Visited a Store and was shunned

Buying into products that belong to an Industry that is dead in the water from individuals at the sales frontline who really are struggling to recall a period when money was free and easy to extract from a customer. Especially as the through-the-door turnover of customers is no longer a thing, are creating a sales staff who are unwilling to massage a closed-won; it looks like a 'gift horse' is the level of trade they are willing to participate in. 

All very, very different to my experiences of the 90's when an audio retailer would reserve a room for a few hours as the minimum time allowance, sit a potential customer in the room with a hot beverage and a top-up if wanted. The only discussion outside of the structure for the demo period was the number of tracks preferred to be listened to for the demo, and whether the rep or customer was to change the Albums. All this offered in a real friendly manner in a selection of audio retailers.

Other audio retailers really under the influence of a Brand were not allowed to be so liberal in their dealings with a customer; the customer was wrong and needed education to teach them why the Brand was their only option for a purchase and why they should start budgeting for the upgrade route with immediacy. 

Those Brands with Billion Annual turnovers in the present market have a lot to answer for when the model used for sales is considered.  

@asvjerry 

If you ever get down to the Foothills from Asheville, there is a great store in Winston-Salem called Ember Audio.  The owner, Chris, is a great guy and the employees are top notch.

Asheville may be a "new" audio gear wasteland, but with all the high income retirement towns in WNC (Cashiers, Highlands, Blowing Rock, Flat Rock) I’ve seen some great deals on used gear up there.  Keep an eye out for some Heresy or Cornwalls for me!

“Buying into products that belong to an Industry that is dead in the water from individuals at the sales frontline who really are struggling to recall a period when money was free and easy to extract from a customer.”

@pindac - Are you always so upbeat?  Not that I disagree.  B&M Audio is not for sissys. That business hit headwinds from the start of the Internet and IMO will never be what it was, like so many other things. Just like the retail folks need to find their own niche and secret sauce to have a chance at success, customers should find the buying niche that best suits their personality and pocketbook since there are many more options now.

“There are too many Audiophiles that like to talk shop and kick tires but have no intention of purchasing anything only to complain about cost and glorify the old days.”

@dayglow - Maybe so, but the best retail associates know how to figure that out and extract themselves from the tire-kickers with class and without demeaning potential future customers.  The best shops should train their teams so that all customers have a similar positive experience.

Former Dynaudio dealer here, and with the Confidence line the dealer is contractually required to install the speakers in the buyer's home, which they cannot do if you're not local. Same with a lot of high end speaker companies. Selling to you and shipping them would likely violate their dealership agreement.

That they didn't tell you this is on them, but that would be a reason not to demo them for you. Not a good reason, but a reason. I would have set them up for a listen (if we'd had the 20's, which we did not) so you would at least know if you like 'em, but we're not a-holes lol. 

The best under $20k speaker Dynaudio has ever made was the Contour Legacy, but there's only 1k pair worldwide and they've all been sold.

Disclaimer, I personally have Confidence 60's which are my daily drivers (pun intended), and Heritage Specials in my 2nd system. We recently dropped Dynaudio for strictly business reasons, the product itself is excellent. Our Confidence 30's will likely show up here if we can't find a local buyer.

@ericrhodes1 - Indeed; The guys there are nice enough and you can usually get them to deliver and set up speakers and set up cartridges - they've been there forever and have a huge inventory of excellent gear, but they know me - I've been buying stuff there for decades - and it would be nice to be greeted with a smile and a 'Hey, how ya been doing?' or something, but that doesn't seem to happen and I'm usually left alone unless I start a conversation. I don't like to feel like I'm a bother.

On the other hand, when I stop into Music Lovers, I am greeted warmly even though I've not bought anything from them; they just don't have nearly as much gear there and concentrate on just a few brands like Wilson and Sonus Faber; a much more welcoming atmosphere.