Daily Blog – Ross Jones – February 11, 2008: THE POLITICS OF HOME THEATER AND THE DISAPPEARING MIDDLE CLASS

Has anyone else noticed a trend in the A/V industry that emphasizes the extreme ends of the market to the detriment of the “middle class,” those of us with neither 6 million dollar theaters nor the $200 home-theater-in-a-box? Maybe I have a skewed perspective as someone in the industry, but it seems that most of the press coverage and marketing push is focused on either entry-level products, or ultra high-end equipment that only a lucky few can afford.

It’s particularly interesting given the current presidential political campaign here in the U.S., where some are arguing that the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and those in the middle are getting squeezed out. It’s not too big a stretch to apply that analogy to the A/V world.

It wasn’t all that long ago where $10,000 was about the most one could think of paying for a pair of top-of-the-line speakers. Today, I can think of at least six quality speaker lines where ten grand will put you right in the middle of their product line-up. At the other extreme, “entry-level” used to mean a $300-400 receiver, to which you’d hook up a CD player, a tape deck, a VCR and a DVD player. Then you’d shop for speakers. Now folks grab their shiny new flat-panel displays and pick up an HTIB as an afterthought.

What about the middle class of the home theater world? There are some fantastic THX certified receivers you can get for $1,000, and great sounding 5.1 speaker systems for $2-3,000. We see plenty of them here at SECRETS, but are they selling? How about those $200 DVD players that score so well in our Benchmarks?

I don’t know if this trend is being driven by the manufacturers, by the marketplace (give them what they want), or maybe I’m just seeing something that isn’t there. But all I know is that, if elected, I pledge to provide all citizens a full range of home theater choices.