Why are dealers so scared to sell product out of

Simple, the distributors don't want dealers competing. If you have competition than pretty soon, you'd have discounting, God forbid!

It's a real shame that these disbributors and manufacturers are so shortsighted. Brick and Mortar audio is dead, let's move on.

My advice is to keep trying. Some of the dealers will work with you regardless of these dealer agreements.

For people that have a full service retail shop that actually keeps their half of the consumer bargain, I agree, those people should pay full retail price. Since the vast majority of audiophiles do not have such a retail establishment, we should not have to pay full price.

I do not have a dealer providing any of the following:
1. Large inventory of demo-able components and speakers.
2. Ability to visit many times and just browse with no pressure to buy until I'm ready.
3. Knowledgable advice.
4. Post sales service.
5. Trade ins welcome.

Instead, I have local dealers with zero demo stock who have not even heard the product I want to buy. They know far less about the product than I do. Yes, they are willing to allow me to walk in, order the multi-thousand dollar product and let me pick it up (and carry to my car myself) when it arrives and only ask for a mere 40% of the sales price for their service. No thanks.

And yes, I'd love it if all high end was simply sold on amazon at the lowest cost possible to the consumer. Really I don't see what the difference would be to most audiophiles....

Br3098,

I don't hear the gear before I buy it. I buy it, live with it for a few weeks and sell it if I'm not totally satisfied. Since I buy low, I can sell for little loss. With this sytem I get to home demo everything I buy.

But, if the manufacturers would stop fighting the inevitable change to their business model, they could stop propping up failing dealers and instead focus on more audio shows. Also, as I suggested before, they should be producing high quality videos of their gear with high end pro mics. This is obviously not the same as an in person demo, but it would still go a long way.

If something breaks, then the manufacturer must provide some type of service. Why does that require a dealer? Bryston for example services all their amps themselves.