The Lawyers Have Taken Over Audio

We are hobbyists who actively pursue this stuff, post about it, trade
information, and have a willingness to spend the time and effort to research
and analyze the details. Most of you have experience, probably a lot of it
and when you think about it, you probably know a lot more now than you
did when you started, or even compared to 5 or ten years ago. You read
magazines devoted to the subject, and scrutinize changes in systems,
perhaps go to hi-fi shows, and probably spend a fair amount of time on the
web.
That's true of a lot of hobbies and pursuits, and the enthusiast's 'take' may
be different than the guy that just wants 'the best' and can afford it.
Granted, there's salesmanship, but it's everywhere in this hobby as well as
every other one. And, unlike a car or watch or other high end commodity,
most hi-fi is not pre-packaged- it needs to be put together in components
that make up a system and it needs to be set-up properly.

I'm not apologizing for bling hi-fi in general or for investment banker
customers in particular, but this gentleman has found a market. I don't
know him, have never done business with him and haven't a clue as to
what his systems sound like, but I'm not going to fault him for selling
expensive products to people who can afford them.
New York City is a mixed bag in terms of high end dealers anyway, despite
its size and 'importance.' Although there is still a thriving audio community
here, we probably don't have any more, or better dealers than any other
major city and some of them are not the most user friendly either. Jeff at
High Water deserves a call-out (and I've never bought anything from him
either, but he's the kind of guy that will spend time on the phone with you
talking about step up transformers he doesn't even sell).
Let's support the good dealers if we can. I know that the very existence of
this site is based on used equipment, and often, folks here have no need
for advice or the support that a good dealer can provide. But there are
plenty of people who want a great system who lack the knowledge (or the
time to get the knowledge) to get there. (Just think about the tweaks, the
repositioning of equipment, the upgrades, frustrations and mistakes we've
all gone through in this hobby and ask yourself if someone who wants the
end product -without the travail- is really being unreasonable in relying on a
'boutique' dealer).
FWIW, Andy Singer was also a lawyer.

Whart, your long-winded whine in praise of excess is analagous to a man marrying his true love and some abcess on decency aquiring a trophy wife.

Schubert- Long -winded, perhaps; a 'whine,' not at all (there was hardly any criticism or bitching about the guy, the industry or pricing); I don't understand the last part: 'some abcess (sic) on decency acquiring a trophy wife.'

"His job though, is to put together components that have synergy and help set them up, with accessories, room treatment and speaker placement, that gives you some chance of hearing what theystem is capable of.”

You’re right David, that should be the job. Unfortunately, the appeal of selling $100,000+ stereo systems, while gaining access to the the type of person who is willing to spend that kind of money on a stereo system, is irresistible to a certain type of grifter. I’ve seen salesmen bleed clients for decades with never ending phone calls that begin something like this: "I’m not sure if you're ready for this; your system is already so frickin awesome, I just don’t know. Do you thing you’re strong enough for another twenty percent improvement?" I know that everybody here is too smart for that, but it does happen, and the grifter salesman doesn’t need a lot of those clients to make a great deal of money.

Again, I'm saddened that the attacks on high end audio don't just come from those who don't any better, but from some within the hobby who should.

I can agree that to many people, higher priced merchandise of any consumer category may not make sense. If you consider a car a transportation appliance then a Bentley versus a Honda Accord is a comparison that the Bentley can't win. The Honda is more reliable, efficient, cost effective operationally and better on the environment. So some people might even extrapolate that anyone who spends more than say $40k on transportation is an idiot. The same can be said for watches where the gap for a time appliance price wise is crazy. Free time on your cell phone vs. $100k+ for some rare Pateks. The comparisons for everything on earth have a wide field of vision....housing? nourishment? clothing?

But we are forgetting that innovation is typically pretty expensive on the front end of virtually any new technology. Anyone else here remember a dual floppy disk, 1st gen Intel chipped IBM PC for $10k? Using the logic of some on this board would lead to the conclusion that there is no need to develop the pc to begin with because it simply doesnt make any pricing sense. But innovation piggy backs and goes exponential in a hurry. Just compare outboard DACs of 20 years ago(ML 30.5!) with a new Audioquest Dragonfly at $250! The performance gap got pretty narrow in a relatively short time. I happen to be one who applauds the boutique manufacturers pushing the performance envelope and charging what they must to stay in business and make a profit. I cant afford it but I can sure learn from the experience of hearing it, whether the sound is better or worse is an individual thing. The marketplace will determine if they stay in business and whether it was was an ill advised business model. If it weren't for dealers like we are discussing here, nothing "outside the box" would have a retail outlet which is, for better or worse, an objective arena to determine an opinion on sound quality. Furthermore, dealers with really affordable and inexpensive products have been driven to sell home theater installations or move their pricepoints way upmarket to survive. Why, because we consumers have forced it by discounting the value added by the dealer channel. I plead guilty on this too, I have to seek out the best value I can to stretch my buying power. That is natural for all of us so I try to buy preowned or demo to maximize my system dollar but I also buy some new product. When dealing with an excellent dealer, I thank them for their patience and time spent with me and for having product on hand for me to experience. Stocking dealers are a rare sighting in the wild, shouldnt we support them rather than denegrate them?

Back to the example of the automobile...how many well paying jobs does the manufacture of one Bentley create compared to one Honda Accord? Is the stitching of a leather seat identical for both cars or does one require more care and skill? We can agree that seating stitching doesn't affect 0-60 times or gas mileage or some other arbitrary measure, but it matters to the purchaser and the craftsman performing the work. After all, isnt that the true test? Are both parties happy with the transaction?

At the end of the day, I simply don't understand the mean spirited potshots toward a fellow lover of audio and of high end dealers in general. Giedeon's silence on the matter shows a great deal of class because I know with certainty that he was severely misquoted in virtually every paragraph, he was not provided an advance copy of the article for proofing or fact checking and I believe the author had a motive to exagerate system pricing for the investment banking elite. The WSJ has slipped a great deal under Murdoch's ownership.

If you havent heard the systems he coordinates but you choose to criticize, thats simply unfair. I hope the vast majority of fair minded hobbyists would make this type of behavior unwelcome here. Hey its one thing to debate a real point of difference and to even dog on one another a bit....fun debate. But unfair trashing when you dont know what you are talking about is indeed unfortunate. Peace.