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Visited a Store and was shunned

I live in an area where brick & mortar stores are not easily assessable to demo equipment. While traveling for business, I decided to stop by an establishment on the U.S. West coast. My interest was in the Dynaudio Confidence 20 since I’m looking to upgrade from the Contour 20i. I’m not here to name names or throw anyone under the bus, just purely to voice my frustration and disbelief on how I was treated.

I was greeted with skepticism and a general lack of interest in discussing the product. There were two gentlemen working that day and neither had any interest in answering questions or providing a listening demo. As a matter of fact, when I asked to listen to the Confidence 20 speakers one of them immediately said “no way”. Both speakers were on stands sitting next to several amplifiers so it wouldn’t have taken much time to setup.

I was intent on making a purchase that day and having the speakers shipped to my residence, but decided to leave the store based on my experience.

It’s a shame that most of us have to relay on equipment reviews when establishments such as this lack interest in the customers that support the hobby.

vette5451
whart's avatar
whart
3,381 posts
 

I haven't been in a retail store in a long while, but I agree with those that say it is a courtesy (for them, for you) to call in advance. That said, you should not have been treated shabbily. The caliber of dealer has always varied greatly- Jim Smith once wrote about this- the small handful that "get it" are to be treasured. The market today is ever tougher-- and there are fewer dealers chasing a smaller segment of the public for the so-called "high end." Keep in mind too that in the human experience, you are going to encounter a range of people, from the passionate to the jaded, the helpful to the rude. Does make life interesting. 

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,613 posts
 

My friend and I visited Audition Audio in Birmingham AL back in the 1980s.    We were treated well.  Pretty sure it was Jim Smith himself who helped us.  We both ended up buying a pair of Magnepans that day.  Best sounding Magnepan setup I have ever heard,  but not easy to reproduce at home.

erik_squires
17,551 posts
 

And I know this sounds insane, but honestly the enthusiast Audio buyer is being squeezed out by the mega buck pure consumer.  

By this I mean, they don't want to investigate DAC chips, or speaker material, or think about horns vs. planars.  They want to buy a home theater system and be assured it's wroth the million dollars. 

Development money is tight, and in home theater for instance, having the funds to keep up with video/HDMI/audio and licensing issues is a very expensive proposition. 

I don't know this for sure, but my feelings are that Theta Digital ran into this, and tried for a while to bridge the consumer and installer markets, and finally gave up on the walk-in consumer.  I think other brands may have also.  Honestly I say this with very little evidence, so take this with a grain of salt.  I'd love to understand this whole marketting/dollar dynamic better. 

erik_squires
17,551 posts
 

on a related note, I think Stereophile, TAS and the like probably spend more time thinking about those installers as their prime audience than we realize. 

onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,437 posts
 

Regarding making an appointment.  If you want someone to do something for you, then you should make it as easy as possible for them to do what you want.  Making an appointment and letting them know what your intentions/expectations are is a way of making it easy for the retailer.

Many years ago I had the owner of a multi-store Chicago area hi-fi emporium tell me that audiophiles were a pain to deal with.  They would spend hours talking and listening, but not do that much buying.  They were tolerated as long as they didn't interfere with paying customers.

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