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Disappointed in SACD player

Well, there I was yesterday. At the chain store who Sony has designated as their retail point of attack for SACD in the Philadelphia, PA region. Tweeter, formerly known as Bryn Mawr Stereo and Video. Formerly, Bryn Mawr Stereo(but we all know what happened there). Since my recent misfortunes with CD players, I was considering a jump to a Sony SACD player. One thing about Sony, their stuff is reliable. I found one player, the 5 disc changer. It was hooked up in a HT setup. Not even prominently. There was also another CD player in this system, along with a DVD-V player. As no salesman came into the room, I didn't pursue. I found no other player in the store. Finally, when we were looking at tv's, someone asked us if we needed help. I asked about SACD, and was told two players were on display. I asked to see the one that I didn't see. I was taken to a wall of DVD players, and sure enough, the ES9000 was there. Not hooked up, sitting there like all of the other DVD players. And in fact, THAT IS HOW THIS STORE IS MARKETING IT. As a DVD player! The guy gave me the big spiel on it, from a DVD perspective. 12 bit scan, instead of 10, etc., etc., etc. All of which is meaningless to me. I am not a HT or DVD guy. I spend my time on two channel audio. The guy left me less interested in the player than when I came in. They could not even find any SACD material in the entire store. Not even a sampler. I came in wanting to be impressed, wanting to leave with the desire to buy an SACD player. Needless to say, I probably won't be buying very soon. Wasn't this supposed to be Sony's summer of all out SACD offensive? Players starting at $350(which still will probably come), creating interest with the general public and lifting the new format to something beyond the niche of the lunatic fringe. As it is now, it is not even as recognizable as DAT, and miles behind MD(which was very prominent in the store). Both of which are monumental flops in the words of Sony.
trelja
rgd
656 posts
 
Leafs - There is always room to move...I've been purchasing new gear since the early 80's and have never payed the sticker price. All this was was a dealer with a captive audience who's attitude was take it or leave it! It was their attitude that negated my dealing with them. A dealer 225 miles south of me located in Montana over the phone indicated there was room to move - not much but he would work with me. My point is that a dealer's attitude goes a long way in determining if he makes any money - maybe I just caught these guys on a bad day...
sean
6,231 posts
 
There was a point in production that the Maggies ( specifically the 1.6's ) were selling WAY faster than they could make them. As such, dealers had more people clamoring for them and willing to pay full price for them than they could get in. Selling them for less than list at that point in time would simply mean less money in their pocket and no opportunity to make up the difference because they never knew when the next pair would come in. It's the law of supply and demand. However, i do agree that the situation could have been handled a bit more tactfully than how the first dealer went about it. Sean
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lornecherry
135 posts
 
Yes, the dealer has a right to bluntly "not discount" if demand exceeds supply (this happens with cars all the time when a new model comes out --i.e. try to get a discount on a Honda S2000 or Plymoth Prowler.) But the real issue here is how the dealer handled the customer when he could not accomodate the customer's needs. A simple explanation such as: "Maggies are in very short supply at the time and therefore unlike many other of the lines we sell, I can't discount them." But I can .....

If the dealer leaves the customer with "a good taste in their mouth" (no matter what the pricing structure is at the time or whether any sale is made) both the customer and the dealer benefit. The dealer benefits when the customer returns to buy other stuff that may have been sitting around for a while, or some high margin stuff, such as cables. For example, my local dealers all know that I buy on eBay and audiogon, and two of the three except that and work hard to fill the gap with respect to convenience and stuff that is not available on the net. I may not have spent $10K with my local dealers, but I have bought a lot of high margin cables, SACD's, etc. and over the course of the year, have spent more than some of their mid-fi customers buying complete setups.

In the case of the Maggies, when the dealer handles this more professionally, as per the examaple, the customer benefits by knowing the dealer couldn't help him this time with respect to the current purchase, but the door is open for the future -- a true win-win situation. This Maggie dealer clearly blew it, as he has lost much more than a Maggie sale -- he has lost a customer forever. And customers, unlike Maggies, are always in short supply.
--Lorne
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