What’s really hurting the audio hobby?


Maybe it’s the audio dealer experience? Where else can newbies go to get started in this hobby. Isn't that where most of you got hooked?  Let me describe my latest visit to an audio store nearby. I won’t use the store name here, as that’s not the point.  Where I live there is really only one audio store left. That’s strange because I live in a very wealthy community. The Friday after Independence day, me and a friend went to this local audio store.  First time back there in years. We are both looking to upgrade. They have 3 audio rooms and two home theater rooms. The hi-end audio room (the store’s term) was an impressive room with extensive acoustic treatments. Mostly McIntosh gear. Sitting in the listening chair, you are looking at 600 watt Mac monoblocks running some nice tower speakers. A massive JL Audio Gotham subwoofer unit sat front and center facing the only listening chair. The McIntosh turntable was spun first. Sloooowww. It took my friend less than five seconds to point out the TT was running slow. The salesman had started to play Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here, and it was noticeably slow. So the salesman flipped the switch to 45 rpm. Yes, that happened. He figured out it was too fast all on his own. Fiddle and poke at the TT for a bit and then the salesman said- "I’ll let them know it’s broke". Then he said he would just stream some music from a server. Bass! All you could hear was bass, and NOT good bass. He turned the subs down a little when asked, but all you could hear was tubby, muddy bass. The big tower speakers were overpowered by the sub.  I really wanted to hear what the main speakers alone sounded like, but could not get the salesman to shut off the subs.  On to the mid-fi room (the store’s term). The salesman tried to play us two different turntables. Neither turntable worked. One would not power up, and one was not hooked up to a system at all. Let me point out we didn’t care what source they used. I did say we both run analog and digital sources. Nothing interesting in the mid-fi room the first time through. Next room (no name) was a wall of bookshelf and small towers run by a wide selection of integrated amps. Not bad sound from some. Again, we were told this is “streaming quality audio”. This was the third time he mentioned we were listening to streaming quality audio. I took a guess at what that meant and asked if we could hear higher quality audio. So he took us back to the mid-fi room. He popped in a CD.I could not tell what CD equipment was being used. I think a Rotel integrated was selected. Everything in the cabinet was black faced behind dark glass. Not sure what CD it was either, but since he only had one, I let it go.

Big change! The Paradigm towers were now making good sounds. A big difference from his “streaming quality” demo. Next we switched to a pair of GE Triton 1s. I seriously might get a pair! They make nice sounds. By far the best thing we heard. There was more that happened that contributed to a poor experience, but I will move on.

Here is my point- What would anyone new to the hobby think of that experience? It took two seasoned audio guys pushing the salesman for over an hour before he played anything worth listening to. Would you buy anything from this place. Would you send a newbie in there? Let me know if I'm off base in thinking these audio stores are killing themselves off by the way they do business. Or is it just my misfortune that I have not been in a good dealer showroom in years?

vinylfan62
Snapc the other thing you didn’t mention is most people under 35 don’t listen to music. They listen to rap, which does not require sound quality. 
There’s only one hi-fi store in the very wealthy Boulder community. They are quite elitist there.  I don’t wear the right clothes when I come in. Blue jeans and sneakers. They prefer wool and leather.  They sell a huge amount of home theater stuff in our area. It’s difficult to get anybody to even speak to me, whereupon they seem bothered. My only interest is two channel as my listening space is very small. When I asked to look at a $4000 pair of Focal monitors.  They had none (what?) So instead of the salesman showed me an $8000 pair of floorstanders-that was useful. (BTW,  they had the same “sound” as my $2000 solo 6 w a sub - not worth $6000 more )  I can’t wait until the Rocky Mountain Audio fest where I will listen to Audio Note’s AN-K. 
My father said, often, there are more horses as..’s than horses. We have all met one, somewhere. At age 83, I’ve been involved in the “hi-fi” hobby since the early 50’s. Trust me, things are MUCH better. True, there are fewer dealers who seem to give a sh.., but the amount of really good products is almost overwhelming!. Buying anything has always been ‘buyer beware’ activity. So it behooves a buyer to try to educate yourself about the market. So how? I think trade magazines are a great help. Subscribe to Audiophile Magazine or some other. These Audiogon forums are VERY helpful. I.e. EDUCATE YOURSELF‼️Lacking many good retail stores, call a dealer who carries a product you may have an interest in and pick his brain. Or call the manufactor, they frequently have someone willing to talk with you. Bottom line, if you are a dumb sh.., and refuse to educate yourself, you are a true SUCKER‼️
Read about the Munich show and it makes one feel better about serious audio...also I do think whining does "ruin" things a bit, as does "snake oil" tweak hyperbole.
What is killing/discouraging  an audio newbie is the condescending attitude of the dealers who look down on you unless you are prepared to spend $10,000 on a CD player and forums like this in which some superhumans claim they can hear the difference in sound when they reverse a power cable :)