Audiophile 'Attitude'

I didn't mean to start a wind storm regarding on line purchases. Most on-line companies don't have the staffing of brick and mortar stores. Nor do they have the overhead. You know, salespeople, demonstration people, people that talk with you, set up equipment so you can hear it. stores, where you can walk in and see and hear it. So, yes, there really are differences between brick and mortar stores and on-line retailers. Very low overhead and no taxes, so prices are naturally lower. this is not a level playing field for brick and motar store owners. On-line retailers take advantage of the brick and mortar stores and personnel doing their job first so you get to try it on, or hear it and then seek the lower price on line. Why do you think the price is lower in the first place? 1) no sales tax for the state (avoiding that overhead), 2) no sales people, 3) no physical stores, 4), no advertisement costs, 5) no benefits that you have to pay your staff, such as medical, dental, etc. need I say more. It is simple math and is really not fair to those hard working people. Also, many on line stores don't even have staff in your state let alone in your country. so when you find yourself saying "I need to go try on this piece of clothing, shoes, etc. or I want to go hear these bogama maximus speakers" and you find that there are no stores near you where you can do this. Don't complain, because you know why. It is also the fault of the manufacturers that allow their stuff to be sold on line also. So there is much blame to pass around. But the big bucks saved are avoidance of state taxes (this hurts your state and eliminates much needed resources) and the overhead that brick and mortar stores must pay that on line retailers don't. I guess maybe it is just me. But I will save a little longer and spend at my neighborhood stores to keep my favorite stores in business. Also, I am willing to pay a little more for better service and won't pay for bad service. I have seen far too many stores and their employees out of business lately. Remember the memorable scene in Pretty Woman? where she goes back to the store on Rodeo Drive dressed to kill and shows the snotty salesperson what she purchased at a different store? that was classic!!! I guess you lost that commission didn't you?? Now a days, one really can't tell who is who and whether you have money or not just by looking at how you are dressed, skin color, etc. So, they are learning to treat everyone well. Well, not everyone as is the case here. But, like buying a car from a pushy salesperson, I know how to get up slowly and simply walk away. But rude people? oh yeah, I will write a letter.

the basic problem with dealers is the inability to assess the viability of listening to a component,as part of stereo system, and then extrapolating the result onto your stereo system.

it would seem that the most successful model is to allow consumers to listen to a component in their stereo system.

perhaps dealers would be viable if they were willing to function like a library. perhaps, charge a small fee for service.

it is unnecessary to set up stereo systems, except for turntable, arm and cartridge.

let them stock an inventory of component types from different manufacturers.

I have had the exact opposite at The Analog Room in SF Bayarea and Xtend Technologies in Cleveland.
Brian at The Analog room not only entertained my request to hear the Avalons, despite knowing my speaker budget was upto $2K, but also suggested "how to audition". He suggested that I listen to the Sonus Faber Stradivari speaker to make sure how my music should actually sound, then go down to the $2K range speakers and compare them to see, which speaker in this range "best approaches" the sound that I heard from the $$$$$ Stradivari. This made sense to me and I ended up with the Quads.
Clint in Xtend Technologies was very accommodating when I wanted to purchase a power amp. He showed me the different systems that were setup and allowed me to get my (then) existing amp with my choice of power cable. He then left me alone (for an extended period) with a system I chose so that I was comfortable doing the comparison. I wanted to hear a Marantz SA11-S2 that I told him, I would not buy, but just wanted to listen to. He demoed it to me in his reference room, with some $20K Ushers and Parasound JC-1 monos.
Of course, this alone made a pleasurable experience of buying from brick-and-mortar shop. I hope I have not jinxed myself for the next audio purchase.

Most serious dealers have demonstration equipment which is basically brand new equipment set up in their stores for people to listen. I know the market is slow right now for many reasons. price that some people feels is wayy too high is one reason. So, allowing customers that are serious to take a piece home for a week or so to demo in their home is a great idea. Again, this is for serious customers. To prevent looky loos, charge a nominal fee for such service if necessary. For your regular customer that you know are good, serious customers, this isn't an issue. For high priced equipment, even for used equipment, my favorite store allows me and others to take demonstration equipment or used equipment home for in-home audition. this is a direct quote from my salesperson to a friend of mine in the store. "He said that he heard that (my first name) "I'm not spending anymore money" Minorl was in the store over the weekend." this is an inside joke because I tell him every time I visit that I have no intention of spending money and many times I walk away with something. Anyway, without such brick and motar stores to provide this much needed service, people would purchage on-line, have the equipment delivered to only find out that it really doesn't work well in their system, and they made a serious mistake. In the past many "high end" stores carried upper mid fi, lower high end and high end equipment to give people choices. Many times manufactures would insist that if you wanted to carry my stupidly expensive high end stuff, you also had to carry my crap equipment. Now this has changed, where the store can dictate many times what level of a certain manufacturer's equipment they want to carry and they also transistioned over to really popular home theater equipment to cover that market and stay in business. There are many high end stores in the Los Angeles area, however, over the years I have had tried them and found that traveling to San Diego is fun for me and the store I frequent there is much more accomodating and friendly.

enjoy

08-28-12: Taters
I also had an experience with David Weinhard. This was about 10 years ago when he owned Ambrosia. I was looking for a tube amp and he told me that tubes were garbage and that I should come aboard the 21 century. I recently looked at his website and he is now carrying tube gear. This guys opinion changes with the wind.

I wouldn't exactly call changing one's opinion 10 years later "changes with the wind". I've known other dealers who previously eschewed tube gear change their minds as the newer tube gear is substantially more reliable. Although MAC was pretty reliable in the old days. Plus, with tube gear, a dealer has to deal with warranty issues with guys sticking god-knows-what tube substitutions in the gear and then bringing it back to the dealer when it fails.