An independent view of the future?

Sounds about right.

The reality for Pioneer (and the other jap brands) is that Hi-Fi is becoming a niche market and Pioneer are predominantly 'box shifters', the mainstream market is in Home Cinema - most people have a TV and an 'all-in-one' box is perfect for the mainstream market.

The problem for manufacturers like Pioneer is that while they probably had good margins on their Hi-Fi gear, selling these 'all-in-one' boxes put them up against Taiwanese and Chinese competitors who trade on price, erroding their margins. Also, I don't think i've ever seen anybody audition an all-in-one system, so they will not be buying on quality - in which case they may as well buy the cheaper Chinese products which often have more features, unless they want to buy a brand name.

There was a quote from Mr Bamford (Pioneer product manager) "Home cinema is taking over. There are DVD players that make CD players sound pathetic." Really? I wish he told us which ones!

Wingnut

 

Some very good points made so far.

That's bang on correct. When I said "everybody wants" that was really to infer that the market is sold a concept as being 'desirable', then the manufacture fulfills the need they just created - dish washers, web browsing mobile phones, orange juice presses, and most of the tat from the Sky shopping channels

We Hi-Fi enthusiasts often fall into the trap of thinking that the major Japanese manufacturers are producing equipment just for us. Are they balls! They're electronics manufacturers who just happen to have the skills to make audio electronics because it fits their business capabilities. Sometimes they hit on a winning formula - Marantz KI, Sony ES for example - which provides an improved margin opportunity, but in general the business premis is simple "decide what you are good at, then go find someone to buy the productor". The rest is just marketing hype.

On the flip side you have the smaller niche market players most enthusiasts know - Linn, Naim, Rega, Sugden etc. They still 'market' but have a very specialised product which competes in a more exclusive arena.

Each business type fits it's own market. Grand sweeping predictions about the future of Hi-Fi market are what we expect from the Leader Writers of the tabloids. Wingnut is right, manufacturers comments such as "There are DVD players that make CD players sound pathetic." without them giving a point of reference are worse than useless.

I'm leaving all this for the great British public to swallow. I have ears and a brain. I make my own choices, and the fact we're discussing this proves that you guys can see through the hype too.