High end vs internet

Emh - It's a nice thought, but surely you realize that the sound would be half of the problem.

I think that while I agree with what Zaikesman has said in this thread(and where he has chimed in on this topic in other threads), the comment about Eminem tells the story of why high end audio stores are, always were, and until something changes, always will be a niche market.

I am presuming that Zaikesman's comments here were more fun than feeling, so I am using these statements as representing the typical bricks and mortar businessman we all know, not Zaikesman.

Why is it such a crime for a teenager to listen to whatever the hell he/she likes through a high end audio system?

This way more than pervasive attitude kills more high end audio business than probably anything else. The elitist belief that a person is actually "priveledged" to be able to audition audio componentry, and therefore must meet certain requirements of the dealer really is not lost upon most customers.

Music lovers are more abundant than we believe. Many of which have no problem paying a significant sum of money towards building a system where they can listen to their music, no matter what music it may be.

A few years back a friend of mine asked me to take him to a store where I purchased an amplifier. The salesperson's arrogant demeanor and conditions for listening ended up with the high end losing a lifelong customer. The most damning comment was that "You won't be able to play that Queensryche or whatever it is through this system. You may listen to this..."

The number of people who would react to this garbage with a "take your system and ..." is obviously pretty high. My friend now has spent a sizable amount of money on pro audio equipment and has never looked back. He is a pro audio fanatic in the same way we are high end audio lunatics. Again, high end audio has lost him FOREVER. His passion for music and gear is the same as ours. But, his money will be going in a different direction.

High end audio veers towards classical music and jazz, whereas pro audio tends toward rock and pop. I don't need to go into how classical/jazz have fared over the past generation. If the high end doesn't know which way the wind blows, it will parallel the music it strives to feature.

My point is that I think that in addition to lower prices, many have turned to internet sales as a way of not supporting local audio retailers who have offended them in some way. Personally, a local friend here on Audiogon has discussed at length with me a local store. The owner's arrogance and elitist nature is legendary across the country. He detests the man, while I allow that his selection is a redeeming point. My friend's point is that now in this day and age, people don't need to cowtow to this ogre, they can find anything he sells from someone better somewhere else. And, most probably at a lower price.

Seems like an obvious thing to me.

My overall point is that until these dealers, who for far too many years conducted themselves in a manner that would be suicide for most, look themselves in the mirror and make a change, the closing down of their businesses that has been called for for all too many years will continue. In my opinion, most of these salemen are too far gone to turn back now.

And so, the bleeding will go on...

Yes Trelja, you are correct that I was basically jes' funnin', even though my second comment about the sonics of Emh's proposal was directed toward the idea of setting up in an auditorium, not the music in question. Nothing would sound good enough played in that way to serve as a useful demonstration. I personally detest elitism in the arenas of system auditioning or dealer approval or same; although I wholeheartedly admit to being a zealous elitist when it comes to matters of taste in pop/rock music generally, people need to choose gear using the music they like to listen to. Of course, there is a large kernel of truth to the attitude that certain music is better than other music for system auditioning, at least as far as particular performance parameters go. This cuts all ways - loud rock can in some areas illuminate system performance better than classical, for instance. But not joking around, I actually would be against Emh's idea simply because I don't believe schools are an appropriate place to conduct marketing of businesses and products, and that we need less of this in our schools, not more. That said, as I think you already know I am in full agreement with you on your overall assessment of the way the high end markets, or fails to market, itself at the retail level.

I agree with Zaikesman re: marketing in schools. Besides, lets be realistic, we find $1000 a challanging price point for a total system. Don't you think 14 to 18 year old eyes would just glaze over, when they heard what we actually spend on our systems? While art is priceless, you can't put a price on beauty, and the world might be better off with this appreciation, etc. Quite frankly, considering the state of the world, I might be ashamed.

Let me throw a random item out here: two of the high end stores in my general area not only don't feature any window displays or signage about what it is they carry (other than the store name), they have actively covered over their windows so that there is no way to see into the store except through the door. Not only does this waste an opportunity to attract or pique the interest of passersby (both on foot and in cars), but for those locals who aren't audiophiles who do get an inkling of what the shop sells, it creates an indelibly forbidding (not to mention just plain ugly) image that fairly screams to the commumity, "We don't want you, we don't care about you, we're not a part of you, don't bother us". What other retail business not located in an industrial park can you think of that would present a blank face to the world? At least Masonic halls have the good sense not to actually call attention to their shuttered secretiveness by locating in public shopping strips. Way to put the message in the world. If I owned a high end store in a trafficed area, I'd want total innocents wandering in to gawk every single day - I'd ensure that music playing could be heard outside the storefront, and change my window display often. What the hell do these dealers think they're hiding, and why? (Well, in one of the cases, they could be hiding the annoyingly blase - if they don't totally ignore you, that is - and arrogant 'service' awaiting within...)