Is Audiogon Representative of the Audiophile Market and Sentiment?
- Thread starter caesar
- Start date
Just like this site, it is "Representative of" a particular segment of "the Audiophile Market and Sentiment".
Audiogon is very, very segmented. and instead of being owned by a hifi dealer, or dogmatic reviewer, or a laid back community, it's a purely commercial entity without a particular hobby perspective. so it's an outlier in terms of how it works and how the forum is moderated. and there is no one perspective which is valid.
if we just observe the Audiogon forums, it's the wild, wild, west. there is a commercial aspect to it where certain types of posts which might be negative toward advertisers are quickly deleted. some dealers are quite aggressive there. and a strong cynical, sarcastic objectivist group somewhat pooh-poohing more high end gear. but then there are very serious hobbyists that have serious discussions about interesting things and music too. lots of very inexperienced newbies doing newbie things at all points of the price spectrum. lots of very basic type questions.
so in general, it is inclusive of all levels of high performance music reproduction commitment; so it covers audiophiles and non-audiophiles. objectivists and subjectivists. a melting pot. i don't see any sense of a vibe on Audiogon you can pin down.
as far as the listings and sales from Audiogon, it's just a slice of the market. lots of dealers use it. much more reality on US Audio Mart in terms of overall depth and action. Audiogon is just the tip of the sales iceberg. it might reflect the level of action, or lack thereof, at the higher end of the marketplace to a degree.
if we just observe the Audiogon forums, it's the wild, wild, west. there is a commercial aspect to it where certain types of posts which might be negative toward advertisers are quickly deleted. some dealers are quite aggressive there. and a strong cynical, sarcastic objectivist group somewhat pooh-poohing more high end gear. but then there are very serious hobbyists that have serious discussions about interesting things and music too. lots of very inexperienced newbies doing newbie things at all points of the price spectrum. lots of very basic type questions.
so in general, it is inclusive of all levels of high performance music reproduction commitment; so it covers audiophiles and non-audiophiles. objectivists and subjectivists. a melting pot. i don't see any sense of a vibe on Audiogon you can pin down.
as far as the listings and sales from Audiogon, it's just a slice of the market. lots of dealers use it. much more reality on US Audio Mart in terms of overall depth and action. Audiogon is just the tip of the sales iceberg. it might reflect the level of action, or lack thereof, at the higher end of the marketplace to a degree.
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Elliot G.
Industry Expert
IMO Audiogon is the most significant change that ever happened to the audio business.
I am not saying its good, I m not saying its bad as these value judgements obviously change from your financial perspective.
It changed the business irrevocably. IMO not for the better but many would argue that I am wrong and I would understand thier reasoning.
Im not talking about the forums BTW
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what you really mean is the the internet/world wide web/social media changed high end market things from the brick and mortar days. that genie was out of the bottle a long time ago. if it was not Audiogon it would be something else doing that.
OTOH the internet does allow 'quality' lower footprint HiFi dealers to proper. so there is also the positive.
but for an old hifi dog like yourself, the 'good old days' have some undeniable charm. i felt the same about the car business.
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Elliot G.
Industry Expert
actually I said exactly what I meant. AG changed the business period. The internet was the platform. The entire audio business is reactionary. It is never revolutionary.
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