certin speaker makers harder to get dissounts fro

Bignerd,im not implying anything & im not mistaken, my figures are a fact,'certain' dealers get additional discounts for being a select/premire dealer of certain brands & they also get another discount for paying their bill to the manufacturer within 30 days & the added discount percentage's are not small,do these additional discount's not apply ?

notice that i wrote "up to 60%" when i was refering to mark up & that reflects on some of the highest priced speaker models on the market,not every model has a mark up in that range but they are there none the less, you are correct that certian manufacturer's have no discount rule's but the problem with that is that not everybody follow's these rule's so where does that leave the consumer ?

all the guy's who preach the death of hifi kill me,hifi isnt going anywhere nor are dealer's, the same guy's tout this big wealth of knowladge that can be gained from dealer's,i'll agree that you can get good advice from any competent dealer but that advice alway's come's at a price.

When customer X comes into the store and is in love with speaker Y that he read a glowing review of in publication Stereophile do I start lugging the box out to his car with my pocket full of cash?

No. I and quite a few other sleazy salespeople qualify the customers possibly misplaced lust for a possibly over hyped POS that got a great review. Often a more appropriate for room/equipment/listening preference product is available for the same if not lower price.

Is this 30 second redirection easier and more cost effective than reading hours of anonymous threads, purchasing without audition (at a great discount!), waiting, setting up, waiting for break-in, and only then realizing that this was not the right product for you?

When you go to Outback Steakhouse and ask the super-duper intelligent waiter for a recommendation on a meal that will satiate you for 8 hours you not only pay full price without hesitation,... you tip 10-15% for the honor of getting a medium steak when you ordered mid-rare and a 10 minute wait for a second Budweiser.

Go get good advice, a personalized demo, an in-home demo, from a knowledgeable salesperson on a product that you may keep and enjoy every day for 20 years and you beat him out of his commission and the store out of some of the profit that it uses for little things like electricity, wages, insurance, pest control, paper for the printer, etc.

Sure dealers get any number of different incentives to pay bills on time/early, buy in quantity, and demo entire lines of products. These huge sums of money keep them in the black too right?

Profit=good thing.
(Unless you are a communist.)

Freedom, pride, victory!

About a year ago I was wanting to purchase a $6000.00 subwoofer for my HT setup. I could not get my local dealer to give me the same great price I could find online, after several emails to the owner of the local store I purchased my sub from him. What I got for the higher price I paid was about 3 hours of the salespersons time in my home, 30 miles away, to properly set up the sub in my system, which also included some help recalibrating other parts of my system that I did not even purchase from him. I paid for the personal service I got but I have been fully satisfied with the sub in my home and feel confident that the dealer will be there to assist me further if I have the need. Like everyone else here I want to purchase for the best price I can but sometimes we get what we pay for. Thanks and good luck.

Cjlcapp,
Anyone who thinks a 50-60% markup is "wrong" has obviously never spent any time in retail. Many things are marked up many times over, clothes for example. A markup of 50% only gives you a gross profit of 33% try living on that after expenses. Perhaps discounting is more of a standard practise, but these days it seems like everyone has this sense of entitlement when it comes to pricing. I make a point of buying my music from a local independent record store, prices may be a little higher but I know where the money's going. Try getting a part time job in an audio store and check out the economic realities first hand, it can be sobering.

Big Joe, I have a very good handle on reality. I've worked in retail I know what kinda margins big box stores have in comparison to high end stores. The margins in High end stores are set high for a reason, they need them to surive. They don't deal in volume, they deal taking customers showing them or introducing them to hifi and hopefully holding on them them for life. Discounts are fine, but to take a person's time...sometimes hours then beat them down on price then wonder why they are closed for business well...I think it add's up.

Actually, you mentioned some dealers not changing with the times, the ones that have survived have done it not through discounting but shifting focus from Audio, to Home Theatre.

In my area (Greater Toronto Area) I can think of at least 4 dealers that use to deal in high end audio but have now taken a more mid-fi approach to Home Theatre. The reason is simple, there is no money left in Audio based on custmomers expecting the same service in the late 80's early 90's and todays trend for discount pricing. They can't afford to sell 1 pair of Wilson Audio speakers a month at 30% off.

Two channel audio is a risky enough business to begin with. Count how many friends you have, now how many are serious about music? The percentage will be small I'm sure. Now take that small percentage and have a dealer cut deals to all of them. There isn't enough money left over at the end of the month to pay for bills. If you think I'm wrong count again how many two channel dealers now focus more on home theatre. I mention all of this because I'm not a wealthy man, so I buy used. Never do I walk into a high end dealers showroom ask a bunch of questions spend time with the equipment then ask for a crazy deal.

There is nothing wrong with saving money, but there is nothing wrong with making some either. And quite frankly, in today's climate high end dealers aren't reaping the rewards of years gone by.