Audiophile Companies Still Marketing To Buyers 60+

[Jerry Del Colliano]

Guys,

When do you think the audiophile business is going to get the memo that you can't sell high priced products to Baby Boomers forever? They pile ads into print magazines expecting that their 20k to 75k readerships are packed with people just flowing with cash and waiting to buy product. They aren't.

Case in point:
My stepfather bought his first speakers after being in the military in 1964 (AR 3As) in Grand Central Station after a "famous" demo. He soon powered them with Dynaco Stereo 70 amps and a Dual t-table. In the 1980s he upgraded to Adcom like many of us did. As his system started failing he added products that I helped him get like an Anthem amp and recently MartinLogan folded tweeter Motion speakers. All of the time, he was an active subscriber and reader of TAS and Stereophile. Realistically, he hasn't been a buyer of equipment in the specialty audio business since the late 1980s yet he has had a subscription to the print zines. He died in October at age 69.

Another case:
My father has bought many AV systems over the years but when he moved full time to Scottsdale, AZ from New Jersey he asked me to help him get a music system. I found him a very special deal (really good deal) on some Wilson Audio WATT Puppy 3.2 speakers. We added a Krell integrated amp, a DAC, AppleTV and Transparent cables. He doesn't do critical listening so he plays his playlists from his Macbook Pro and that is that. While he has a high end audio system in his living room - what new gear does he need? He doesn't want a subwoofer (most audiophile print zines don't promote subs anyway) and even getting Sasha wouldn't provide a meaningful cost-benefit. Here's a 66 year old who can afford new gear but is at the end of his buying. He has the system he wants.

This brings me to today's youth.
- Generation X is having a bit of a baby boom of their own. Everyone I know my age (37) is having babies and talking about buying homes. Note: Gen X is a small generation in terms of volume compared to their Boomer parent and the younger Gen Y but they are in BUY mode. As the economy improves - they know luxury goods better than Gen Y who have never seen a good economy in their adult life. Gen X is the lowest lying fruit for audiophile companies. They are the next target market.
- Generation Y has been raised on the iPod, iPhone and the Internet. They are wired every waking minute of their lives. They have headphones on ALL of the time. It could be argued that they love music more than Gen X and Boomers as they've been given more easy access to it.

I am sorry for the rant. I make my living selling advertising on content that my staff and I create. We work hard to make the reviews make sense and we try hard to reach out to people who represent new buyers. Our readers come mainly from "long tail" searches on Google thus people looking for products to buy NOW. Much like Google - we sell ads to companies looking to reach these people on a micro level. Its been a pretty good business model for 15 years.

With that said, there are still easily 35 good advertisers who don't want to accept that the market has moved to a younger buyer. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to try to sell to them.

What I would hope for is that a died-in-the-wool audiophile would bring younger family, friends and neighbors over to hear his rig. Take them to a store and experience what is on display there. Get experienced with the product. Find a way to make it fit into your life. There is affordable gear that is nothing short of EXCELLENT. Integration of an iPhone or iPad is easy. Making it sound better is possible with today's DACs, re-clocking software and more. The iPad/iPod/iPhone is a GOOD thing for audiophilia as more people have more access to music.

I am not saying that Baby Boomers won't buy any more gear ever. Audiophila as a hobby was born with them. I just don't want to see it die with them too. Sitting in a room by yourself listening to Jazz at the Pawnshop on 180 gram vinyl is a bit anti-social. Moreover - how many audiophiles in their 70s need more resolute audio than what they have now? How about in their 80's. Note: GM redesigned Cadilac when they realized their clients were getting too old. Enter the Escalade. Enter the fastest production sedan in the world (sorry E55 and M5). They redefined themselves. How will audiophile companies?

OK - rant over.

[Tracy Rainwater]

Very true Jerry. My Dad, who could buy pretty much anything he wants, at 65 doesn't buy AV equipment unless something breaks. He doesn't exactly have a high end system but he's at a point to where he has what works for him.

On the flip side, the younger generation may not have the cash to buy into high end equipment right now, but they will some day. Why not do like Apple does and plant the seed when they are young? Put the ads out there and let the desire to upgrade to a quality AV system begin early.

[pbc]

I'm 37 as well, but I think there is a huge gap between my gen and even those only a few years younger. As you say, they grew up in the age of compressed mp3, iTunes, Ipod, etc. Heck, many of them think streamed content (compressed video and audio) is good enough.

Audiophile companies are targeting the boomers because they are slowly becoming the only ones who will still pay a premium dollar for this sort of stuff. Most Gen Y people don't care for high quality video or sound as they think the iPod is "all that and more".

Heck, even most people my age don't care as much. I have tons of friends who download stuff onto a USB device vs buying or renting a bluray. Actually, with the demise of Blockbuster and most Rogers locations getting rid of the rental business, I don't even have the foggiest idea where I can get a bluray to rent. In Canada you have to pay upwards of $30 to $40 plus 13% tax for a bluray disc which is obscene and will just push more and more people to crappy quality audio/video.

The "Audiophile" community is in for a rude awakening over the next 10 years in my opinion.

[Tracy Rainwater]

Steve, I think I would be ordering from the US Amazon site or find someone to buy the discs for you. $30 - $40, plus 13% VAT is just stupid.

[pbc]

Most things on the Amazon.com site can't be delivered to Canada as there is some sort of agreement Amazon has. They do have a .ca site that has a few items, but not much.

I stock up on lots of things the 3 times or so my parents head down to Florida, blurays are one of them. But I like to rent a movie and see whether a) I like it enough to buy it from an acting/plot perspective and b) whether the SQ and VQ are up to snuff, which isn't possible via streaming content or compressed cable TV. Plus, I have to wait months to get the movie which is a tad annoying.

But it's worth it. I saved about $300-400 buying my Marantz AV7005 and sending it to Florida. Saved at least a grand on the Paradigm Sig S2's and C3 for instance. Incredible, given their factory is 30 minutes from my friggin house and I can get a 25-30% discount from my own dealer here and it's still no where near what you can get from some guys in the US ... it really disgusts me actually as while the 13% HST is certainly a big factor, even before that the costs are still much cheaper in the US. Guess it pays to have an market some 10 - 15 times the size of ours or whatever it is.

[Oldmaven]

The time to buy new equipment is when you can afford an audible upgrade. That gets harder if your equipment is already good, harder still when your income is diminishing, and probably impossible if your hearing is beginning to fail--and that covers a LOT of older audiophiles!