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Ideal Manufacturers for your local hi-fi shop...?

I'm a college student, and am majoring in Business and Econ/Finance to one day open up an audio shop. I want to focus on multi-channel music reproduction and true high fidelity home theater; something worth listening to music on.

This coming semester I will be in an Entrepreneurship (Small Business Management) class and have to create a fictional business, my choice as to what business seems obvious.

I’ve chosen a few manufacturers that I believe offer a good balance to and selection for a variety of price ranges. This will be a mostly audio based store, so keep that in mind. I would like feedback from the experts/obsessed, like myself, as to what vendor you would recommend adding or omitting to this list. Please keep in mind a couple of things though. 1. This is not a list of my favorite manufacturers; the goal is a list of an ideal selection. 2. The list will ideally be as short as possible as I will just starting out and will make life and the project easier. 3. Any advice on how to get vendors to sell at a brand new store (under real life circumstances) would be greatly appreciated. 4. The goal is high end home theater and multi-channel music reproduction, but we all know 2 channel can’t be ignored.

Parasound Halo (very attractive products, a good 2 channel preamp, the JC-1 bargain “A” rated bargain monoblocks)
Rotel (the only “receiver” offered for those wanting a smaller system, as well as a more affordable home theater alternative with there cheaper pre/pros, they also offer a universal disc player)
Meridian (The cutting edge in digital sources and pre/pros, the G series would be a very attractive option for most customers, hopefully.. No desire to sell their speakers if possible)
PS Audio (A wide range of power products, but not as generic as the Monster brand I would not sell their audio cables if possible)
Audioquest (Once again we have a single company with a solid background and a wide range of product. They also appear to me to be a good value)
Mark Levinson (All the amplification I could want, as well as the best 2 channel pres and cd players I would offer)
Revel (For a class A rated speaker the Ultima Studio is a bargain and offers full range in both frequency and dynamics, they also offer a worthy center, the most important channel, and surrounds. Their new SUB30 is supposed to be great as well.)
Totem Acoustic (This would be my average speaker, they offer a traditional look with wood grains versus the modern Revels, they also are dynamic yet small to be room friend [waf] They Their price range would dip to the bottom end, with the rainmaker or Dreamcatcher paired with a rotel receiver)
Gallo Acoustic (Once again we have a bargain buy with the Reference 3, but also another worthy center, the Duo. They also offer a great alternative to in-walls for those with picky decors.

I want each and every comment from all that took the time to read this entire thread, sorry so long, and thanks a ton for the help.
Patrick Mahoney from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais IL.
eclipse911t
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loonytunz
164 posts
 
How about BAT? They offer very nice entry level 2 channel gear all the way up to state of the art goodies (including a killer multi-channel amp.) Products include a good mix of SS and tube equipment and a world class disc spinner.

Of course the drawback is that they aren't gearerd toward mutli-channel systems, but I would consider this as an alternative to ML.

Also of importance, they have the best customer service I have ever experienced.
prpixel
876 posts
 
Well, if you thinking of doing HT, then here are a few things to consider:

1. Most people don't care about sound quality when it comes to HT; they want boom and sizzle.

2. If you're doing just HT, then you're going to have to do custom install and whole house audio.

3. Your also going to have to learn to program remotes such as pronto, crestron, elan, lexicon, etc.

4. Most people who spend big bucks on HT/WHA(whole house audio) don't care about the sound; they don't want to see it (inwall speakers) and they want it easy to use.

I've been affiliated (I did the home automation)with a couple of local "hi-end" stores over the years. Their bread and butter is custom install. Retail makes up very little of the bottom line.

Example: you sell a guy a 42" plasma for $3000 which has about $600 in profit in it. You sell him the wall mount bracket, cables and install for an additional $2000 with about $1600 in profit. So, which would you rather sell - the tv or the install? Or, you can sell a customer $30000 of gear like Denon, Sony and Yamaha and then charge him $100000 for the install and programming of the remotes. I saw one customer spend over $1,000,000 on a system for his 22,000 square/foot mansion, which doesn't include the 7 car garage. The audio gear was less than $200,000 which including many crestron touch-screen panels.

Remember, High-end and audiophiles are a very small minority.

I've seen stores cater to just the very high end and go out of business and I've seen stores cater to the "entry level" of high-end and go under also. You have to strike a balance. Remember the guy that's spending $250,000 doesn't really want to rub elbows with the guy spending $500. Just like the guy spending spending $200 on a gourmet meal doesn't want to sit next to the guy spending $10 on the early bird bistro menu special.
cinematic_systems
282 posts
 
Your brand selection is 90% all wrong, if you're focusing on multi channel then why are you're selling the wrong speaker systems and your amplification choices are basically only competent 2 channel solutions.

Put some more thought into it, right now you're just name dropping and not doing a good job at dropping the right ones. The Ultima Studio is not a bargain and grossly underachieves because of shortsited design. You actually think the Revel Studio is any better than the Meridian 5502? It really isn't, if you setup the Meridian speaker properly. As it stands the Meridian speakers are the only ones designed properly to work as a surround system in your proposed store. So you're already dumping the only competent speaker system in your store.

You'd be out of business in less than a year and not any good at multi channel. You have to think about the people where you live or go to school, the everyday bread an butter people who will keep your business alive. Not the finicky tire kicking audiophile who won't embrace surround for atleast another decade and will buy his JC-1 mail order because it makes sense.

I'm not giving you any specific brand suggestions because you won't learn anything but let me tell you Mark Levinson is a terrible choice, Revel is so so, Totem is neat but not multichannel savvy.

Rotel won't sound good on any of your speakers etc. Parasound is Parasound. Gallo? the Duo as a center channel? LOL!!!

I'm being harsh on purpose, but I suggest you learn yourself how to design a proper surround system then begin building systems at likely consumer price points. The store is about serving your customers not yourself. They come to you because you're supposed to be an expert. Right now if you ignore Meridian, your systems are going to be very expensive and be pretty mediocre.

Final tip;

What speaker is the most important speaker in a surround system? This question should be the key to your product selection for speakers. The speakers will guide the electronics etc.

Having some fun with you, but put some more thought into this, or pray your teacher knows very little about audio equipment.
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