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Would you pay to listen?

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Just curious, would you pay to listen to a
$100k system? Say a one hour session for twenty bucks?

Assuming the room is great and you have vinyl and cd and your choice of solid state or tubes. Also assuming you'd have the best matched system that $100k could buy.

How much would you pay to hear a $200k system? No pressure or expectation to buy anything, just plunk down your twenty and enjoy the music. BYO drinks of course.

I'm sure I'd pay if there were such a place.
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mitch4t
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i just realized that the question "would you pay to listen" is ambiguous.

it's obvious that if you travel to rmaf or ces there is a travel, room and board cost asoociated with the trip.

i believe the connotation of the question is:

would you pay to listen to a component or stereo system ?

if so, i would not.

while it is less costly to outlay $50.00 than to buy a component , sell it and loss more than $50, out of principle, i refuse to pay to listen to a stereo system, regardless of its alleged reputation of sound quality.

i guess i'll miss the experienece.

i won't pay $50 to borrow a component either.

i'll find a component that i can borrow for an audition, without paying for it.
phd
1,332 posts
 
Mrtennis, thankyou sir for your difference of opinion, this is what makes the threads more interesting to read at times. Sometimes it is hard for me not to want to try other products especially ones that have been ranted over and then have to pay for that privilege on top of it. If the crowd is all moving to the right, I may go in that direction to see what all the fuss is about. Human nature I suppose.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t OP
1,613 posts
 
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Mr. Tennis,

I'll be more specific. The place you go to hear the system would not be a dealer, just an establishment that sells listening time, similar to the kind of establishment that sells studio time to musicians. You go into a room with the dimensions of your choosing. Acoustically, the room has been professionally prepped to get optimum results. You pay one dollar per $10k of equipment that you want to listen to. That is, ten bucks if you want to hear $100k worth of gear, twenty bucks if you want to hear $200k worth of gear. You choose the mfg and models of any and all equipment that you want to hear. You are free to mix and match any gear of your choosing. The listening session would be private, or you could have guests if you choose to. Bring your own cd's, LP's, sacd's, open reel tapes or hard drives. Of course, none of the gear would be for sale. If you'd like to buy any of the equipment, you would have to contact the mfg and find a dealer on your own. No salesmen would be on the premises, just the trained tech to assemble the system that you've specified. If you think you are smarter than the tech, you are welcome to make suggestions or set up the system yourself.

The whole idea is to hear equipment that you'd probably never be able to afford to own. If I could afford to buy it, I'd just buy the damn thing. But, the system that I want to hear costs north of $400k. Unless I hit the Mega-Powerball lottery, I'll never be able to afford such a system, but I'd sure pay money to hear it.
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david12
1,454 posts
 
Mitch4 Sorry, that is'nt going to happen. It would'nt be a viable business model, to set up premises just to sell listening time for HiFi. It would have to be in a store selling kit as well, to make it viable. High end stores have the time. When have you ever been to one where customers are fighting to get assistants attention.

The store has fixed costs in terms of rent, the kit itself, salesmen, why not sweat the assets by selling listening time.

I repeat, I do'nt think it is fair to go to a store and audition, if you are not in the market to buy, at least without being upfront and saying why you are in the store. If the manager is happy to help foster good elations with a customer, that's fine. I for one, would frequent a store with that outlook. It never ceases to amaze me, how many shops are downright rude and dismissive of potential customers, howdo they stay in business. You have to encourage your customer base, say with open access demo evenings, with coffee or a few beers.
wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
Yo Mitch4t...my day job is Comedy Writer.

And I would pay $20 to watch people scurry around wiring up a 200K system I've designed for them to assemble for me. That in itself would be worth it..."little to the left there Bob...and don't forget the Magic Bricks and Mpingo discs"...listening to it would be gravy after watching a sweaty tech earn less than an oil changer at Jiffy Lube. Still, to revisit the real world for a moment, I think these high end gear sales dudes are missing a great opportunity that recently was grabbed by the guitar freaks...make it sexy. Ever see "Guitar Aficionado" magazine (pretty funny over the top nonesense)? It's pure "guitar porn" not really matched by any of the hifi mags I've seen...and the overpriced world of "guitars actual musicians can't afford" is booming. If you look at an issue of Architectural Digest, except for maybe an overstuffed "Media Room" for film and popcorn digesting, there is almost NEVER a visible "wealth level appropriate" audio rig anywhere.
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