life without audio dealers

There are a few products that I have been interested in where there was no way to see anywhere...either they have no dealer or they are really rare. In these cases I have contacted the manufacture about hearing the product. Most always when I told them where I live they said that they had a few people in the region that would be able to see their product. Most of the time these are other audiophiles who then contact me about hearing said product. I was even able to make a few friends this way by people coming over with said product and hooking it up and having some beers.

I will admit that I have done the borrow "product" from my local hifi shop just to purchase it cheaper online, and I would probably do it again. No reason to pay retail plus tax when you can purchase at a fraction of retail, right?

Anyhow, it is in communities like this that we can all get exposed to products and others who own those products. It seems to me that if we banded together we would be able to audition almost anything you could think of and never have to travel much more than a few hundred miles, but this would require people to open their homes to others, and in today’s society this seems to be difficult for most…hell we could even rent gears to each other or create a loaner society where people can pay shipping to borrow gear to other audiophiles….kind of like the cable company or something.

What really needs to happen is that most manufactures need to sell directly to the public. If they did they would probably make more sales because the factory direct costs would be much lower than the dealer markups. I saw a dealer price list for a few different brands, and we are talking like 50-70% markups on some of these things...Imagine what kind of systems we could have if you could get high $$$$$ items from the manufacture at cost!

Ben

Ok guys...let me clear something up. I have only borrowed one piece of equipment from a dealer, and only after spending two months salary on some speakers and new cables that he was kind enough to give me a 10% discount on. He was a very nice guy who I still go and talk to when I visit my home town...as for where I live now, I have very little good to say about the "primary" high end dealer here. Last time I went to his shop, I went with a buddy who had a number of thousands of dollars burning a hole in his pocket and wanted my input on some equipment that he was interested in (note, I had helped him with some other purchases and he found me more knowledgeable than any dealer he had ever visited). He and I were totally put off by the dealer when he began arguing with me about something that I was obviously better schooled in than he. You would figure if a dealer wanted to make a sale (which my buddy was READY to do) he would have been much more collegial in his ability to make conversation with other people...That seems to not be the case with all but a few of the best dealers I know. One of my favorite dealers is based in my home town (different from the one I spoke of above) and has been operating throughout the region (and I am talking a number of states in the middle of this country). He has always been great to talk to and very into all the newest trends and pieces of equipment (which is neat for a “old” guy)...However the last time I went into his store one of his new helpers was working the floor and I was reminded again about how stuck up most of the people in this business are...He criticized my system and then he criticized me...but worst of all he criticized the music with which I wanted to demo some equipment. WHAT? This is my music which I like and I find to really show weakness or strength in a system. Perhaps it revealed too many of the obvious defects.

Personally, I don't consider myself to know very much about this hobby when I look at some of the others who have been doing this a long time, but I like to consider myself as being among the new generation of audiophile. I have never owned a record player (with the exception of the playschool one I had when I was a kid). And I can pretty much guarantee that I am at least 20 years younger than the median age of people interested in audio reproduction and equipment. As being such, I find myself much more at home in the digital realm than in the analogue. It is probably the product of being born around the same time that computers began their surge into people’s homes and being taught to use a computer at school.

As for my idea of having people come into my home or me go into their homes and listen…Brimac, I take offence to the idea that you would even suggest that I would steal equipment from a fellow audiophile. I have opened my home up to many people to come and take a listen and have had the favor returned to me by few. I do really think that one should hear equipment before one starts to spend money in the extreme amounts, but if you are planning on spending $10000 on a CD Player, or a pair of speakers or, or, or… what would be $300 on airfare to go hear and see it live. Additionally what would in the same case, shipping from a equipment lender and a rental fee much like the cable company be for a piece of equipment…Perhaps I should start an equipment library. It just seems to me that there would be the potential to get more exposure to much more equipment if there were something like this. (and have you ever looked at their used cable list….they are still making a profit on that price too, as well as the money they have made off of their rentals)…As for me now, I just look for good deals on a number of different brands of equipment, and purchase what ever I am interested in….If I like it great, if not, off it goes to some other interested party.

I guess that for some I do see the interest of having dealers around….and if it were not for a great dealer I would have never known what is capable from an audio system. But there is another part of me that wishes that my local dealers understood my appetite for different equipment and would do something to appease me. If I were able to purchase equipment somewhere from a dealer at a deep discount (lets say they get a 10% commission over dealer price) I would be happy to continue to spend upwards of $10,000 a year (which is about my current yearly rotating equipment budget, and will only increase as I get my career going) on equipment that they carry, but there is probably not a dealer out there that would allow this, and it is not even worth my time to try and do this when I have the possibility of purchasing things here on the GoN...

Finally because of the lack of quality customer service, the ability to do research on my own, and my own equipment fund for auditioning equipment, I will probably never set foot in any but the highest end dealers…but I still can’t see myself purchasing anything from one of them when there is perfectly good equipment available here and fractions of the cost.

Ben

Duke,

No, actually the dealer that I borrowed equipment from was not the one who really set me on my journey. The company that I borrowed equipment from was one in which I had pretty much maxed out what they had to offer when I purchased there (and I wanted to try something in addition to what I had purchased). As for the dealer that set me on my way, they used to be nice, but their new staff has turned me off to them. I am sure Duke that you are different than most of the dealers out there. I just visited your website and saw that you offer hotel accommodations and airfare if someone makes a purchase from your store. Just because of that if I am ever interested in a pair of Sound Labs you would probably be the first person I would contact. You perfectly fall into my idea that people should fly to where the products are in which they are interested...especially when preparing to make a large purchase like a pair of Sound Lab speakers. Great policy and I think many others would be wise to take a page from you book.

Best to you Duke and happy New Year!
Ben

You know guys, as I read some of the threads on this site I notice that for some reason there are people out there that refuse to see the arguments from both sides and I think that it is these conflicts that keep things in this business from progressing. People here hide behind their screen names and sense of experience to dictate what they think should happen in this market. There is way to much tension between those who are intimately involved in this business and those who purchase equipment or would wish (like myself) to be more involved.

You have to think at this point that most every serious audiophile in the United States has heard about this site and visited it at least once. Maybe they purchased something, perhaps they wrote in a thread...but this is a great place for ideas to be expressed by those who are interested in seeing the business continue for generations like mine.

I look out of my window and see a lot of pretty bad things happening out there that make me think there are some even worse times on the near horizon. I fell that this could destroy a lot of the things that we hold dear. If we don't be careful we could see this whole business slip away, and then when I am really ready to drop some money on some items there will be no one around to provide anything for me. :-) But seriously, there is another thread right now "why is the industry so lame" in which there are some great points made about what may be some of the problems in this industry right now. But then again arguing about it will not make things any better.

When I was in school, I was a Resident Assistant and one of the things we did was try and solve problems. Perhaps the industry has lost site of the ability to provide for people this problem solving ability. Maybe what we should do is have some concentration groups that could develop some new products that would have much more marketability and appeal to the new generation of people...then we could use these new products to draw people into the hifi shops, where we could show them what is really possible in the realm of audio.

One of the things that upset me about my local dealer was that he was not willing to discuss the possibilities that exist in the realm of computer audio, while he had the Slim Devices products on display in his shop. Tell me, why would you display items like this if you felt they were inferior to other items in your shop. If anything he should use items like this to draw new young people who are interested in audio into his shop and try and sell them something in addition to the new item in which they are interested...Just my thoughts though.

Ben