I think you're right. The audiophile fascination with 300lbs plus loudspeakers and 100lbs amplifiers has no appeal to the general population, particularly younger people. On-line audio forums are something of an echo chamber which can lead some participants to believe their behavior and attitudes are widely shared.
Does anyone else think this
I was going through the current edition of the absolute sound. They featured the best products for the year. A lot of those products are big speakers and amplifiers. I was thinking in about 20 years when most of the baby boomers are retiring or passing on that these products will wind up in landfills or be boat anchors. The generation behind us has no interest in speakers as big as a house or giant amps that take up floor space. They see these as a complete waste of space and disgusting. The few times younger people have seen my system they always comment " why do you have all that stuff, and what does it do"