squee116
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
- Posts
- 870
- Likes
- 125
Hi,
This may be a bit presumptuous, but I honestly get the feeling that I'm missing out.
I'm 27, and my dad was an audio equipment salesman, designer, and engineer since the 1970s. He worked with Onkyo and several large companies, and began servicing audio equipment in the late 1980s.
I always hear tell of how you couldn't swing a cat without hitting a hi-fi shop in San Fernando Valley, just outside of Los Angeles proper. There would be huge display rooms, filled with equipment for you to test. I understand that over-saturation of the market can lead to a culling, but what's left is sparse and rather sad.
I recently ventured over to Shelley's while visiting home for winter break. The head phone selection was anemic, the displays offered little in terms of playing one's own music, and a total of 3 different brands were offered, with about 3 or 4 models being available per brand. Besides them, and Best Buy, there's not much available in the area. Apparently one must jump from BEATS to Audeze without much in between, least wise if you want to audition the equipment.
With the resurgence of headphones in terms of popularity, how or why aren't there more retailers that service the low to mid-fi market more completely?
Is there an industry reason, or are we just waiting for entrepreneurs to pick up the slack?
This may be a bit presumptuous, but I honestly get the feeling that I'm missing out.
I'm 27, and my dad was an audio equipment salesman, designer, and engineer since the 1970s. He worked with Onkyo and several large companies, and began servicing audio equipment in the late 1980s.
I always hear tell of how you couldn't swing a cat without hitting a hi-fi shop in San Fernando Valley, just outside of Los Angeles proper. There would be huge display rooms, filled with equipment for you to test. I understand that over-saturation of the market can lead to a culling, but what's left is sparse and rather sad.
I recently ventured over to Shelley's while visiting home for winter break. The head phone selection was anemic, the displays offered little in terms of playing one's own music, and a total of 3 different brands were offered, with about 3 or 4 models being available per brand. Besides them, and Best Buy, there's not much available in the area. Apparently one must jump from BEATS to Audeze without much in between, least wise if you want to audition the equipment.
With the resurgence of headphones in terms of popularity, how or why aren't there more retailers that service the low to mid-fi market more completely?
Is there an industry reason, or are we just waiting for entrepreneurs to pick up the slack?