You know this guy? He is the loneliest guy out there, so they say. The deal is that Maytags are supposed to be lonely due to the reliability of the Maytag products. Which is a good thing if you are a consumer and a bad thing, well, if you repair Maytags for a living. But this guy has a some new company: the high end audio shop retailer. He is lonely not because he repairs audio components, but because it looks like no one give a rat’s ass anymore.
But its not the consumer I am talking about, it’s the high-end retailer. I tell you, I go into their shops and it looks like the raid on Entebbe; cables strewn about, equipment scatter (cannot tell whether its used or new, and if its used, put the prices on there, for gosh sakes), speakers that are so helter-skelter that it looks like they have minds of their own and have started a hejira out the door. The store merchandising looks like a rogue designer had a grotesque Feng Shui session with the owner. It is not only some Chicago stores (where I live), I have been to Arizona, New York, Florida et.al. and have seen the same.
Now they have to economy to blame. And just like cabin pressure suck-out, folks that do not want to spend (or have them $$ to spend) and arm and a leg on equipment are even more disenfranchised – keeping them away from the high end retailer and spurring the retailer’s depression. This mess, of course, was started by none other that the Darth Sideous triorca of audiophile magazines, high end manufacturers and the retailers themselves who, on a grand mall brain fart, thought that it was a good idea to charge 50K for speakers, 18K for a preamp (well, you get the drill). Such a dumb move was this, that if they think that the audiophile market is shrinking, then the ultra high end of the market is shrinking even faster. Consumers that were willing to pay 50K for speakers and 18K for a preamp have now been 201K’d from their 401K and are holding back.
Since Pacific Valve does not compete at this high, high end, these frees me up to help the high end retailer, whose new market is the cornucopia of income disposable mucho.
High end audio salon, do not despair. I have put together some simple guidelines:
- Stop Whining. That’s right, you heard me. Look, you and the rest of the folks who run this industry got yourselves into this mess. Embrace it. And face it, that due to these things called China and the internet, you are forced to sell your ridiculously priced components to the few who are willing to pay for it. And they soon will come back, cash in hand and permission from their spouses who, on an act of exemplary mercy, freely gave up a room in the house for speakers the size of UPS trucks.
- Instead of having your shop look like it a designer come in for a grotesque Feng Shui experiment, clean up your act. Put those cables away, move speakers that do not belong in the listening room out of there. Get a rack for cables and let me choose which ones I would like when I listen. Turn the components on for warm up. And, for the love of mite, you all have good music in your shop – why not turn it on and have it playing softly when I get in there to spur my interest? Dust off the equipment – what is this, the Adam’s Family attic make over?
- Re-negotiate your real estate. Practical folks like me who come into your shop to browse will never spend the money for this stuff. Find a cheaper location off the beaten path. Most of your serious customers will be by appointment anyway, with no place to dump their cash, they will easily find you.
Ironically, a recent article in the Absolute Sound was of interest. Called, Audiophile 101 this article spoke of the importance of the high end retailer. If the high end retailer wishes to have a value proposition to folks not willing to spend 6K for a CD player, then the retailer must encourage the industry to start producing great equipment at great prices. So in all, I do not think that the high end retailer is going away, just re-directed. But criminy, don’t make look like, or don’t sound like, your going away ‘cause with that attitude, you will.
2 comments:
I'm in my mid 20s, and like many people my age, have for the first time discretionary $ to spend on new hobbies. It is amazing to me that the hifi industry has completely failed to make beautiful sound 'cool' to a generation of people obsessed with their music collections. So what do we do? Well, most of us don't bother with hifi, their loss I suppose. The rest of us look for bargains from china and in diy.
My opinion is that like the groups of winetasters and cigarlovers there is to much c**p and b******t created by media and people who call themselves specialist.
I live in the netherlands and whe have the possibility to read all audio magazines from different countries. I have a good ears and know what I like.
But at some time (after some money spent),I thought what am I doing,listening to my music or listening to my equipment?
My joy is going to concerts and festivals.
Some recencists describe music and equipment as I never heard it.
And I go with the author of this blog that most of the equipment is not priced and properly set up to get an opinion.
I invested a lot in my equipment but still you get a look when you go in to a high end stores wearing jeans and a t-shirt.(and yes,I am tattoed and pierced).
And the attitude of some sellers,because they think they know it all.
I am in my mid fourtie's and have a large music collection.
I buy my equipment now mostly secondhand and buy it at other musiclovers and mostly that means a nice listening evening before buying and share our love for beaytifull music without salestalks and just let my ears decide.
And now and then I buy also a piece of crap from china because I am curious.
All the great brands manifacture there,so why not ?
It's my money so it's my own risk.
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