My Thoughts on the Hi Fi Accessories Industry in 2009
Despite the basic premise/purpose of hi fi systems remaining the same since inception, the level of technology and standard of engineering (coming out of the UK anyway) has improved exponentially.
Not so many years ago people were scoffing at the use of gold to plate connectors, and the ludicrous charges they attracted as it was a new process and it seemed to make sense that precious metal is worth a certain amount more than a “common” metal.
Now, even phono plugs which sell for 20p each are gold plated, and no-one gives it a second thought.
However, the average member of hifi buying public still perceives that gold plated is best – not realising that the gold isn’t included to improve sound quality (as it’s not a particularly good conductor compared to the much cheaper copper), but is used to avoid corrosion and keep the connector clean, reducing maintenance by way of cleaning, but actually being a compromise of sound quality for convenience.
Copper is a great conductor – only exceeded (by around 6% in conductivity terms) by pure silver, yet copper doesn’t attract the perceived value of precious metals, so we have manufacturers substantiating inflated prices by the inclusion of such materials, in many cases with no real foundation in improving sound quality, but more in making a product more marketable, and more profitable.
Similarly, the manufacturer/retailer who offers 5 different types of analogue interconnects at different price points – it seems convenient that all of these wires, which are the same length, often use the exact same connectors, can vary wildly in price due to different wire being used in their construction… conveniently falling in the typical price brackets of “under £50”, “£50-75”, “£75-100”, “£100-£200”, etc. (as an example).
No piece of wire costs £100+ per metre, not even 99.9999%+ pure silver that’s been cryogenically treated and enclosed in whatever this week’s favourite dielectric is.
Generally, what you are paying for are one of two things:
(a) A worthwhile charge for the research, assembly cost (in the case of involved designs), and design skill/talent behind the product
and/or
(b) An inflated markup, assisted by over-marketing
I feel the hifi buying public at this point in time has reached saturation with regards to superlatives and ultra-slick hype produced by marketing people to aid certain companies to sell their mediocre products.
This is further compounded by the corrupt nature of the mainstream hifi press (and all similar media markets) of providing favourable reviews in return for promises of advertising revenues. Magazines can’t stay in business without advertising revenues, and any magazine responsible for the failure of a product due to a negative review will soon be out of business. Therefore, whoever promises the most in advertising gets the best review, and can therefore charge the highest price for their product.
This is a ridiculous, self destructive cycle, where customers are purchasing over-hyped products, which inevitably offer terrible value and disappoint, which downstream leads to a total mistrust and contempt by the customer – with good reason!
What This Means For Howard Audio
We focus on a very narrow product range, which enables us to engineer it to a very high standard and offer it at the best price as we can source the materials in bulk. This provides an unusually high level of value to our products – outperforming on occasions (based on genuine customer comments) products costing 10 times as much.
To us, engineering and sound quality are everything - we'd use a penny washer if it sounded best, and charge accordingly.
Therefore – please don’t be put off our products because they “seem too cheap” – they are the best designs we have found, and we concentrate on them alone. There is no point in offering an inferior product just because some people won’t want to pay a certain price for a particular accessory, and the concept of “engineering a product to a price” seems ludicrous to me personally. Similarly, inflating our prices just because “we can get away with it”, and making bigger and better promises in the write-ups is also not our policy, based on our thoughts about the where the industry has mistreated the customer in general.
We (try) to avoid flowery language in our sales information, keeping it factual and offering specifications and an insight into designs were appropriate. It is difficult describing subtle changes in the qualities of a piece of music using written language, and most of the buying public expects to be promised any mixture of the following:
- “The highs will be more extended, cleaner, clearer and better focused.”
- “The mid range will be more transparent with more articulation and detail, yet without harshness or glare.”
- “The bass will be stronger, tighter, and quicker.”
- “The soundstage will take on a more natural presence.”
- “Removes colouration significantly, giving an open ‘master tape’ presentation.”
- Throw in a bit of "skin effect" for good measure.
- Etc., etc.
Some of these descriptions were completely valid, and beautiful use of the English language to describe an auditory concept when they were first penned, but let’s face it – they’re all completely beyond being clichéd, and have been done to death.
Based on this, and the way some of the hi fi press have degraded the credibility of the media in general for providing genuine reviews on products, we concentrate as far as possible on the thoughts and comments of our own customers – welcoming comments, suggestions, reviews, comparisons with other products with open arms, and will often ask to use these words to promote our products.
If you want to discuss or suggest design changes and improvements, we'd love to chat about it - our goal is ultimate performance (excuse the superlative) at the cost of the product plus what we need to be commercially viable, and we hope prospective customers will give us a chance to prove that our products are worthwhile, and always live up to our promises - offering our money back guarantee to eliminate any possible risk of being stuck with another hi fi accessory retailer pink elephant.
