The more time I spend on forums like this, the more it amazes me how many audiophiles, apparently, make major moves or changes to their sound systems so frequently. Even if I had deep enough pockets to do that, I'm not at all sure I'd be inclined to. I'm the kind of audiophile that does his homework and tends to (thus far, anyway) buy major pieces of equipment that last and satisfies for decades. For example, I still have a working Sansui 2000X I purchased from the shop I cut my audiophile teeth at in 1972 (i.e. Tech HiFi Cambridge, MA). Of course, after 28 years of faithful service it became obvious my old friend's capacitors & transistors were tired and I had to replace it. I also had a Philips 212 Electronic I bought from Tech HiFi in 1972, as well. It, also, performed very well and faithfully, curiously, for 28 years, too, before finally giving up the ghost. Odd timing! Maybe it missed its old buddy, too. Rarely, have I made major upgrade moves purely predicated upon a desire to achieve a higher echelon of audio performance. What I've purchased, along the way, worked very well for its intended purposes, whether dorm room, bedroom, apartment or, now, a home with a good size living room. I know, or course, there was and is always something better out there than what I had or have now. There always is! I guess, comparatively, I've been content to, as the Doobie Brothers would say: "Listen to the music", rather than continually chase incremental audio performance improvements. Maybe, by definition, this means I'm not an audiophile at all. I am definitely a lover of music, though.
So, when buying gear retail I tend to identify the handful of local or, actually, not so local but within reasonable driving distance high-end audio shops and spend quality seat-time in critical listening auditions in the shops that have equipment I'm seriously interested in. I buy stuff from reputable on-line retailers, too, but only when I can't find what I want in a local shop at a reasonable price and only after a hefty amount of reading & research. I prefer to support brick & mortar shops, as much as possible. Although I have purchased a major component sight unseen, sound unheard, (i.e. turntable) on-line, I try to avoid this as much as possible. I prefer to see, feel, touch, operate and hear expensive gear before parting with substantial sums of cash. I just need to kick the tires on stuff like that. I know some folks prefer ordering stuff on-line and/or direct from manufacturers and you never really know what a major component will sound like in your sound room until you get it there. However, I like listening to a wide variety of stuff before a purchase, if possible, and I'm just too lazy to deal with the possibility of shipping something back that didn't quite measure up, was damaged in shipping, defective or whatever. Also, I'm the type of person that would be plagued by the "I wonder if this, that or the other thing would sound even better" syndrome.
As a result, my relationships with dealers, per se, tend to be somewhat ephemeral over the long haul because I don't buy stuff very often. That being said, however, my recent exploits have led to some pretty good relationships with several brick & mortar dealers and sales people that have worked in those shops for a good number of years. There's also one person, in particular, at an on-line dealer that I've developed a pretty good relationship with over the last several years by virtue of buying stuff like cables, interconnects and small but not entirely inexpensive tweaks like that. I would imagine folks who buy stuff and/or make major moves with their systems more frequently have solid connections with dealers of choice. Sounds a little like an addiction, doesn't it? Regardless, music and audiophile gear, as far as I'm concerned, are a splendid and soul-pleasing addiction at that!
Good post, cantorgale!
