It might make complete sense, Howard, but quite a lot of it in my experience doesn't actually happen!
That's a difficult one, and it's not going to happen overnight. You have to get younger people, say, in the 20-35 year old bracket 'turned on' to high-end hi-fi instead of buying plastic systems from Tescos.All of this makes complete sense to me, and should I hope make sense to everyone who attends audio exhibitions. Meanwhile, how might exhibition organisers get 'new blood' to visit?
One thing I would do, and you mentioned advertising elsewhere, is for manufacturers and dealers to start advertising in music magazines such as UNCUT, etc, instead of in hi-fi magazines, because they have a massively higher, younger, target audience and if you can get those people interested in 'proper' hi-fi then you're half way to curing the problem.
Basically what needs to be done is to change the whole image of hi-fi shows from the ground up and make them less 'geeky'. I'm quite sure there are plenty of younger people who would attend but who avoid them like the plague because of their image. I've got friends who are into music, and quite into hi-fi (not like me, though) who think I'm mad going to these shows because they're full of sad old men walking around with carrier bags.
The whole outlook and experience of shows needs to be more up-to-date and designed to appeal to a younger audience, therefore advertising must be slicker and more creative by the organisers, and exhibitors must be more in tune with what younger people want. Hi-fi shows currently have too much of a stuffy, elitist image, and it is that which puts 'normal' people off attending.
To get younger people to go probably means introducing much more in the way of computer based audio and less traditional hi-fi. Crucially, I think there also needs to be more of a music orientated approach to shows, perhaps with some (good) live music being part of the event to encourage younger people to come, then people like you can try to get them into the hi-fi side of things when they visit your room and are blown away by the sound!
Trust me, young people like good sound, too. I have teenage relatives who come and visit regularly and are amazed by how good their CDs sound on my system. They also think that vinyl is cool, and thus so are turntables, so there would probably be a good opportunity to sell younger people a half decent turntable to play their 12" mixes on, providing they play at 45
I've got loads of ideas of what I would do if I was organising these events. In a relatively short space of time they could easily be successful and profitable to all parties concerned but for that to happen a gust of fresh air needs to blow away the dusty old cobwebs...
Marco.
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Originally Posted by Marco
