life without audio dealers

Many of us feel that we have passed the point of needing dealer assistance. Many dealers just behave like toll booths, believing that you have to pay them to gain access. Many manufacturers support this notion with exclusive sales territories. Everybody's crazy.
The number of real B&M dealers has shrunk to only those who say "my way or the hiway". The number of manufacturers seems to be growing exponentially, and the number of new audiophile purchases seems to be static at best.
Something's gotta give -- especially since those few of us who remain obsessive enough to keep spilling significant sums into this mercantile abyss, has to start diminishing dramatically as the grim reaper collects his toll.
The stores are merely the first part of this ship to meet the iceberg.

As someone who has taken on the role of distributor for a high-end audio company, this argument is of particular interest to me...

I have the complete freedom to steer the brand here as I see fit, which translates to being able embrace either a direct sales or traditional brick and mortar business model. I found there are arguments for and against each one.

If I sold direct, I could offer a 35% - 50% reduction in pricing, as well as having my hands on each and every sale directly. The latter yielding the type of relationship I would hope the customer would find value in. If I went down that road, to take the place of the audition at the dealer or his recommendation, I would also offer a trial period in the range of something like 60 - 90 days, as I agree with the sentiment that only via having a component in one's own system can the best decision for the individual be made. I want to be clear in my desire to provide the ability to audition a component either way - through direct sales or a dealer network.

However, I have seen very few companies become sucessful along the lines of direct sales, among them are Prima Luna and Zu. I have also watched as companies like Coincident, Jadis, and Von Schweikert more or less come apart at the seams when they have (willingly or unwillingly) gone down the direct sales road.

I have the utmost confidence in the sonics, build quality, and value for money the product line I represent possesses, and feel that allowing people to able to see, hear, and touch it will result in brand acceptance and sales. But, in my opinion, I feel building the dealer network is the best way to accomplish that. While that opinion certainly diverges from the majority opinion in this thread, after thinking it over long and hard, I made the decision, rightly or wrongly, that it is the more prudent one.

Apart from all of this, I work a high level full-time job in an extremely stable company, and am hesitant to walk away from the money and benefits it allows my family to enjoy. OK that may sound like a cowardly reason, but I have to be honest. On the other hand, I feel it has yielded the unforeseen benefit of being able to take the long view of things, and act along those lines to build the brand up the way I feel is the best and most ethical manner, as opposed to most in this industry who have to unceasingly generate sales at whatever expense in order to put bread on the table.

In the end, my sincere desire is to provide the best possible service to people interested in our product, and I am really open to embracing whatever the best vehicle to provide that is. Right or wrong, I have chosen the brick and mortar avenue, but am always here to listen as to why folks believe I made the wrong decision.

The journey of the audiophile is, to a certain extent, a journey of self-discovery. If we all knew what we like, what we don't like, and what we can put up with if necessary - then we could reliably make all our purchases on-line or factory-direct.

Presumably mrtennis has reached the stage where he can reliably predict which equipment will and will not do what he wants. But he has enormous experience from attending audio trade shows and reviewing. I doubt that he is taken by surprise very often when auditioning speakers, for instance. That's not the case for most of us, though - I still hear surprises at just about every audio show I attend.

So one of the roles I see dealers playing is assisting the audiophile in that journey of self-discovery. Unfortunately for the dealers, as hard-core audiophiles become more experienced they need dealer auditions less and less, so they are more likely to buy direct. At the same time, the shrinking market means that not enough new audiophiles are coming into the dealership to make its two-channel operations self-sustaining.

In a world with no dealers, I see audio shows possibly filling that role for those audiophiles in a position to attend such shows; but for those unable to attend, the journey of self-discovery will be longer than ever. Many will never make it because they will never hear anything better than a Circuit City or Best Buy system.

I think in a world without dealers, high end audio will shrink even faster than it's shrinking now.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

experience at ces shows and reviewing does not give me an edge relative to others who have not had my experiences.
i do not consider myself an expert. rather i know what i want and have ears to tell when i hear it.

you don't have to be a food critic, movie critic or wine critic, for example, to be able to tell that you like something. noone can tell another what is best for that person, with the exception of a doctor or lawyer. we are dealing with aesthetics, not rocket science.

one does not have to understand why or how something works.
you need a good brain, a good ear and an understanding of what you like.

how deos a dealer help ?

he does not have your ears. no one can predict what a component will do in another stereo system based upon what it may do at a dealers stereo system.

this hobby needs more small manufacturers and fewer audio dealers. as long as there are direct sellers of every conceivable component, one has the opportunity to sample products of each category. the designer is a useful source of the nature of a component. however, a manufacturer cannot predict how a component will integrate itself in a stereo system.

there are many surprises. i may expect a silver plated copper3 cable to have a certain signature, but i have been surised.

the answer is listen, listen and listen--at home.

when i go to ces, all i can say is that i either like what i hear or do not like what i hear. i don't try to analyze.

this hobby needs more small manufacturers who offer in-home audition and less audio dealers. ket the consumer decide for him/herself without influence from a person who has a vested interest in selling something. how can such a person be objective about a product he/she doesn't sell ?

an audio dealer is a conflict of interest waiting to happen.

i have spoken to some manufacturers who prefer not to deal with retailers.

the best an audio retailer can do is lend gear at the request of the consumer, perhaps for a small fee. then the consumer can buy it direct from the manufacturer.

'you don't have to be a food critic, movie critic or wine critic, for example, to be able to tell that you like something. noone can tell another what is best for that person, with the exception of a doctor or lawyer. we are dealing with aesthetics, not rocket science.'

Personally, i agree with this statement by mrtennis. However, i have recently come to understand and believe there is a group of audiophiles who subscribe to the A. Holt theory that an 'absolute sound' is the standard equipment should aspire to, a sound that comes as close as possible to live music. This belief is the fundamental behind such absolute statements like, 'This is the best amp (speaker, CDP, etc) under $2000.' or (opens can of worms)' Analog is superior to Digital'. Indeed, until i discovered these absolutists, as i like to call them, i could never understand what drove someone to make what appeared to me, such an arrogant statement. I now believe that audiophiles are divided into two groups, the subjectivists and the absolutists. Unfortunately, every single dealer in my area falls into the absolutist camp; thereby rendering what i like or don't like secondary to their 'more expert' opinion on what sounds best. Of course, as a subjectivist, this bewilders me and makes that dealer of no use to me. Worse, it's actually torture listening to them pontificate on the various attributes of all equipment ever manufactured. i now stay far away from these audio shops.

But back to mrtennis for a second. As a reviewer, i wonder, how does he recommend a component for sound quaility, percieved by him subjectively, if he believes this:

'no one can predict what a component will do in another stereo system based upon what it may do at a dealers stereo system'

he should have added 'or at a reviewers home' to that statement i think.

There are lots of good reviewers around; I like Art Dudley a lot personally. But i would personally feel a lot more comfortable listening to a component at a dealer (or anywhere for that matter) than taking a reviewers opinion as a worthy substitute for my own ears, no offense to reiewers intended.

and again, by Mrtennis:

'an audio dealer is a conflict of interest waiting to happen.'

Harsh mrtennis, and not nessessarily accurate. A very good dealer can provide a very valuable service, possibly even commesurate to the profit margins from the 70's perpetuated still as representing good value. In order to do that, they must abandon this 'do as i say' mentality (absolutist) and adopt a relationship with the consumer that underpins a more subjective approach. But then again, the dealer is working with the vagaries and insecurites of obsessed audiophiles; he can't switch out amps and speakers all day long in what is almost always a hopeless attempt to provide a long term satisfied listener. Maybe you're right, it's useless! Just imagine a conversation like this: Phone rings, dealer answers: 'Hello mr dealer, listen, that amp you sold me last week, i was listening to this diana krall recording, and on track 6 there was some sibilance, an 's' sounded like 'sss'; it was unlistenable! Can i bring this rotten amp back and try something else?'' Maybe dealers deserve that high profit margin, having to deal with the likes of us!