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Here's another takeaway...
The "high end" audio business is very vulnerable and fragile. Like most boutique product industries.
Volumes are usually small, giving little cost leverage. Much is hand assembled, which may be good or may be not as good, depending on the perspective. Dealers are limited, even more today than a couple decades ago. And on, and on.
Just as an example, think cable pricing is unreasonable? (In some cases it may be - I dunno)
I recently priced out a pair of coaxial cables used for an RF test instrument. These are made in small quantities, by hand, and in a lot of ways look like a pair of audio interconnects. The pair was over $2K for one meter lengths, all connectorized.
I imagine that the companies who build these cables for the test equipment companies to distribute are similar in scope to most audio cable companies.
What this show thing highlights is the situation. I'm not suggesting that audio equipment companies are bad guys. (Some might be - dunno) Or, that they are bad business people. (Again some might be) It's just that because of the nature of the business, they are in a tough spot. As is the company that puts on this show.
I'm not making a judgment on any of these guys. Just making an observation.