Walking Into A Brick & Mortar High End Audio Store

Avgoround, I don't understand your comment. There are many B&M stores in existence, unfortunately some better and some worse.

If you have enough audio friends that have enough gear, then maybe you don't need a brick and mortar store. But if not, then how do you not only listen and discover which gear you like but how do you know what gear works best together and will work in your room? Endless purchases and trial and error?

If you don't have a good dealer that you can work with you are probably selecting your audio gear based on what someone else has heard (or thinks).

I had a completely different experience with Audioconnection. Mr. Rutan, after trying to sell me a soon-to-be discontinued Primare amp (he did not mention it at all), refused to take it back when I tried to return it. In addition, anyone in this business can easily understand that Proac + Primare combination can sound very lean and bright. When I shared my views on this combination, he started sending me cables and DACs (like REGA DAC which was supposed to add more bass and meat which was not nearly enough to change the foundation of the sound I was getting).

Finally, I had to put all the components together and went to his store. He simply did not get it and he accused me of, are you ready to hear this..., "trying to buy things that I could not afford!!!" After hearing that I just left the boxes there and attempted to leave. He then accepted the return but kept $250.00 for his spending pleasure (he had also kept another portion of the purchase but later called and refunded).

So Mr. Rutan might be a "man of integrity" when it comes to ringing the register but all that integrity vanishes when you are not happy with what he is trying to sell you.

p.s. by the way...I had been a customer there for some 15 years and introduced him friends who purchased $25,000 worth of equipment. After working in a hedge fund as a PM I was not exactly the bum he was imagining in his pathetic little mind. After I recovered from that trauma, I purchased Devore 3XLs and a Cayin A88T amp and enjoyed the my music collection. I will never ever set foot on that store, ever again.

Catama

Just had a bad experience in Berkeley. I was interested in a $1200 phono stage. Wouldn't demo it, just kept saying I should buy it's the last one in stock. Left without hearing the phono stage or anything else. This was on my birthday and a weekend vacation no less. I have yet to have a good B & M Experience.

Many/most B&M stores left are run by trustfund ego-trip types who are not all that worried whether you buy it or not.

I have not had access to a dealer in almost 40 years. The nearest one is a hundred miles away and I'm not certain they are still in business. In the 1960s I had three dealers in a community of one fourth the size of my present community.

The internet has all but killed local audio dealers. It is a very hard task to be one now days. Audio shows have somewhat replaced dealer and most repairs entail FedEx shipping.

I suspect that the future will see all local dealers of everything other than groceries and restaurants will vanish and chain stores for everything will replace them.