Thanks Jason for the most thought-provoking chapter yet! This is indeed the big elephant in the room. There is another elephant (almost as big IMHO), which is the general age of audiophiles - at least judging by the audience in many of the high-priced rooms at THE Show. The high-end industry is really facing the 'Buick problem' - the customer base is quite literally dying.
The post from
@madwolfa quoted above got me thinking - especially since I happen to be fortunate enough to drive a German sports car and wear a Swiss watch. So I decided to look into how much a typical sports car and luxury watch has increased in price since 1990.
Item | 1990 | 2016 | Increase |
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Porsche 911 Carrera | $59,000 | $89,400 | 52% |
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Rolex Submariner | | $8,600 | |
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US compound inflation | | | 93% |
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As you can see from the table above the Porsche 911 price has increased less than the compound US inflation. I didn't expect that - and it makes the price increases in high-end audio look even worse. I haven't been able to find the MSRP for a Submariner in 1990 (Internet searches only seem to find the current price for a 1990 vintage watch), but maybe some of you guys on the forum know?