. I worry little about the state of a prototype received by a reviewer.

 

[Lagonda]

The amplifier i had the most problems with was from a Large audiocompany .
My Boutique audio amplifier/ Small company i have currently never broke down over a 14 year lifespan .

So the reasoning that one could have more problems with relatively small audiocompanies as compared to large scale companies is wrong

In one case maybe

 

[tima]

Yes, the impact on me as a consumer is also interesting, experienced with brands like Krell and Aesthetix have shown me what can happen when esoteric designs are sent into the marketplace and the customer becomes the long time tester, insufficient stock of spare party can really mess you up too. I worry little about the state of a prototype received by a reviewer.

Understood. Typically reviews are not given to true prototypes. I gather you are saying that gnarley production components can make it feel like they are prototypes.

 

[Lagonda]

If you could, then you would.

The important thing is not building a €100,000 turntable but achieving €100,000 worth of sound from it. If there is demand for more expensive products, companies will certainly manufacture and sell them. This is not about the collapse of hi-fi; there have always been budget products, and there always will be.

Manufacturers that can only operate at the budget level always complain about the ridiculously priced upper-echelon gear. They’re right—high-end gear is indeed ridiculously priced. But this isn’t because budget manufacturers are being reasonable or caring about us, the consumers. It simply means they’re complaining about not being able to earn the kind of profits that upper-echelon companies do. If someone is willing to pay €100,000 for your €6,000 turntable, those complaints will quickly be replaced with statements like “how expensive the parts are” and “how much time it takes to manufacture,” and so on.

Yes, just look at Lampizator they sure changed their tune once they where able to sell ridiculously priced products to doctors and other affluent customers, a consumer group they had previously joked about.