So I was discussing the apparent decline in High End Audio with Musical Fidelity Boss Antony Michaelson the other day (Ok, ok, let me stop trying to pull a Melvin on you - The truth is that I read some claims by Musical Fidelity on their website and in Stereophile... heck, I've never even met a sales rep from MF, much less Antony)....

Anyway, the point is that while many have attributed the 'decline' in high end audio to the growth of Home Theatre/other distractions or Snakeoil products and ridancullously (I wonder if I spelt that correctly... lol) high prices... MF seems to think that consumers just aren't being wowed by what they hear in hi-fi shops anymore... specifically products lacking any real horsepower (ummm watts)...

Now when I first read all the claims, I really just regarded them as a cheap attempt to push MF's high powered amplifiers and their new 550K Superchargers (550 Watt Monoblocks - I really want those).... But having given the topic some real thought, I realised that:

There really may be a disconnect between mainstream audio and 'High End'.... Just look at what drives the sales of Mini-Systems and even HT-in-a-boxes ----- Louder sound and deeper bass.... Just look at the number of claims of '500 - 1000 watts of power and thunderous bass' made by theses products (even if those 500 watts are the combined output to 5 speakers and a sub at 3 ohms & the bass is bloated and disgusting)...

Now imagine trying to convince a consumer expecting more volume and deeper bass, that he should pay 20 times as much for a product that he can only play at moderate listening levels (without clipping)... A product that would require the addition of a subwoofer to produce any meaningful bass... a product that may only sound really good with him sitting exactly 8 feet from it in low chair with his head tilted slightly to the left... to be enjoyable...

Is there a disconnect between what High End audio companies are producing and what the consumer wants? Are companies like MF correct that what the industry needs is more power? Products that can go loud and deep?

Is Audio really even dying or has it just settled into a comfortable (maybe niche?) market?

If it is dying, but MF is wrong then what are the reasons for its death?