Essay bashing Primedia, Stereophile - and Audiogon

Krelldog says "It's all about US". Consumers love low prices, but having Audiogon, an efficient on-line marketplace, functioning today may have a detrimental long-term impact. Don't be surprised if you see alot less bricks and mortar stores and a significant contraction/consolidation with manufacturers. If there's no money in it, then what incentive do corporations have to bring new products to market? Insufficient industry profits could drive the audiophile market back to it hobbyist roots where only small maufacturer's catered to a dedicated few. Some may see this as a good thing and others will disagree. Let's not confuse change with progress. In the end there's no free lunch!

Two years ago,when I knew ZERO about audio,I constructed my first system from pieces touted by Chip Stern in Stereophile.Yesterday I sold the (cue the reverent music) .hghly touted English cd player he is still pimping for--you know the brand ,they're in every issue, for less than half what I paid for it new,retail. Why? Because the Cary 308 kicked it's butt across the parking lot. When it comes to Whoredom,Chip Stern needs to look in the mirror...and DON"T get me started on Sam Tellig.

That Chip Stern felt the need to launch such an attack in the first place is the greatest endorsement for the validity and importance of Audiogon and its "circle" - as Rh said above, we're making an impact, as you can infer from Chip's neurotic tirade. Nrchy - loved your post.

Onhwy61's comments are correct but there is more to the whole picture. There is a simple fact in business that markets do saturate. Audiogon has created an efficient way to sell used equipment. The dying out of new equipment sales, which is the forte of brick and mortar, is much more related to the lack of interest in, and enthusiasm for, high end audio among younger generations. That there are so many available pieces of used equipment still in good functional shape just reflects the health of the industry in the past ten years. It also shows an overproduction of goods then relative to users now. Brick and mortar is simply the first place that the die back in audio shows up. Audiogon is not the cause.

I remember when Stereophile used to have about 8 pages of used gear ads at the back of the magazine. How is that different from used gear on the `gon? But as far as dealers go, there aren`t very many getting rich. They still have to make a profit so that they can stay open and eat. my 2 cents