IT COSTS HOW MUCH?

Stuart Smith looks at the cost of HiFi.

I’m from Yorkshire. For those that don’t know Yorkshire, it’s a county in the North of England often referred to as God’s own country. Now I can’t comment on any deity’s like or dislike for any given part of the world but Yorkshire does have some rather pleasant spots, it has to be said. Scotland, likewise, is a majestic part of the United Kingdom and has claims to fame too numerous to get into here, and I mention it only by way of adding a bit of context. In the UK there is a stereotype (in my opinion wholly unfounded as I’ve always found Scottish people hugely generous and welcoming) of Scottish people being somewhat careful in how they spend their hard-earned Whisky Tokens (Irn Bru is available for teetotallers). Indeed there was a television advertisement for a brand of crisps (chips) I recall from my youth of a Scottish gentleman enquiring about a packet of crisps (chips) and asking the shop-keep “You’ll no be having a sale?”. Like the stereotypical Scot, the caricature of a Yorkshireman is that of a person not inclined to part with his Beer Vouchers frivolously. Outrageously, I’ve heard “a Yorkshireman is just like a Scotsman only with the generous streak taken away” levelled at God’s own country-folk.

So to sum up this little preamble – I’m pretty careful when it comes to spending my dosh.

However, it seems that there are people out in HiFiLand that seem to object to pretty much any product that costs more than tuppence ha’penny and to not wanting to carry on the wholly unfair and wildly inaccurate stereotyping I thought I’d go in for a bit of wholly unfair and inaccurate stereotyping of my own.

What prompted this (perhaps) altogether inaccurate portrayal of clichéd consumers of audio equipment was our running of a news item about a product from a very well-known manufacturer and the comments it attracted from all sides of the audiophile spectrum. I would like to make the disclaimer that the types of people I describe are wholly made up and for amusement purposes only. Should you see yourself described herein then it is completely coincidental and unintentional.

I think it’s a useful point to make that everything over and above the basic human requirements for life (food, water, shelter, healthcare) could be seen as being luxury. That may be debatable, but the truth of the matter is that we don’t actually need HiFi, much in the same way we don’t need luxury watches, luxury cars, nice furnishings…the list is endless. However, as human beings we do like nice things and, unless you are someone who renounces all consumer products, we have all bought into the consumerist model to a greater or lesser extent.

Let’s have a look at some of these wholly inaccurate stereotypes of consumers of HiFi – I like t call then audiophiles.

I CAN’T AFFORD THAT AND SO I WILL SAY IT’S A RIP-OFF

This kind of person is all of us at some point or other, I reckon. When faced with something we can’t afford the (I would argue) natural response is to rail against it and claim it to be a rip-off. That’s all well and good, but you are not the market for this product. You may be one day, but at this time and place if you fall into this category then you are not the person that the marketing department had in mind when they created and priced this particular bauble. And let’s face it, we live in a consumerist society and any given company is going to charge what they think people will pay for a product – that’s what we have all bought into, as I mentioned. The inherent value of the product is neither here nor there because to someone, if the engineers, fabricators and marketing department have done their job properly, there will be value in the product – that may be they like the look, they are bought into the brand, the product is limited in number, the product is louder/faster/flashier/classier/more refined…any number of things.

However, if you can’t afford it then tough. Or save up. Move on…next consumer, please.

I CAN AFFORD THAT BUT I WILL SAY IT IS A RIP-OFF

Once again, you are not the market for this product. You have the money to spend on it should you so wish but, for whatever reason, you do not think the product is worthy of your hard-earned. You may well think that something else that others see as totally frivolous as being “up your street”, but in this particular instance the item in question just doesn’t push the right buttons. Now, this is an interesting group and whilst they may well spend their money on countless other consumer distractions, it would seem that the marketing department has, with regards to this particular product, not done their job properly. Or it might be that you just don’t like to spend your money and like to keep it invested so that it produces forth lots of little offspring notes and coins for you to further invest.

Whatever, the product is not for you…move on…next consumer, please.

I COULD MAKE THAT MYSELF FOR TUPPENCE HA’PENNY

We’ve all encountered these folk and I do get their logic…until I actually start to think about what goes into making and marketing a product, and the people the company employs, and the taxes the company pays, and the investment in machinery, and the rent of manufacturing facilities, and the money spent in R&D, and the cost of transporting the product…there’s lots more.

I applaud this kind of person and I do embrace and applaud that Do It Yourself kind of attitude, I really do, it’s just that I have zero skills with regards to building any kind of audio equipment and have no desire to learn any of those skills. However, should you build a copy of the product in question, please do be aware that just like the Rolex watch you know to be fake but buy it anyway, it’s potentially never going to have the same pride of ownership and it’s never going to sell (legitimately) for the same kind of money as the original product on the second-hand market. Some may argue the pride of ownership is actually higher with a DIY project and I do concede that point.

Once again, dear reader, this is a product not aimed at you…move on…next consumer, please.

I CAN’T AFFORD THAT BUT I’D QUITE LIKE IT

I find myself in this category quite a lot and with lots of different things. I can appreciate the Ferrari that drives by and I can picture myself driving down the main drag in St Tropez in it, but the truth of the matter is I’ve not got the kind of money to spunk on a flash car. The marketing department has done their job exceedingly well here. They have elevated the product to one that I desire but one that still remains tantalisingly just out of reach at this point in time. I’ve got options, of course. I could forego other consumerist luxuries and put the money I save towards this object of longing, or I could just realise that I’m never going to be in that position and buy something lower down the brand’s range. This happens all the time and I guarantee most folk reading will have at some point exhibited this characteristic – can’t afford a Cartier diamond necklace that costs fifty grand, then buy a Cartier watch that costs five. Can’t afford a Cartier watch, then buy the Cartier perfume (I don’t actually know if they do a perfume, but you get my drift). Or I could just buy a different product that I can afford.

Now, there is an interesting sub-division in this category of consumers who because they can’t afford product X get all uppity and claim that they can afford it but say they think it’s a rip-off anyway. It may be that the money is there but a significant other has put a spending block on frivolous purchases – whatever, it’s the same outcome just a different means to getting there. This sub-division seem to be the most vociferous in their putting down of a product, or so it would seem. In this case, the marketing department may has done its job so well that it has elicited an inappropriate emotional response from the consumer.

Whatever, you are not the target market and this product is not aimed at you specifically…move on…next consumer, please…or get saving.

IT’S NOT EXPENSIVE ENOUGH

Let’s face it, you can’t win. Whatever your product and whatever price you pitch it at there’s always going to be one particularly angry and shouty group who want to poke their shitty stick of disdain at it. So you as a manufacturer have built your product and you have built it to appeal to a budget consumer with a price that will be irresistible to this market – who could possibly moan? It may well be an excellent product, but whether you have skimped a little on the box it’s in to cut down on costs, or you have left out features present on your more expensive offerings then someone will invariably whine.

The group of people that grumble at this kind of product are wholly unfathomable in my book and are simply not worth expending energy on discussing the matter with.

This consumer may have jumped ship from any of the above categories and may well be bored and simply want something (anything) to pour their scorn on.

Alternatively, it may be that the person saying this is super-wealthy (or a snob) and simply wants whatever is perceived by them, and perhaps others, as being the very best and often this comes with a high price tag, though that high price tag doesn’t necessarily equate to absolute quality.

Whatever, if you don’t think it’s expensive enough then this product is not for you…move along…next (actually not a) consumer, please.

IT’S OBSCENE TO SPEND THAT KIND OF MONEY ON THAT!

I prefaced this article by saying that we have all bought into the consumerist model to a greater or lesser extent. However, I do get that the system is far from ideal and whilst we sit and look/listen to our £500/£5000/£50,000/£500,000 HiFi system I fully appreciate that there are untold numbers of poor unfortunate people living in abject poverty with barely enough money to feed themselves, never mind contemplate the luxuries of life. We are the fortunate ones, whether our disposable income is limitless or more restricted. If you place yourself in this category then I do applaud you – you have transcended the modern-day consumerist model and have achieved a life free of the needless consumerist trivia of life. However, I assume you are reading this without the aid of a mobile phone, laptop or tablet.

Needless to say, you can’t read this as I alluded to above, but you are the one person in this myriad stereotypes that I take my hat off to and say well done – and I don’t mean that in some kind of throwaway manner. I genuinely believe you are the idealist that has put their actions firmly where their beliefs lay and you are an inspiration to us all. I guess you are at this very moment off protesting the consumerist society and plotting its downfall, though likely the truth is somewhat different.

If you are this kind of person then you really ought to be out and about on the frontline and getting on with your self-sufficient small-holding and not reading about what, as mentioned, are luxury products in a HiFi magazine.

Whatever, this product and any other product on these pages is not for you…next consumer type, please.

I CAN AFFORD THAT AND I BOUGHT IT

Well done to both you and the marketing department. You are exactly the person that this product was aimed at and it has been pitched perfectly at you.

Enjoy your product.

TO RECAP

The top and bottom of all this is that HiFi, like many things, is not a necessity to life (YMMV) and as such is a luxury that we can, to a greater or lesser degree, choose to have in our lives or not. If you don’t like or don’t have the means to buy a product then you won’t buy it. If you have the money and you don’t want the product for whatever reason then you won’t buy it. If you don’t want to buy the product on ethical grounds and you live by those beliefs in all areas of your life then carry on, feel free to complain – but there are more pressing things in this world to which you could divert your energy and attention. If you do have the means and want to buy the product then carry on – but don’t flaunt it to the point of looking like a willy-waving-look-at-me-plebs kind of douche, it’s not a good look.

Stuart Smith

I may be guilty of one or all of the above at one point or another.