NHT Returns to a New Marketplace?

Yeah. Martin Logan available from Audio Advisor. Who'da thunkit?

I have to agree with you Buconero, I know this is the "new model" of business for many but I for one will not rely on the audio rags opinion for an unseen product purchase. How many posts on this site do we see of interested parties for a product they cannot access and rely on others opinions and not their own eyes and ears. Can you really trust the opinion of someone who puts out thousands of dollars for a product to be unbiased. If the product was to be a negative experince would we expect people to tell us how unhappy they were with the purchase then try to re-sell it and get a good price for something they don,t want? For the record I own a complete set-up of high end NHT speakers for Home Theatre and a set of NHT 3.3's for two channel. So even knowing how good of a product they did make and could make , I still would not buy without being able to evaluate a products performance to my tastes , needs and expectations. My fear is the reality that this will soon be the "norm". Cheers....

On-line is the new reality. Has2be you must live in one of the few areas that has retailers left. Other than big box stores with mid-fi gear there is really no way for the vast majority of Americans to evaluate something in person. Even large cities like Nashville TN no longer have high end retailers.

I'd guess that a lot of the speakers that change hands on Audiogon are purchased "blind" ("deaf"?). If NHT's on-line distribution allows value unavailable from bricks and mortar (i.e. remove the retail mark-up), they'll find some market share. A fair number of high end buyers seem to know what they want, even if they've never actually heard it.

Marty

>So even knowing how good of a product they did make and could make , I still would not buy without being able to evaluate a products performance to my tastes , needs and expectations. My fear is the reality that this will soon be the "norm". Cheers....

You don't have to move very far up the food chain to where it becomes more economical to fly to audition speakers (perhaps to a showroom, perhaps to a show) than to cover brick-and-mortar markups.

In high-end territory the savings almost cover a nice three year old car plus you're getting a made-to-order product with potentially unlimited materials/finish options.

My favorite example is Siegfried Linkwitz's designs.

His Audio Artistry Beethoven Elite (with the merely bi-amplified version declared 1998 Stereophile Loudspeaker of the Year) sold for $37,500 in 1998 dollars through retail channels.

He said that his Orion is superior in all areas but maximum output at low frequencies; where a pair of Thors fix that deficiency.

The Orion starts around $6500 a pair without amplification ordered direct and built by an American furniture maker in your choice of hardwoods+veneers. Thors add $2150.