PS Audio Revises Marketing to a Direct Sales Only Model

Paul has stated in videos, that at some early point in his career, he felt he had lacked business sense. I find this is an awesome business decision. What I find disturbing, but understand it, is the amount of folks who visit dealerships for demonstrations and advice, and then go via the internet, to purchase, new, as well as used, eliminating the dealer. Yes, this happens all of the time, as I know some dealers. I still believe a good dealer might be important, but their job to stay in business, is harder than ever. I also believe, PSA pricing will be a bit better. I am wondering if Paul will change the company name, eliminating the " S ", at some point, as Stan has nothing to do with the company anymore, and this has been for quite some time.

Price rarely plays into it.

’shiny shiny crow’ is the big arbiter on the "buy/don’t buy" scenario.

Shiny shiny crow, is a euphemism for the attractions of the product, however that may play out.

Is the item shiny - to your inner crow? If it is, you’ll probably buy it.
I'd like to think that audio qualities are at the top of all lists of everyone who might buy a piece of audio gear.

Decades in the industry taught me that this idealization on my part is not the dominant part of the market. Or, that quality may be there, but the shininess of the item is what truly seals the deal. 

It's not truly a criticism, but more of a idealism on my part - that gets shot to pieces in the real world. The reality is that few people know how to evaluate a item in the best sense. Thus appearance and neatness takes second spot and sometimes first place in the decision tree in buying behaviour.

Went through the thread on their forum.  If there is enough profit margin their dealers were discounting 30-40%, that suggests PS Audio was selling to dealers at about 50% of retail.  I would expect they could pay the cost of their increased infrastructure and still reduce retail prices by at least 20%.  I do like the Schiit model that the price is the price, every day, all year long, unless B-stock or marked down as discontinued.    

Prices drop? Never. Profit up...maybe. Who will sell the product? TACT Audio died because of that strategy. Their room control system remains the most elaborate ever made but Boz (Radomir Bozevic) assumed that everyone was as bright as he was. His stuff was built to the highest standard and it was complex stuff that nobody had ever seen before. If he engaged a dealer network the price would have gone up at least 30% so high he felt it would never sell.
So he marketed direct. It worked for a while because his units were so special back then there was a huge buzz in the market. They were so special that most of the buyers had trouble using the units and Tact was swamped with phone calls. Trying to explain how DSPs work over the phone to someone who flunked out of math was not easy. There was a growing crowd of very unhappy campers and it spelled the end of TACT audio. If Boz had a trained dealer network that could have handled the customers locally things may have turned out different. A shame because their system remains the best If you know how to use it. 
Back to PS audio. There is absolutely nothing special about PS audio. There is nothing in their line up that remotely attracts my eye. How will people be driven to buy their stuff if they are not exposed to it somewhere. In my opinion Parasound makes better products and has a strong dealer network. Can PS audio compete with them marketing direct. I certainly would not bet on it.

My dealer just informed me that I have 2 weeks left for him to order new products from PSA. I’m a little bummed, since I was saving for a BHK250. However, I cannot pay the $7900 retail price. The dealer discount was significant. I’ll probably have to seek out a used one or just look elsewhere. I really love my BHK Pre amp. Oh well...at least I got an excellent preamp.