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Keeping Audiophilia And The Love Of Music Alive & Well!

This is a little something I just posted in Stereophile that I thought I should also post here for what I think are obvious reasons.

How many times have we read or heard how difficult it is for some folks to audition equipment they're interested in because there simply aren't enough or any quality audio shops within a reasonable distance? I would wager we've all noticed a steady decline in the number of audio shops just about everywhere, even in large cities and metropolitan areas.  As a lover of music and audiophile, I think this is kind of sad.  There once were, at least, 2 or 3 shops within a half hour drive from where I presently live.  Now, there are none.  They've all gone out of business.  With the exception of one shop with a reasonably good inventory about 45 minutes away, I have to trek 2 hours or more to shops with a good inventory and selection.  I avoid buying stuff from on-line sellers, as much as possible, to support my local shops, even if it means paying a little more. With this in mind, I offer this for what it's worth.

I know some audio shops occasionally host demonstrations of various products for groups of their patrons and/or interested audiophiles, in general. From the little I've seen & read about these conclaves, it looks like this is mostly done by large or relatively large shops. Obviously, they probably tend to have large enough sound or demonstration rooms to accommodate this sort of thing. I'm further assuming there is probably some sort of advertising involved to promote such events (e.g. mailing lists; newspaper ads; website notices; etc.) and admission, understandably, needs to be limited. What I don't know is if the larger shops who do this sort of thing charge some sort of cover-charge or admission fee or just write it off as a business expense in the hopes of generating increased sales. Free admission to open houses like this sounds like something much more easily accommodated by larger shops, versus smaller operations. Regardless, I wonder if it might not benefit smaller shops to consider doing this sort of thing and actually charging admission because it would, necessarily, involve a smaller crowd of patrons and/or interested audiophiles. For that matter, in order to circumvent the seating capacity issue, maybe an alternative acoustically appropriate venue could be considered?

A fellow audiophile friend and I often wax philosophical about components we wish we could responsibly afford but, unfortunately, will likely always remain in the unobtainium sphere for us unless we win the lottery or walk into an audio shop in an altered state of mind. Really! What audiophiles don't wax philosophical about stuff like this? In fifty years, I've never met one!

In addition to our willingness to pay a reasonable admission fee to hear top shelf gear, we would be even more interested in hearing fair A/B shoot-outs between or amongst, as the case may be, audio toys that captivate our interest.

I'm wondering what you audiophiles out there in the great ether think about this idea.

oldaudiophile
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
The lava lamp started out as a lava lamp. But look close you can tell it is now a magma lamp. Either way, seismic, like the sink, that became the Townshend Pods. Look closer, the magma lamp is on a pedestal, precursor to the Podium.

Cable elevators relate to the elevated level of the owner. The fine wine collection is surpassed only by the spirits, featuring a superb selection of the finest genuine Russian vodkas.

A common theme running through it all is a complete lack of concern for the approval of the crowd. The same "I don’t care what the snobs think" that allows me to buy Tekton also favors Grand Seiko Spring Drive over Rol cough ex. Cough.

So yeah, a case can probably be made for stuff like this reflecting the personality of the owner. Vast majority posting system pics have put a lot more effort into how it looks. I put a lot more effort into how it sounds. Too much red? Don’t care!

This carries through to the sound. Way more full and liquid than anything I ever heard anywhere. Anyone reading that would be forgiven for assuming it can’t be that detailed. Yet one of the more recent listeners, incredulous, said, "How much more detail can you get?!?!" Massive insane detail. Smooth as silk.

But yet when called for, cuts like a knife. Just like me.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
@oldaudiophile -- If you like Cognac, give the Delamain brand a try. Even their cheapest offering (which ain't so cheap) is a glimpse of heaven in a glass.
oldaudiophile OP
352 posts
 
MillerC, your post just reminded me of a line from "The Producers" (1967) where Zero Mostel yells:  "If you've got it, baby, flaunt it!". Not sure I'd go that far but, nonetheless, enjoy!

Edcyn, thanks for the tip on the Cognac. I'll have to try it. I'll probably know, right off the bat, from one sniff, whether or not I'll like it. Got really sick... 3.5 day I wanna die hang-over kinda sick... following a slam bang celebration one night when I was living in France, many years ago. WAY too much celebrating! As Jimmy Buffett would say: "I pushed the fool button" that night. The culprits were Hennessey, Champagne, vin mousseux, red and white wine. The locals told me, later, one should never mix red & white wine when celebrating with a vengeance. Too little, too late! Anyway, it took me almost 3 decades after that before I could even stand the smell of Cognac. Remy VSOP was the first one to crack that barrier.
pauly
1,012 posts
 
I fail to see the value in brick-and-mortar audio stores in today's world.  

Auditioning a component is a misnomer. Does anybody really believe they can hear what an amplifier sounds like and filter out the effects of the source, the cables, the speakers, the mains conditioning, the acoustics particular to the room, etc. etc? I have a bridge to sell you if you do.

Online purchasing and shipping have improved dramatically. Online payments are secure. Delivery timelines have improved. Other than seeing the component in the flesh, which admittedly is pretty cool, there is no value in going to physical store. 

Like so many other things, the time of audio brick-and-mortar stores have come and gone. 
oldaudiophile OP
352 posts
 
So, all you folks who believe the time of brick & motor shops have come & gone, please help me understand this.

By way of example, lets say you were in the market for a new pair of speakers and had narrowed your contenders down to... say... 3 or 4 or maybe even more different pairs you thought would sound really great with your system, room acoustics, etc. And lets say each one of those speakers weighed around 100 lbs. or more and each pair had a price tag of around $10,000.00 or so. Are you saying you would systematically buy/order each pair of those speakers from an on-line seller(s), have them delivered to your home, audition them there during the return policy period and send them back until you arrived at your final choice? And, if that final choice happened not to be the last pair you ordered & auditioned at home, would you then re-order the ones you wanted and have those re-shipped back to your home? I suppose, if money isn’t an issue, one could order/purchase everything in one fell swoop, have it all shipped to your home simultaneously, audition everything at the same time and then ship back only the speakers you didn’t want.

Speakers are probably not the best hypothetical example, here, since most of them need a good amount of break-in time to sound their best. Maybe amps, pre-amps, etc. would be a better example but most electronic stuff like that needs some burn-in time, as well. I suppose if one had good relations with on-line sellers that could deliver demo equipment that was already burned-in or broken-in, this could speed up or make the in-home auditioning process easier. Is this what you folks do or do you do some reading & research and order things you’re reasonably assured will work well at home? I can see how this approach might be feasible for things like cables, interconnects, maybe a DAC, etc. But, for major components like speakers, amps, pre-amps? Really?
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