What dealer/distributor has influenced you most?

Glory -

one learns the most from a 'bad' dealer, as in, what not to do.

On the other hand, I can attest to Aaudio Imports and their Stage III concepts power cords. Simply put, the best on the market at the present time. Outstanding customer service as well.

I had some bad experiences at several dealers in my younger years - 25 plus years ago. My former neighbor owned a stereo shop for 40 plus years. One day while chatting on his patio he explained his entire business model. His product offerings were influenced by what other dealers were selling, plus what profit margin he could leverage from a given product line, and finally the quality of dealer/customer support provided by said company. After all it is a business above all else. So, I realized the advice and products I was getting from any dealer is most likely not unbiased or in my best interest.
So, I stopped going to dealers and focused my questions, research, sales, and purchases to the internet. It forced me to do more research on my own and as a result have acquired more knowledge. Finally, I've become good friends with several audio nuts (through transactions) which is priceless

I never let a "dealer" influence my audio hobby. A dealer usually has an agenda to lead one to what is most profitable, regardless of sound quality. The best influences were other audiophools who have been around a while and offered up some very good advice.

That said:

Brian @ Aaudio Imports is one of the good guy dealers! He doesn't carry junk and his product line stays consistent. His entry level is high end if your wallet can handle it, his higher end products are performance related to the cost.

Tim Ryan at Simplifi Audio has a very good product line, that offers high end quality sound at midfi prices.

Tim Kroll of Shelby + Kroll makes a great product, and is like an encyclopedia of audio knowledge.

None of them, all of them are crooks!

Haha, just kidding.

Yes, there's some bad apples out there, but there are some (not many though) cool distributors and dealers out there who pride themselves on customer service, and deliver it.

That's my take...

Brooks Berdan