Oh, and amps and the pre-amps EAR-Yoshino, Pass Labs, Atma-Sphere, and perhaps Zesto, VTL, and Manley Labs. For cables Auditorium. And the full Vandersteen line.
One main reason dealers need to be selective is that they have to sell enough of the product of each line they carry to meet the minimum sales figures each company sets for their dealers. Selling 10 of one company’s amplifiers serves the dealer more than selling 5 each from two companies.
My dealer pal Brooks Berdan was a dealer of both Vandersteen (one of Richard’s first) and Wilson. He sold a lot of Vandersteen Model’s 2 and 3, and the Wilson WATT/Puppy and it’s descendants. He could do that because the two lines were not competition for each other; each had it’s own customer base, based on prices (and sound characteristics, of course).
When Vandersteen introduced the Model Five, Brooks told Richard he wanted to sell only the Model’s 2 and 3, not the Five. That was not acceptable to Richard (nor would it have been to me), and Brooks was no longer a Vandersteen dealer. Brooks took that position because each pair of Model Five’s he sold would result in him selling one less pair of Wilson’s; they were direct competition to each other.
At one Vegas CES I attended with Brooks, I sat in at a meeting he took with the sales manager of Wilson, and learned how the hi-fi business works. Apparently keeping Wilson happy was more important to Brooks than was being a Vandersteen dealer. I thought Brooks was making a huge mistake, but what do I know? Brooks was a very successful dealer.
When Brooks passed away, his step-son Brian---who had taken over running the shop as his dad became ill---kept the high standards Brooks had established (Brian grew up learning at his dad’s knee), selling Wilson speakers driven by VTL amps. He eventually branched out on his own, and now sells Wilson and VTL in his shop in Pasadena, Audio Element. Like Brooks, he is a great hi-fi dealer, and like Brooks, an expert at turntable/tonearm/cartridge setup. No, I don’t work for him. 😊
