PS Audio Revises Marketing to a Direct Sales Only Model

Progress has made it difficult to survive in this hobby, especially for the manufacturers. We, who buy, will always be there, but those who sell, have to adapt to market trends, and good look with your crystal ball, my dear seller.

Some see the writing on the wall for any number of reasons that we don’t appreciate so a lot of this is speculation on our part, but, I wish PS Audio well in the choice they’re about to make.

If the price does come down some, good for all, as they have great customer service from what I’ve read. If it doesn’t, it can be for any number or reasons from already absorbing too much costs on themselves as material prices rise unpredictably, to a loss of foot traffic and eventual sales at the brick & mortar stores that keep their line.

All the best,
Nonoise

More and more consumers are recognizing the benefits of easy ordering on the internet and in-home evaluation. For high-end audio products in particular, it makes a lot of sense.

I run a cycling e-commerce business and also a large brick&mortar bike shop. I can tell you that the e-commerce business is significantly more efficient. With increasing building lease costs and payroll costs, it's harder and harder to make any profit in the B&M business.

PSA has been migrating toward a direct-to-consumer model for a while. Their trade-in policy is brilliant in my opinion. They are already giving up more margin selling through dealers than they are giving up by taking trade-ins (at full original MSRP I might add) since they limit the value of the products you can trade in. Any revenue sharing they get with The Music Room is gravy.

By selling direct, they can provide benefits such as a generous trade-in policy and returns policy which is a lot more difficult if you are sharing half your profits with someone else. I'd much rather do an in-home audition in my own system of an audio product than listen to at a dealer. Granted, better dealers will let you take a product home (if they have a demo unit), but I think this is not always the case, and many customers don't have a local dealer anyway.

It's pretty tough to start out with a direct to consumer model although some have been able to pull it off successfully (look at Schiit and Tekton), but now PSA has an excellent reputation and I think they will do quite well. 

I bought my Power Plant 3 from their website because I got a great trade-in on my 20 year old Monster HTPS 7000. But even with this trade-in, I'm sure PSA made more profit than if I had bought it at a dealer.

This makes me happy on levels I wish to not discuss 😁.

I wish PS Audio the best and hope that this new business move helps PS Audio receive more of its profit.  They make nice products! 

I hope this works out well for PSA and their customers. I was lucky enough to find a one year old pair of Stellar Monoblock 700s on eBay for half price. The original owner used the PSA warranty transfer process and PSA gave me a full warranty as if I had just bought brand new from them. Those amps are truly amazing, by the way. They are a solid company founded on the principle of treating people right, whether they are customers or not. Many companies use this direct sale model successfully. I just hope they are well known enough to keep up their success. 

PSA offers annual Black Friday sales (usually runs 2-3 weeks) every year where they provide 30-40% discounts on select equipment.  I bought their BHK PreAmp (2 yrs ago) and the P12 Generator (last yr) that way.  They also offer a very friendly trade-in policy on new purchases, usually 30% of the MSRP.  That trade-in discount is up to the list price of the equipment you're trading in, no matter how old, up to the 30% of the piece you're buying.   You can do very well with their trade-in policy.

Their service is very good.  I've had Paul, CEO, personally write to say PSA was giving me an added discount because of a screwup by a 3rd party dealer in ordering PSA equipment.

The downside is their equipment can be quirky.  I've had to send back for service my DS Junior within the first month.  Software upgrades are problematic at times.  You can read endless war stories on their Forum of people having issues with new purchases.  However I've rarely seen anyone throw up their hands and request a refund.  Through it all they are always there, LIVE on the phone with great patience to help you get through it.  Once the equipment is settled, it has been very good.

All in all they're a very good company that could be great if they had a better QA department.