is audiogon good for the audio industry or bad?

I vote yep.

I liken it to getting music via online downloads. You get a couple three tracks and either buy the CD or move on. Both are eye openers and allow for investigation without the full on need to outlay enourmous duckets right away… or of course, you very well can.

Through A’gone I met makers and dealers, made friends and my knowledge base grew. I bought used at first along with some new items online and then locally. Found other resources I would not have otherwise.

Through the used buys, I found some makers with whom I’d have no reservations buying new from sight or sound unseen or unheard as my confidence in them and their efforts increased. In facrt I’ve done just that along the way too. I’ve found as well, the opposite side of that coin, the lesser entrants in the game, and that’s good too.

Consequently, I’ve made new purchases as the result of A’gone’s presence… my experience here, and via the people in the industry I’ve made contact with. That has to be a positive aside, and a real world benefit to the industry at large.

I get in where I fit in. Used. New. Demo. The matter for muyself is getting where I can as is best for me and my current state of affairs. Who among us wouldn’t prefer to buy new items everytime? Everyone would of course, save perhaps those whose preffs are in classics or collectors items… and maybe the die hard DIY crowd.

Such however is not always the case with me, and I suspect it the same way with many, many others. It is however, always the desire, and the now an then certainty that’s of course a plus to some degree as the A’gone pages seeded the interest initially..

From my singular interests here, some of my friends have ventured deeper into the waters of high end video and audio gear that would normally have just laid down for a Bose setup, or mass fi outfit.

I must think then, that from our own efforts here we do in some cases affect those about us. Sometimes to the end that those other normal, non committed or non card carrying audio nuts, will indeed delve into the auspices of the industry by and large, to some degree, that simply would not have otherwise. That too must be a positive.

Be it new purchases or not, there is an impact I feel is positive in the higher end audio or video industry as the result of A’gone, and certainly due to it’s membership base. As I’m pretty sure it’s the members and visitors here that are doing the actual buying… not Audiogone.

Together, the membership base and A’gone, there is a decidedly better impact. Alone, I’d suggest something less.

A better query perhaps, might be to ask those B&M dealers who also enlist the aid of A’gone to disclose generally, which side of their business provides them the greater revenue stream routinely

As much as I love Audiogon and the Internet for providing me Information on products. I still miss the days of old when you could visit stores and audition the equipment for yourself.

Seems to me anything that gets a customer into a retail shop should be a good thing. The problem with high end is that if you are an audiophile on a budget, most stores suck. We are just too picky and want to be able to test drive things in our own homes. Are we supposed to go into a store, listen to a product for 15 minutes on unfamiliar equipment and then plop down $4,000 on a whatever just because we didn't want to waste a salespersons time. We all have a certain something we are looking for in sound. At least here on audiogon if you do your shopping right you wont lose more than a few shekels when you buy a product that doesn't quite fit you. I purchase and sell here on audiogon because most of us here are like minded. Most retail stores are not in business to please audiophiles.

Well said Scpetscott. I've been to more than a few hi end stores and have been very disappointed with the service and most of all the sound. In fact I've never went to a store and heard something and though I've got to have that. Not to mention at least half of the time I've felt there was a real snobby attitude to go along with it. Personally the advice and knowledge I get from experienced and devoted audiophiles on this site means far more to many than any visit to a dealer. If I am interested in a product I would almost be afraid to go hear it at a dealer since I don't expect to get a real impression of it and what it will sound like in my system. The only reason I would go into a dealer now would be to see what a speaker looks like in real life. I wouldn't even ask to hear it. And I do agree that it is not cool at all to go waste a dealers time when you have no intention of buying.

Some of the comments on 'need to support the b&m' crowd remind me of BO's refrain 'that it is your patriotic duty to pay more taxes'. I wish there was a 'used' government I could purchase at half price, like most of the audio equipment I have purchased used, some from B&M dealers. Just as a new car is the worst economic way to purchase a car, so is the new piece of audio equipment. Wait, let it go into the 'used' market. I don't feel bad about behaving the way I do, just like the used car market supports the new car market, in audio it is no different. I do test drive new cars to get the feel of what I could like to buy used. As the car leasing business has proven, bargains are there for those that wait. So, continue to 'kick the tires' at your local audio dealer, you are doing his customers a favor. Just tell the dealer you are waiting for a 'certified, pre owned unit'.