Have you ever wondered why speaker manufactures do not consign speakers to dealers?

Good topic. Congrats on the Kanta’s! I’m interested in the 3’s but, can’t justify the margin so will probably be waiting awhile for a used pair to come up. The thought of somebody waiting days, weeks, months? for a fat fish to get caught on his hook and reel him in bewilders me. ’coarse i’ve been blessed with a trade and honest work so I can’t really relate. (smell of self richessness?) The markup on hifi is nauseating and I refuse to pay it. I find the product I like online in like new condition and bring it to my retailer, tell him I like the store and want to do my part but can’t justify retail and more times than not we’re able to strike a deal.
The fact that B&M srore’s are going away is proof enough this business model doesn’t work and with internet information consumers are more aware than ever. Both manufacturers and retailers will need a new business model to survive.

Steve59 everyone has a different persepective and I am hardly a rich guy all of my money made in the last 15 years is sitting in my audio store.

The reality of what you think are naueasting markups don't tell you half the story, if all of us brick and mortar guys were making so much money don't you think there would be lots of audio stores not less?

The reality is that what you take home after you have paid all of your expenses is actually very little. 

Our shop is run out of our 4,000 sq foot Victorian Home we turned 4 room s into showrooms and stocked the place with many exciting product lines from top manufacturers.

When you factor in rent $6k a month, electricity $900 a month, internet, saleries, insurance, and all the rest you have a monthly expense of $10-15k a month, how much gear do you have to sell to clear that, a lot more then you think. 

Factor in shipping costs, credit card costs, the invariable discount many of your clients want and what you are left with isn't that great.

Then factor in the cost of purchasing new demo gear which has to be paid for and you can see why this is a very difficult business.

If it wasn't for our custom installation business which is much more profitable in general we wouldn't be here either.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

@Larry5729,

You could join the Colorado Audio Society (CAS). Its full of like minded audio folk with many fine systems to hear when they have meets at various members' houses.  

How feasible is it to expect a dealer to have 1 example of every model carried, then work with company distribution to drop ship all orders ?   There would be an investment requirement to have basic stock but not as much as needed to carry inventory.

All of the above underscores why brick and mortar dealers are on the decline. I don’t want it to be that way, on the contrary, I would like to see a fluorishing and robust audio dealer network. But when I wanted to home demo Vandersteen 3As from a San Francisco-based dealer years ago and was willing to put up my credit to cover any damage in the transit, boxing, they refused. I only lived a few miles away at the time. They had an in-store demo pair that wasn’t in perfect condition either as you could see they had been moved around quite a bit by the various scuffs. I called Richard Vandersteen and spoke with him about my experience with that particular dealer and his reply was, to paraphrase, "yeah, I’m not happy about it, but some of them are like that." Sheesh.

I have no problem with such dealerships going bust if that’s the "common" approach to "selling."

Cutomers come FIRST. They are the LIFEBLOOD of ANY business, big or small.