Jumping the gun or ?
Major audio brands may not survive another year as parent companies struggle to stay afloat.
www.headphonesty.com
Denon/Marantz the end: https://www.channelnews.com.au/former-sound-united-business-could-be-discontinued-next-year-after-falling-revenues-no-buyer-and-losses-claims-new-director/ The Denon X800 and Marantz Cinema series lines may be the last ever as Sound United is about to go belly up...
www.audiosciencereview.com
I have been telling you all for some time that consumer audio and high end AV in particular has been on the road to oblivion for some time.
The first mistake is making people think they need more than two channels for most purposes. They don't.
Very few rooms actually benefit from surround formats, and trying to impose it, is a downgrade from two channel.
The market for all this is tiny. So no wonder the soundbar market is booming. People made to think they have multichannel audio when they have nothing of the kind.
The next problem is that the electronic budget goes to mobile devices and computers. These are pretty much essential to function in modern society. This means that these purchases are not discretionary but essential for daily life and work pretty much. So that takes care of the electronic budget that would have gone to a stereo system back in the seventies and nineties and actually up to the nineties for many.
I have been pointing this out for some time that the current AV infrastructure is dead ending and will unless people listen up.
Acknowledge that the electronics budget is now into mobile devices and home PCs.
Now make use of those purchases which most people have. Unless you are into vinyl or magnetic tape, you should not need an integrated amp, separates, an AVP or AVR.
Use the current internet infrastructure for audio and AV.
With active speakers with Wi-Fi capability it could all be controlled from your mobile devices. That means audio and vision, all in the palm of your hand.
We have a thread restarted about impedance switches on receivers. What this all actually illustrates is that AVRs and passive speakers are inept devices and were an interim solution at best. An active speaker has the transducers and amps joined at the hip. That is the correct way to engineer it.
Consumers can then just add speakers or not as to their desires and suitability of their domestic spaces. It is easy and adds to the utility of their costly devices they have already paid for, are are generally required to have.
The market decline and profitability of Denon/Marantz is proof of what I am telling you. I have seen this coming for some time. The lack of imagination and invention in this whole arena has been leaving me dumbfounded.
