Do the main manufacturers make a profit from the budget end anymore?

[admin_exported]

I just wondered with micro systems and mini systems, mp3 players being so popular, does that signal that manufacturers are continuing to scale back the production of budget speakers amps and cd players etc because there simply isn't a good profit to be made now?

If that is the case, where do you see the seperates market in 5-10 years time?

 

[chebby]

Mini systems and ghetto blasters and Walkmans were being churned out in huge numbers 25 - 30 years ago and it never spelt the end of seperates then or since.

If there were no profit in budget seperates then there would be none around now.

Last time I looked there are... Cambridge Audio, Marantz, NAD, Rotel, Rega, Sony (just about) all still producing budget seperates and developing new ones.

Yamaha have even stepped back into the 2 channel seperates game for the first time in ages with their S1000 and S2000 range of CDs and amps.

As for speakers, there are plenty at budget prices and even a few good budget turntables still doing well. (Pro-ject and Rega)

In 5 - 10 years time the seperate amps and speakers will still be around, although I think traditional seperate CD players will have started to become a speciality niche by then. (Certainly in 10 years anyway).

 

[matthewpiano]

There continues to be profit in budget 2 channel seperates. I was talking to a specialist hi-fi dealer only yesterday who said that they were planning to re-focus more and more on 2 channel audio and stop selling so many TVs and home cinema items. He said that the 2 channel hi-fi market never really went away and that it is still very much the bread and butter of his business.

As for Sony they, like Panasonic (whose seperates were branded Technics), they chose to focus more on the television and audio-visual side of things. Their seperates range has continued to get smaller for some time and its pretty much defunct at the bottom end now. They do still make a couple of fairly expensive ES range SACD players but these are intended to match the multi-channel home cinema amps of the same range.

Its been very good to see companies like Marantz, Denon (both now part of the same holding company but developing technology independently), Yamaha, Rotel, NAD and Cambridge producing such a variety of budget hi-fi again and I honestly can't see that changing any time soon.