"High end" store snobbery

From the store stand point. Yes vintage 2channel audio gear can hold up and be relevant for years. The technology does change, but the basic premise of the equipment does not. AV gear is for the most part out dated and left with limited use after two years. I have a pioneer av paid $1000 for it. It is 7-1 new is now 11-1, does not process 4k or Dolby atmos, only one hdmi out, this is just the short list of what tech has left it a relic. Yes it does still work and we still enjoy it but I have to be very creative and run three individual remotes to get the very limited most out of it. If you went into the store with a vintage 2 channel integrated or separates there would be a better chance.

I will assume to that dealer, you were a tire kicker.  That is why we have the Listening Room in northern New Jersey.  You get to hear reference components, learn about what makes something sound the way it does, bring your own gear to hear how they compare, and enjoy spending time listening to music as long as you want to. We enjoy meeting new people and showing off!

Happy Listening.  

I know how you feel. There's one 'high end' store in my city and a scattering of a few more 50-100 miles away. The one in my city has always been a cold place to visit---dark rooms, dusty most of the time and snobby (why, I don't know). I have visited them on several occasions hoping for a different experience and giving them the benefit of the doubt. But I always leave disappointed. So, I drove to the other places (one was about 55 miles and the other about 98 miles away) and couldn't have been happier with my experience. I dropped some good money and helped support some good stores. If only the one in my town would do the same.

I’m not sure why our hobby seems to attract (in certain locales) the occasional indifferent dealer or the occassional hyper-sensitive customer.

When I was younger, there were a fair number of electronic techs who had slowly evolved into stocking new gear for retail sale. Many of those shops were dusty, cluttered and required from the customer the commitment to endear yourself to the typically crusty WWII vet electronics guru. Those are mostly a distant memory but on occasion, they mentored someone to take over that particular business who were satisfied with the status quo. I remember on one occasion years ago when someone brought in a Japanese table radio for repair and he ripped them a new one and told them to get out of his store and to never come back. I aksed him what they had done to offend him and he went on to tell me the story of how he was a radio guy in the Navy and as a POW in WWII he had endured the Bataan forced march.

He just decided when liberated and back home he would never do anything he didn’t want to do ever again. Oh, and he said he had nothing against the Japanese people, he was just offended at the post WWII electronics they built and the people who bought them. LOL.

In short, if you are going to buy “throw away” gear, buy it from the dealer you want to build a relationship with…those shelves you saw were populated with entry level gear they sold to their customers who upgraded. Thats about the only time you can trade in that stuff is from the person who originally told you how good it was…they have to take it in on trade (if they take trades) or risk being viewed as disingenuous.

Don't cry in you beer MOVE ON.