What dealer/distributor has influenced you most?

Back in the late 80’s/90’s there were two gentlemen working as salesmen at the original Stereo Exchange in NYC who were very influential.  One was Wes Phillips, later of Stereophile reviewer fame.  RIP, Wes.  The other was George Stanwick, later of Stanalog Imports.  I spent countless hours hanging out in that cavernous loft space listening to music and talking gear.  A very relaxed place where I experienced no pressure to buy and the only two salespersons I have met who truly cared about the music as much or more than the gear.  Wes, in particular, was extremely knowledgeable about music and musicians.  I would often go home with equipment loans including phono cartridges (!).  I still own the VDH MC1 that George loaned me before I bought it and which has been retipped three times since.

+1 simao


Don Hoatson at The Listening Room was a class act.

I won't mention the retailers or the salespeople but two in particular influenced me by the awful experiences I had.  These stories made me despise audio retailers and ultimately start my own speaker company.

The first guy reminded me of comic-book guy from the Simpsons both in aesthetics and his mannerisms.  He mocked me for not knowing as much about DACs as he did.  I foolishly asked about the relevance of Burr Brown vs. ESS chips.  He then tried to sell me a $4000 integrated amp for a $500 pair of speakers and mocked me when I didn't want to spend that much.  That store and that salesperson embodied most of what is wrong with this hobby.

Second one offers the other side of what is wrong IMO.  I was auditioning a popular pair of very expensive >$5K stand mounted speakers.  They sounded bad with all the music I was picking but great with the very esoteric tracks the sales rep was suggesting.  When I asked him why that was the case, his comment was "because the music you listen too sucks."

I found the first people to be exclusionary to a point where if you don't study and know as much as they do, you must bow down and accept the wisdom of the all knowing audiophile.  Who wants to be part of that hobby?  Second, I have to change what music I listen too to have an extraordinary listening experience.  That is also not a hobby i want to be part of.  

These two reps and others like them made me want question whether I even wanted to bother with equipment anymore.  Sales people are there to help consumers pick out products that solve the problems they have.  Not mock them.  And you should be able to listen to your music on your system and have an extraordinary listening experience.  If not, why are we doing this?