Home Theater Hobby Dying?

[highfigh]

Sure I like my receiver back in the day. But why do they still make a AVR with a tuner, I never use it, ever. Like TLS noted, modular is the way to go, if you want a tuner, you buy the module, if you want to use headphones, you buy the module, if you want to use a Turntable you buy the module etc.. etc...

YOU don't, but you aren't the whole market, are you? I don't either and I would prefer that they make a tuner optional but with online streaming radio, even that's not necessary and it completely eliminates reception problems so including it makes less sense than ever.

I doubt they'll ever go completely modular, for the reason I mentioned before- who decides how many of each module to make and how will they be warehoused? Most manufacturing in many places uses JIT (Just In Time) scheduling, but with shipping and transportation being so screwed up, that would seem risky if back orders are to be avoided and in Consumer AV, back orders are still a big problem.

A company won't get the best prices if they scale back their order quantities- a tuner, phono or other module costs very little, so they include them in order to not end up with boxes sitting on shelves because one bean counter decided "They don't need this", but the rest of the market added "...but let's give it to them, anyway" to the first part.

 

[Movie2099]

HT/audio has ALWAYS been a niche market to begin with. I recall even back when I was in college/university in the early 1990’s, none of my friends or classmates were interested in HT like I was. It’s been the same since then.

It depends on the market. I saw some growth in HT with the custom home market.

HT spending also reflects the economy. With the current economic recession, it’s understandable to see a slowdown in spending. So HT spending goes up and down in cycles.

I think during the 2020-2022 time period, the home theater market had a nice boost. I think grand majority of people invested in big TV's and soundbar systems. Which is definitely fine for a living room setup. And totally fine for BIG TV's in dedicated spaces surrounded by amazing speakers. But I feel it's definitely cooled since then. Only a small % of people actually upgrade every year. So I wouldn't expect the younger peeps and people who are content with holding on to their gear for as long as possible, to even look at the latest and greatest for another 4-5 years.

About 3 years ago, I was chatting with a Magnolia Supervisor and I asked him how things were going and he was very honest with me and said they were doing very well. Since Magnolia does more than just theater, they do a ton of security and Control4 type stuff. But he said they had home theater builds going on in the $200-$600k price range. Happening all year and beyond. Now, when he told me the cities these theaters were getting installed at, it made sense. Most of them were going in $1+ million homes.

 

[privateeye]

This was a post over on AVS Forums posted by Art Sonneborn that I found very interesting. I wanted to post over here for those that don't use AVS Forums. I wanted to see what the Audioholic peeps think.

So many different people chimed in over on AVS about what they thought was a reason why the home theater hobby might be dying off.

Some examples are:

1-Cost
2- Kids today just aren't interested in the hobby
3- TV's-Soundbars-iPads, Phones vs dedicated home theaters

and many more.

Of course, some comments resulted in online disputes. For me personally, I don't think the home theater space is exploding like it did in the late 90's-early/mid 2000's. I think things have slowed down, production wise, and with the cost of entry point to build a dedicated home theater, more people are moving away from dedicated theaters and over to bigger TV's with sound bar systems. While watching all their content via streaming devices.

Looking forward to what people have to say!

I don't think it's dying off whatsoever. In reality, it's a hobby that almost anyone can afford. Speakers have ridiculously low resale value, and amazing deals can be found on the used market. I'm talking about pennies on the dollar. What would have cost thousands of dollars 10 to 15 years ago can now be found on the used market for $100 to $200. Buying used is the greatest home theater hack. You can put together a complete system for literally $300 to $400 that will compete with a contemporary system costing $3,000 to $4,000.

 

[wvcartier]

I believe that the Home Theater that we all knew and loved is over! The current and next generation are, as I have read in some posts, more interested in convenience than quality of sound. Using a sound bar to them is what Home Theater is. Is this a hobby? I say anyone who is a Audiophile or Home Theater enthusiast, this is not a hobby, it's a Passion!!!! This isn't stamp collecting or coin collecting. For us this is serious business. As for the future of our passion, I believe it is bleak. I say this as I have completely cut the cord. My TV viewing is 100% streaming I can't say that any of the shows I am watching through the many apps I subscribe to, does Home Theater come into play. The only time I ever seem to have my total system working, is when I am on All Channel stereo listening. I can select the various audio options that my Home Theater receivers offer, but it's never a full system listen. It is basically just different forms of stereo. I will add, I haven't streamed any action movies that can re-create the Home Theater Experience. That will change this week. I will post my results of my testing.

 

[mono-bloc]

I really think your trying to compare apples with apples. Audio systems have never been more popular. unfortunatly the american market is all but dead, The exception being Magico, who have introduced the M7, and the huge M9 speakers. With Audio shows closing down through lack of interest. Just try and remember Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and a few others. About the only shows worth bothering with is Axpona, and Suncoast in Florida.

The show scene in Europe is much better, with Munich and Warsaw getting bigger and bigger each year. And that is where the money is with million dollar systems on display.. Most of which are sold by the end of the show.

People who have expensive systems don't upgrade very often, and when they do there current system is pre-sold before hand. Just consult AudiogoN, for proof of that..
Retailers like Magnolia, Best Buy, and Crutchfield, only deal with the bottom end of the market and really are only with the budget buyer. Where as if you want Hi-end the likes of Gryphon and Clarisys, sales are very limited in the USA compared to European retailers

Now this is a system,,

 

[MrBoat]

I don't know about decline but it seems like the technology has hit a wall. I personally find what is being offered as new, is pretty yawn worthy. You get a sense of it having eaten itself out of house and home when they start pushing $4k DACs as the new frontier.

I also find that new speakers are too many and too much of the same. To me it seems instead more like. . ."how many 5.25" speakers can we fit in a shipping container?" This, while techies quibble over values well below audible range, and just how many SOA composite cone materials can we adorn them with. I have been tired of looking at carbon fiber for 2 decades, at least, and not just in speaker cones.

To me, movies and television series started getting way too predictable somewhere around midway thru the zombie craze, not to mention all the remakes of the classics. One may start to get the idea that the idea pool has all dried up, and not just with entertainment. I mean, they've even had to go retro in the car design world, building muscle cars in direct essence of those of 60 years ago.

Hollyweird, has just gotten weirder, and now it must include itself in our politics too, because we can't possibly get enough of them otherwise.

It's been 8 years since I kicked television out of my home and I can't imagine ever bringing that noise back in. I have chosen surround peace, over surround sound, and if there is to be any noise in here, it is ad free, 2 channel music. If something is worth watching, I can get my fix on a 27" desktop pc monitor and never need for more effect than what my imagination learned to compensate for, before all this CGI and other fakery took over.

 

[Hobbit]

This was a post over on AVS Forums posted by Art Sonneborn that I found very interesting. I wanted to post over here for those that don't use AVS Forums. I wanted to see what the Audioholic peeps think.

So many different people chimed in over on AVS about what they thought was a reason why the home theater hobby might be dying off.

Some examples are:

1-Cost
2- Kids today just aren't interested in the hobby
3- TV's-Soundbars-iPads, Phones vs dedicated home theaters

and many more.

Of course, some comments resulted in online disputes. For me personally, I don't think the home theater space is exploding like it did in the late 90's-early/mid 2000's. I think things have slowed down, production wise, and with the cost of entry point to build a dedicated home theater, more people are moving away from dedicated theaters and over to bigger TV's with sound bar systems. While watching all their content via streaming devices.

Looking forward to what people have to say!

I'm not sure "hobby" is the best word to describe what most of us do. I'm a plug-and-forget kind of person. Which makes listening to music (50% that I have and 50% streaming) and streaming movies and tv shows as my "hobby." Similarly, I have a high-end bicycle and I like to tinker and make occasional upgrades to it. But it's bike riding that's my hobby.

Saying Home Theater was "exploding" in the late 90s/early 2k is quite an exaggeration. I only knew a few people with 5.1 systems back then. Today I know a lot of people with soundbars and soundbars with subs/satellites. You could say the "hobby" is doing better than ever. I don't know actual numbers, but this may also be a stepping stone for some people to upgrade to an AVR based system.