The Lawyers Have Taken Over Audio

OK, I'm going to interupt the piling on for a moment to say that I have made a couple of purchases from Gideon Schwartz and Audio Arts In New York.

Even though I live on the opposite coast, he has provided to me tremendous advice and has been very fair in both his dealings and his pricing. Whomever wrote the article did everything they could to make the hobby and the equipment sound overpriced and unachievable which is absolutely not the way that the Gideon with whom I have done business would have likeley preferred.

He champions some very small brands with very limited distribution so the prices reflect the small production realities when it comes to price and yet, he will proudly set you up an entry level system for alot less money than the article stated....he carries 47 labs among other reasonably priced equipment. He takes trades, takes a full system approach and truly has a passion for the hobby.

Why wouldnt we want a guy to open a shop and prosper? He travels the world to discover brands and has the courage and financial strength to import them. There are a number of dealers who fill this need and yet they get bashed in this forum, I don't understand. At a minimum, isn't it great that someone purchases some expensive gear, lightly uses it for a brief time, trades it in and then Gideon lists it on Audiogon where someone like me can finally afford it? I have purchased twice from him and will hopefully do so in the future.

Other great dealers like him deserve our patronage when possible....Peter at Venice Audio, Matt at Pitch Perfect, Fred at Katli, Sunil at Sunny! Walter at Fidelis and there are many more. Shouldn't we be pulling for these guys to prosper and advance the hobby rather than to slam them? What about the Wall Street guy who shells out the 6 figures for his gear....these dealers need them so they can afford to help the rest of us. Peace.

Again, I'm saddened that the attacks on high end audio don't just come from those who don't any better, but from some within the hobby who should.

I can agree that to many people, higher priced merchandise of any consumer category may not make sense. If you consider a car a transportation appliance then a Bentley versus a Honda Accord is a comparison that the Bentley can't win. The Honda is more reliable, efficient, cost effective operationally and better on the environment. So some people might even extrapolate that anyone who spends more than say $40k on transportation is an idiot. The same can be said for watches where the gap for a time appliance price wise is crazy. Free time on your cell phone vs. $100k+ for some rare Pateks. The comparisons for everything on earth have a wide field of vision....housing? nourishment? clothing?

But we are forgetting that innovation is typically pretty expensive on the front end of virtually any new technology. Anyone else here remember a dual floppy disk, 1st gen Intel chipped IBM PC for $10k? Using the logic of some on this board would lead to the conclusion that there is no need to develop the pc to begin with because it simply doesnt make any pricing sense. But innovation piggy backs and goes exponential in a hurry. Just compare outboard DACs of 20 years ago(ML 30.5!) with a new Audioquest Dragonfly at $250! The performance gap got pretty narrow in a relatively short time. I happen to be one who applauds the boutique manufacturers pushing the performance envelope and charging what they must to stay in business and make a profit. I cant afford it but I can sure learn from the experience of hearing it, whether the sound is better or worse is an individual thing. The marketplace will determine if they stay in business and whether it was was an ill advised business model. If it weren't for dealers like we are discussing here, nothing "outside the box" would have a retail outlet which is, for better or worse, an objective arena to determine an opinion on sound quality. Furthermore, dealers with really affordable and inexpensive products have been driven to sell home theater installations or move their pricepoints way upmarket to survive. Why, because we consumers have forced it by discounting the value added by the dealer channel. I plead guilty on this too, I have to seek out the best value I can to stretch my buying power. That is natural for all of us so I try to buy preowned or demo to maximize my system dollar but I also buy some new product. When dealing with an excellent dealer, I thank them for their patience and time spent with me and for having product on hand for me to experience. Stocking dealers are a rare sighting in the wild, shouldnt we support them rather than denegrate them?

Back to the example of the automobile...how many well paying jobs does the manufacture of one Bentley create compared to one Honda Accord? Is the stitching of a leather seat identical for both cars or does one require more care and skill? We can agree that seating stitching doesn't affect 0-60 times or gas mileage or some other arbitrary measure, but it matters to the purchaser and the craftsman performing the work. After all, isnt that the true test? Are both parties happy with the transaction?

At the end of the day, I simply don't understand the mean spirited potshots toward a fellow lover of audio and of high end dealers in general. Giedeon's silence on the matter shows a great deal of class because I know with certainty that he was severely misquoted in virtually every paragraph, he was not provided an advance copy of the article for proofing or fact checking and I believe the author had a motive to exagerate system pricing for the investment banking elite. The WSJ has slipped a great deal under Murdoch's ownership.

If you havent heard the systems he coordinates but you choose to criticize, thats simply unfair. I hope the vast majority of fair minded hobbyists would make this type of behavior unwelcome here. Hey its one thing to debate a real point of difference and to even dog on one another a bit....fun debate. But unfair trashing when you dont know what you are talking about is indeed unfortunate. Peace.

Rok2id, I agree with you, if the article had not featured someone I know to be the antithesis of those traits, I would have just chuckled and moved along. Fortunately, I know Gideon has immense character and his ethics are beyond reproach.