Is my Salesman telling the Truth?

Interestingly, an experienced Audiogon member (who has researched and auditioned many wires) is very likely to have much broader, and more in-depth knowledge than many sales people about wires, IMHO.

I've done a lot of business at my nearest hifi shop but they only carry Tara and Kimber "wires", and I wanted a broader choice so I went through The Cable Co. and in the course of auditioning and selecting ICs and spkr cables, I actually learned more, about many more wires, than a small store sales guy could. I now consider myself much more knowledgeable about wires than many sales people.

And the interesting thing is that they know, that I know more than them, about many more "wires". Of course the exceptions are sales people that are also heavily into audio and thus may have broad knowledge about wires, but usually, because of price breaks, they will use the store brand(s).

It's not my intent to insult sales reps. here-- many are knowledgeable and courteous, but they still want to sell their store products, and in fact they may well believe that their wires really are best. But are they best for everything? I trust my ears when it comes to "my" system. Cheers. Craig.

Are his lips moving? Then no.

Best way to buy speaker cables is to stroll into the audio "salon" with a 10 foot pair of large gauge radio shack speaker wires rolled up in your hand. Tell him you are looking for something that sounds better, but costs less. This will get his attention...and let him know right up front that YOU know what you are doing...and that YOU are not a person to be lied to. Seriously...all salesmen are trained to explain the features/benefits of the products they sell and explain why they are superior to the competition. This gets harder to do when their product is not obviously better...or is in fact obviously worse than the competition. Even harder still when the differences (as is the case with audio cables) are highly subjective when used with so many different componets. At this point, the salesmen with less skill and /or product knowledge will then tend to "dis" the competition. I personally would not buy from a salesman that does this...but being a salesman myself and knowing the hobby pretty well, will usually end up speaking with the manager or owner. When buying IC or speaker cable I always ask to take demo pair home to try in my system at home. If I decide this is what I want, I go back to the store, without the demos, and offer him 70% of retail for the demos or offer to bring the demos back tomorrow. NO ONE has ever asked me to bring the demo back. At the very least, this will establish a relationship with the manager/owner of the store and remember...he is a salesman too. The best way to keep from being lied to is to do your homework and be a knowledgeable buyer. Over time, when you walk into the business...the less-than-knowledgeable sales folks will head to the back of the store. If they don't, I ask them to replace the "big buck" speaker cables in their most expensive "reference" system on display with my radio shack wires and ...

Hi folks. My internet "dot com" company went bankrupted over the weekend and I had no access to the web until I came into work this morning. First and foremost, I'd like to thank you all for the posts. In response to Cornfedboy, I'd love to stand up and tell my local sales guy that I smell cow dung in his breath everytime he tries to sell me something, but I can't for two reasons. One, I didn't have enough experience about networking cables to challenge him. Secondly, even if I did have expertise in about the topic, I would mostlikely hold my frustration back because the dealers have one up on me. Like most of you, I have only a handfull of hifi salons in my area. There's definately a clear line between the small boutique and the chain stores. Most of my bad experiences were at the chain stores (the bigger stores that focus more on home theatres probabably due to better margins). The fact still remains that I can't really piss these guys off because I don't want to drive 50 miles away the next time I want to audition something. Can you imagine if your local dealers have your picture posted in the back offices as the customer from hell? Every since I have found Audiogon, I find myself purchasing less components from my local dealers. Come to think of it, I think I visit them more now a days to audition components I learned about on Audiogon. I know it's not fair to the dealers or us consumers (considering mark-up they charges us), but this is one main reason why I put up with their bull crap and at the same time I don't buy anything from the sales guys that strings me along. How are your relations with your local dealers? Are you finding similar problems? Do they treat you different knowing that you're a picky customer who often audition items but seldom buy anything. One more thing before I end this post, I have two cars-a BMW 5 series and a Toyota Corolla (my commuter car). I definately noticed that I get much more attention/service when I drive the BMW to audition products than when I drive my Corolla. Isn't that funny?