Are Dealer Recommendations Useful or Useless?

Bigkidz,
Did you actually go into each store, or were you doing this by e.mail or phone? Your comment about just a "quick note back" from them leads me to suspect that you were doing this by e.mail. If that is how you approached your research, you're lucky they even replied to you.
If you live hundreds of miles away from any dealer, that's different. But if you're close enough to go a take a look & listen, you should be doing just that. A dealer will be more likely to spend some time with you if you're there, instead of an anonymous person on the phone or on e.mail.

Another thing to note on the objectivity of dealers when it comes to recommendations, of course he'll recommend his products. However don't forget that he has probably tried or heard MANY OTHER brands, has rejected them and does not carry them in his store. So, his experience may be much wider than you would think.

My friend was shopping at Sound by Singer in NYC and he's got a recommendation for Tannoy R2 speaker. Not the speaker to my tastes, but after that the dealer offered him Monster M2.4 $600 speaker cable. When he brought this real thick Monster I showed him that the price shows nothing and high quality RadioShack wire does nearly the same saving him nearly $600 for better amplifier not speaking of the first mistake of purchasing R2 speakers.

The moral is that whenever the dealer has the highest mark-up he will promote the product and such product should deserve minimum or no attention from the consumer. The higher markup the higher bull-hit.

Marakanetz, I was there a few days ago! They have a very good selection of name brands to choose from but I cannot waste their time because I know I will not buy at their list prices. The sales rep did know alot about each manufacturer but like someone already posted, your ears may want something different. I did email each dealer who carried a specific brand of electronics to see how they would respond to my specific questions regrading speakers. I did expect to get this response but I was hoping for a little more insight I guess.

Thanks for the replies.

Also folks bare in mind that mark-up on Bose speakers is very close if yet not larger to the markap on kilobuck-per-meter interconnects or speakerwires.

I suppose the dealer use to be the backbone of high end audio. In this day of computers and internet sales it has become less so. It has been my 40 years of experience that a good dealer is the best resource for audio. That said, I just haven't found that many good dealers out there. Many are more concerned with a one time sale and then move on to the next guy. I always try to purchase locally but find myself using the net more and more, not only used but from online dealers. I recommend doing your homework, making your own choices and than going to a dealer to purchase the item. It only makes common sense that a dealer is going to recommend what he sales.