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Manufacturers pushing their products and agenda in the forums.

In the deep, dark, past manufacturers participated in the Audiogon forums with a general sense of decorum and a sensitivity to other products that they did not manufacture themselves and which were, from a design standpoint, philosophically opposed to their views. 

What has happened? Manufacturers now post into the forums dogmatically espousing their myopic view of the hobby, shamelessly pimping their own products and view of the audio world and, even more disturbingly, running down opposing brands. 

IMHO, it may be time to throw the baby out with the bath water and ban manufacturers, distributors, retailers and importers. If they can’t get their act together they should take it on the road.
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michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

I see some manufacturers are taking notice and having threads pulled that their dealers are on, a wise move.

I don't think some of these dealers have any idea how much damage they are doing to the manufacturers they are representing. I've seen two in just a short time that I have felt horrible for all because the dealer could not control themselves. If I was these brands I would yank my product out of these stores so fast they would be gone before you could spill a hot cup of coffee on your britches. To boot I would make sure the memo got out to never get near this dealer.

For the folks who don't realize how much times are changing, having a reckless dealer out there can burn your company to the ground. I'm going to give one example without mentioning the brand.

We brought in a product 2 years ago that we were considering having at a show mixed in with some of our toys. The products were very high dollar and get mentioned here often. We did our usual evaluation and setup this highly reviewed product to only have it blown away by a $29.00 CDP tuned up by us. Their amp went through the same process and failed miserably against literally every other amp in the house except for one, who it barely held it's own against. The company behind the scenes bought back the components and asked we not mention their name.

People need to realize that we are not living under the rule of reviewers anymore and their less than legit ways. Frankly there are some amazing products out there and more coming out that not only compete but many times are taking on the high dollar brands. These products cost pennies and those getting wise to them are scoring big time.

I'm one designer who has been around forever and am not going to be shy about helping the lower cost products make their way into listeners homes. I mean it's like buying a perfect new york pizza for a penny, why would you not share this news. Sorry dealers and manufacturers you should have been more up on your designing and thinking less about how to squeeze the last dollar out of good people. This wonderful trend of getting more for pennies is not going to go away by intimidation, it is a serious paradigm shift and well over due.

Michael Green

yyzsantabarbara
4,606 posts
 
I propose that the regular Audiogon site become a SAFE ZONE and a new area is created on the site called the audio DARK ZONE. A place where manufacturers, dealers, and anybody else can participate without worry. You enter the DARK ZONE at your peril but you can always feels safe in the regular SAFE ZONE.

I believe university’s have a similar arrangement for speech related issues.
yyzsantabarbara
4,606 posts
 
Just read Mr. Green post above and I must agree on the quality of the low end products. I am shopping again now for a system and almost everything I hear sounds great. The low cost stuff is amazing compared to 20 years ago.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
yyzsantabarbara
I propose that the regular Audiogon site become a SAFE ZONE and a new area is created on the site called the audio DARK ZONE. A place where manufacturers, dealers, and anybody else can participate without worry. You enter the DARK ZONE at your peril but you can always feels safe in the regular SAFE ZONE.

>>>That was tried already over on Audio Asylum when they created Isolation Ward for discussion of “controversial tweaks and controversial subjects.” It was in fact intended to be a clever way to isolate your humble scribe and Peter and May Belt and perhaps others from the General population, as it were. That was the year the Intelligent Chip dominated the discussion on Audio Asylum for around 9 straight months 24/7. If you take a look at what has happened over on Audio Asylum, no offense, there is a peculiar lack of content and longer. Next stop, the ventilator. Of course others might disagree, and good luck to you. Please, no angry emails. The same thing happened to Stereophile Forum, too, sadly, which has become a vast wasteland.

He not busy being born is busy dying.
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tonykay
1,298 posts
 
Please, let's not denigrate a line from a Dylan tune. I'm quite sure he would want no part of these discussions. 

Just to recap, what is disturbing are the frequent threads that are slipped into the forum by people feigning enthusiasm for particular products. It's OK, once in a while, to believe that some audiophile is so excited about their recent purchase that they want to share their experience. However, lately we get a steady diet of threads on the same product (i.e. Tekton). I find the enthusiastic exclamations to be disingenuous ("I had goosebumps"). They are simply being initiated to spark interest in an obscure product. Rightly or wrongly, I firmly believe that these threads (ads) are being placed by the manufacturers, dealers or friends of the company owner. Of course they are excited by the product...they sell it!
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