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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
oldaudiophile OP
315 posts
 
@stuartk :

No need for apologies! I'm enjoying this insight into how different audiophiles go about their shopping and selection process or processes, as the case may be. Seems like you are going about this in a very cautious, well-informed and well-reasoned fashion which, I'm confident, many other folks who have come to eschew the conventional brick & motor thing probably do, as well. As long as you are pleased with the results, that's really all that matters. More power to you all! I, as I suspect a majority of audiophiles and budding audiophiles, simply do not have the same level of confidence in my audiophile knowledge base or expertise, such as it is, to be courageous enough to forsake the more conventional brick & mortar thing. The folks who do this successfully are obviously much more knowledgeable and adept than I am and, again, I believe most audiophiles fall into this category.

It's unfortunate that some folks who might prefer or really benefit from brick & mortar shopping are precluded from doing so because there are simply no or not enough reputable or good quality audio shops within reasonable proximity to them. Shows or audio expositions would certainly be helpful, as an alternative. I suppose developing good relationships with reputable on-line sellers would be helpful, as well. However, for music lovers struggling with this lack of relatively readily accessible variety of audio shops, music lovers who possibly are not fortunate enough to have quality multi-thousand dollar relatively high-end systems, who maybe have never even heard systems like that before, I think it would be wonderful if there were more venues available to them to explore this and on-going upgrade possibilities. Maybe a bunch of travelling mini audio expositions in the more rural areas of the country would be helpful? I think anything that can be done to support and help this hobby and passion thrive would be a good thing.
stuartk
2,876 posts
 
@oldaudiophile:

Yes-- I'm quite pleased with the results. I have no plans to ever upgrade any of my components except possibly the speakers-- but that will be simply to move to the current model. 

I agree that it would be wonderful to have places where music lovers could experience at first hand the benefits of better quality audio-- especially more affordably-priced systems. Perhaps Classical and Jazz live music venues-- places where music lovers typically congregate? 

No doubt, people much more astute than I have pondered this. . . 

oldaudiophile OP
315 posts
 
@stuartk :

"Perhaps Classical and Jazz live music venues-- places where music lovers typically congregate?"

That's an excellent idea! I would add all music genres to that! Perhaps some advertising & marketing before & after a performance might entice fans to have a listen.
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