Hi friends, cause of the coronavirus situation worldwide, many economists have predicted a recession over the next few months. Not surprising due to the travel restrictions, quarantines, spooking of investors, lack of factory output, logistics/transport hold ups etc. Indeed, some of my friends and family working in the F&B, retail, hotel and travel industries have been retrenched or put on no pay leave recently.
This virus looks like it may be here for the long haul, or godforbid, become a longterm baseline virus. A lot of audio gear production, parts and assembly goes thru China, even for western brands. China seem to have recovered from the first wave, but not sure if the production lines have fully recovered yet.
I have a feeling many will start cutting back on purchases over the next few months, I'm also subconsciously cutting back on some non essential purchases the last few weeks, not only audio related. I really hope none of our favourite audio companies go under during this period, but hobbies like audio can be very expensive, especially if one strays beyond the budget FI segment. Maybe audio companies might need to innovate and go for price to performance ratio or target certain niche audiences, or go for tried and tested designs/tunings.
In our western society, what someone spends is another person's income and with all these restrictions and cutting back of spending, I have a feeling some of the more expensive audio gear might take a hit. What do you guys think??
Though in the big scheme of things, having good health and keeping employment is more important than our audio hobby. I do hope the world can go back to normal soon and that everyone recovers, keeping my fingers crossed. Take care everyone and stay healthy!!!
This virus looks like it may be here for the long haul, or godforbid, become a longterm baseline virus. A lot of audio gear production, parts and assembly goes thru China, even for western brands. China seem to have recovered from the first wave, but not sure if the production lines have fully recovered yet.
I have a feeling many will start cutting back on purchases over the next few months, I'm also subconsciously cutting back on some non essential purchases the last few weeks, not only audio related. I really hope none of our favourite audio companies go under during this period, but hobbies like audio can be very expensive, especially if one strays beyond the budget FI segment. Maybe audio companies might need to innovate and go for price to performance ratio or target certain niche audiences, or go for tried and tested designs/tunings.
In our western society, what someone spends is another person's income and with all these restrictions and cutting back of spending, I have a feeling some of the more expensive audio gear might take a hit. What do you guys think??
Though in the big scheme of things, having good health and keeping employment is more important than our audio hobby. I do hope the world can go back to normal soon and that everyone recovers, keeping my fingers crossed. Take care everyone and stay healthy!!!