Speaker placement at dealers

recently i went to the local hi-end room--they have all the top majors because the shop was set up by a recording engineer. two owners later, most of the salesmen are selling names in sealed boxes for list price.
i had just came back from selling my speakers for cash--thousands of dollars in my pockets and the gold card and platnum cards raring to go. i was the preverbial sucker ready to be closed.
-i walked in the door to hear thiel 6's. if i could get demo's or negociate a discout, i wanted the thiels in my house that night.
- i made an appointment& came back an hour later. please set them up w/ levinson because it sounds closest to my big pass amps.
-i come back and there is the revel studios set up w/ proceed amps. OK--i'd love to hear them
-the studios are regularly discussed on AA--concerning there tweeter adjustments. i had previously heard them and read all the AA discussions about tow-in and the tweeters[2].
-the initial demo is w/ an audiophile cd which a number of prof'l reviewers use. the piano doesn't sound like a piano and the is upper mid/trebble: distortion/glare. the volumn is so high that it is uncomfortable to listen.
-i make the salesman turn down the volume and ask if we can adjust the speakers. why he asks????? the upper mid /lower trebble doesn't sound right. duke ellington's piano doesn't sound like a piano. THESE SPEAKERS ARE PERFECTLY NEUTRAL.
BUT COULD WE TRY TO ADJUST THE SOUND OR THE TOW-IN?? i've been to the revel factory and this sound is perfectly neutral!!!!!!!!. we chage cd's to a steve hoffman re-mix of bill evens. please don't keep the volumn so hi/
-now comes the lecture about how these speakers can only be used a concert levels. PLEASE CAN YOU SHOW ME HOW TO ADJUST THE FRONT AND REAR TWEETERS????? they are perfect.
-to make a long story short, the salesman insulted me. he had a demo special on the studios w/in my price range. after 30 minutes he kicked me out. i never heard the thiel 6's which i wanted to buy. i would have purchased the revel at the special price --lower than the thiels.
BESIDES BEING WITHOUT A CLUE OF HOW THE EQUIPMENT OPERATES, RUDE AND OFFENSIVE, this man finally convinced me the most bricks and mortor dealers deserve to fail in the market place. if the companies they rep ever realized the way their products are being handled, they might try direct marketing. it is such a shame. i don't mind paying higher prices for the dealer's time and service because it help's me make a better buying decision. i always try to use the local dealers because it is important that they survive so that we can actually hear new equipment and learn from them.

WHAT TO DO????????? manufactures need to spot check their dealers and not permit ignorant & rude sales people to rep their products. the manufacturers of high end eqipment must care about their end users & customers else they will be shooting themselves in the foot in the long run.
bob

Jeff .. that's nice to hear. I think I would be a disastrous HiFi salesman, because I believe that you don't have to spend very much ($5K) but you have to spend it on the right things, and then pay great care to setup. BTW I'm in Fremont, not so far away. It makes me laugh that a bit of rain and wind is a STORM !!!!! in California. The weather people on the TV are going nuts over a bit of rain ... they must lead really dull lives.

Sean - I know of Victor's. He was down here in our part of town actually. We do the same thing basically. We piece together a system on the spot for a customer, being careful not to move those items that need to be warmed up, but keeping only one pair of speakers in the room etc. I actually saw this technique most recently at Holm Audio in Woodridge and was very impressed by it. Didn't think anybody was doing that anymore. Gave me a little bit of hope for the retail end of our industry, which is otherwise in a sad state of affairs.

It seems we all agree many people don't take the time needed to realy enjoy there favorite hobby.It took me years to open my mind and got lucky trusting a small " Home Shop" owner ,which tottaly changed me. The person took the time to explain and show me the difference,while offering any changes I would like to try while I was there. I tend to think "most" High End shops can't or won't afford this type of time unless there is a guaranteed sale behind it. Just my 2 cents

Unsound: I saw your original post and have to wonder how / why it disappeared ??? I know that you were simply responding to Hackmaster's comments and that you weren't in here "shilling" for business. What's up with that ???

Hackmaster: Victor's was located up near Rush street originally and later opened another store not that far from there. Unfortunatly, Victor was better at being a "nice guy" than he was a businessman and he ended up closing the store. Audio Consulants ended up moving into that location. I thought that you were located in Hyde Park or within that general vicinity ?

As to your comments about Holm Audio, they try to do that approach but have so much gear that it ends up getting crowded in some specific rooms. I basically liked that place a lot but there was a specific salesman there that was absolutely the opposite of what this thread is about. This salesman was obnoxious, over-bearing, insulting, argumentative and just plain rude. He even stated that he knew more about audio gear and design than John Curl, Victor Khomenko, etc...

On one occasion, i went into Holm audio with several thousand dollars in my pocket. I went there intending to buy a very specific component from them. I left with nothing other than the urge to beat the piss out of that salesman. The funny thing is that "idiot" ( for lack of wanting to say my real thoughts ) probably thinks that he did nothing wrong and that his conduct is "appropriate".

The thing that REALLY set me off was when the "salesman" literally said "here's a dollar, go buy a clue" !!! If it were not for my brother pulling me out of the store by my arm saying "it's not worth it, don't do it", i'm pretty sure that they would have hauled that guy out of there in little pieces. I'm sure there are other locals here that can relate to my story and know exactly what salesperson i'm referring to. Sean
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