If you were to be a dealer, what lines would you like to carry and why?

[bonzo75]

Raidho would be my first choice.

The margins on it must be huuuuge. It is also my least liked audio component but sells so there must be some marketing pull

I would also stock products where once the person gets in, he gets stuck. So he keeps adding boxes to maintain market value, or has to do targeted upgrades like audio note. For example in audio note if you buy the copper, you get one year to upgrade to half copper half silver, and one year after that to full silver. Something like that. It's brilliant. When audiophiles buy at start of the year and announce how satisfied they are and now only playing music, just before the year is going to run out they press the upgrade plug to not miss the opportunity.

 

[asiufy]

SBnx, I completely agree - as a dealer it is more important to keep what sells automatically rather than what you like. I also a think a dealer should not be emotionally attached to the goods he sells. Imagine stocking dCS and Lampi, and if a customer comes in to buy the dCS, and if a dealer likes the Lampi, it will show. The dealer should be focused on margins/turnover, and service. To distinguish himself he should have key set up skills, else people will simply be able to buy his stuff in the used market and plug it in themselves. There should be some value to buying from him in terms of learning, or it should be incredibly bespoke and high margin.

This is the exact opposite of what I, as a dealer, believe. We *must* be emotionally involved with the product. We should *not* be focused on high(er) margin product, but products that represent good value for money for the client.
I do agree that service is key, as well as intimate knowledge of the brands carried.
The challenge is finding such products, and getting them in synergistic combinations.

 

[infinitely baffled]

Yeah i thought that was a strangely cynical post by Bonzo

 

[spiritofmusic]

+1 on being emotionally involved.
I know Ked crunches numbers all day, hard to be excited about life during office hrs.
But the rest of us have to love our work. And that means our wares and our customers.

Analog: Trans Fi, Spec, Primary Control, CS Port, SAEC, Soundsmith.

Digital: Holo Springs, SGC/Rendu, Eera, Taiko Extreme, JMF.

Amps: LTA, Bakoon, Nat, Emia.

Spkrs: Zu, Maxonic, Haigner.

Cables: Sablon
Isolation: Symposium, Daiza, Stacore, Arya Revopods.
Power: Westwick, Airlink.

 

[bonzo75]

+1 on being emotionally involved.
I know Ked crunches numbers all day, hard to be excited about life during office hrs.
But the rest of us have to love our work. And that means our wares and our customers.

I don't think you are allowed to be emotionally involved with your patients either.

My observations come based on the fact that the successful dealers I have seen stock what sells, are very professional, but don't necessarily have a ear for gear or music. They are well tuned to the audiophile sound, understand what the customer wants and service him well. Those with musical ears like Peter for example from whom you buy, Marc, are passionate and get gear and music but don't necessarily sell much. With such dealers the main issue is they pick gear they like, not gear that sells. This is fine for me if it is a part time side income to finance my hobby, but not the main source of income of a full day job. Then you need to be like a grocer store, more consumer centric

 

[spiritofmusic]

Well, I love the work (pre Covid/post Covid), but I take yr point.

In the manual therapy world, there are ways to end up seeing 5x the number of appts, and thus 5x the income. And I would rather shelf stack in Tesco than work that way.

Similarly, if I had to run a hifi business w the usual suspects I didn't like the sound of to just shift boxes, I'd pass.

Working from home up here in the country, developing a reputation for going above and beyond, w eclectic brands all representing a unique view on the music, at varying levels of VFM or SOTA or both (Extreme and CS Port both top of their game and huge on value despite high price tags), and not having to turnover stupid numbers, that model would suit me.

I'd have to get down w tt setup and computer audio for my pains.

 

[andromedaaudio]

If I had to do it commercially …..

I would have an exceptional great room , best in the country / Europe , in a great room almost anything sounds great .
Stock what sells Audio research Octave Pass labs Macintosh etc the house hold names .
Gear up to a lets say 10 K not the ref series nescesarilly
Avalon speakers and dynaudio speakers .

When they would say wow that sounds great , I would say that's because I m a great set up guy with lots of experience

 

[bonzo75]

Extreme and CS port is what you are saying because consumers want them today. Plus they might be good for sure. I don't mean keep out what customers want just because you like them.

You would have a tough time selling the gear you currently own. And personally, if I was a consumer I wouldn't want to be anywhere near you if you kept regurgitating Zus instead of listening to me about my issues. So it would be better if you sold Wilson, Magico, or whatever

 

[spiritofmusic]

But you're not a typical consumer are you, you still haven't bought anything. The customers who might come to me are interested in wanting to buy gear or a whole system.
So, you're the outlier, a guy who doesn't have a system, as opposed to me, wanting to sell outlier gear to motivated customers.
And more people are gonna like Zus in the way I'll have them set up.

Anyhow, it's an academic subject. You'd be crazy to sell in the UK, unless you wanna go down the Innuos, Roon Nucleus, Chord, Linn, Naim route, making a pittance on each sale.
You'd need to go down the Kog Audio route, strong marketing and extra customer service on Entreq, Stillpoints, Vitus. Or Absolute Sounds/Branko/KJ/Audio Salon, w the Kronos/Vivaldi end of the market.
The small guys in the UK selling Anima, Liszt, AA Omega, they're getting nowhere, making no money.

I know a guy locally who won't sell a major UK player in the server mkt. He will literally be left w pennies on each sale, esp w six dealers within a 20 mile radius also selling it. So he's forced to look at one higher priced specialist server that's had good feedback on WBF, and a cheaper entry level option one...he makes more money from selling a server a quarter the price of the big player than he would from selling the Zenith itself Lol.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ked, Extreme sells itself. It's the leader in a field of one. CS Port fulfils my fetish for uber Japanese engineering. I own Pioneer HLD X0 and X9 laderdisc players from the 90s. They were in a league of their own, as is CS Port. It remains w the Vyger the only high priced tt I'd consider buying (in past I'd have added the Saskia to that list).

 

[bonzo75]

But you're not a typical consumer are you, you still haven't bought anything. The customers who might come to me are interested in wanting to buy gear or a whole system.
So, you're the outlier, a guy who doesn't have a system, as opposed to me, wanting to sell outlier gear to motivated customers.
And more people are gonna like Zus in the way I'll have them set up.

Anyhow, it's an academic subject. You'd be crazy to sell in the UK, unless you wanna go down the Innuos, Roon, Chord, Linn, Naim route, making a pittance on each sale.
You'd need to go down the Kog Audio route, strong marketing and extra customer service on Entreq, Stillpoints, Vitus. Or Absolute Sounds/Branko/KJ/Audio Salon, w the Kronos/Vivaldi end of the market.
The small guys in the UK selling Anima, Liszt, AA Omega, they're getting nowhere, making no money.

I have bought loads. And I would be the consumer more interested in a boutique set up though with covid that will change

 

[bonzo75]

I also think while regular posters here push each other like a sport to listen and judge critically, the typical customer is not that critical a listener. So relating to that average works best as a dealer, in other words, dealers should either be not too critical listeners, or they should be able to get themselves down to relate to the customer, the latter requires them to be not passionate about their own better judgement.

 

[bonzo75]

Ah Ok --yes I think so --the pair I heard were in custom semi-open baffle type frames. Mind you with the plethora of plans for cabinets/semi and full enclosures on the net I'd sooner get the best FC's Drivers I could afford and have the Speaker builder make the surrounds in the finest wood and finish to suit my needs and surroundings--this is what I personally would do if I was putting together cost no object speaker( only FC's for that !)
I can see where you are coming from--fair enough but be careful choosing FC's -- in my own experience Voxativ was disappointing also Feastrix
didn't float the boat.

Here is what I've always wanted -I would die happy sitting in front of these!

Good Listening!

BruceD

That's Andy's system, with Misho's electronics

 

[asiufy]

I also think while regular posters here push each other like a sport to listen and judge critically, the typical customer is not that critical a listener. So relating to that average works best as a dealer, in other words, dealers should either be not too critical listeners, or they should be able to get themselves down to relate to the customer, the latter requires them to be not passionate about their own better judgement.

I don't pretend to know all the high-end audio customers (like you do), but in my own corner of the world/market, the customers are very critical and discerning. I hear stories of other dealers selling stuff based on how gear looks (or price-tags, "gimme the most expensive XYZ"), but it just doesn't happen, at least to us.
Of course, if a person is already familiar with a given well-respected brand, like Wilson or Audio Research, they will buy a new product even without listening to it, as they expect a certain level of improvement for their money.
Now, the norm is folks taking their time, coming in 4, 5 times for auditions with different gear (often bringing in their own gear to check synergy). And that's perfectly fine, and again, the reason why dealers should exist in the first place.
I also don't agree with the last part of your post. Dealers should be intimately familiar with the gear their sell and their possible interaction with other brands/products, as well as their client's tastes and prejudices/predispositions. As I make very clear to my clients, it doesn't matter what I like, the point is that THEY should like it. If I'm carrying a product, it's because I certainly like it, and if a recommendation is made, it's because I not only like it, but I feel the client will too. And that recommendation is not only based on passion, but on critical listening and possible synergy match/mismatch.

 

[sbnx]

I also don't agree with the last part of your post. Dealers should be intimately familiar with the gear their sell .

This part upsets me most with "sales" in general. IMHO if you are selling a product then you should know it inside and out. Like going to buy a car. Me: "What is the horsepower of the engine?" Sales: "I don't really know. Have to check." Me: "Does is come with apple play?" Sales: "I don't really know. What is apple play?" Me: "What colors are available?" Sales: " Well you can see we have this white one here." (Not what I asked.)

As an example in HIFI. There is a local brick & Mortar that has been in the same location since the late 80's. They sell the big brands -- Wilson, Audio Research, DCS, etc. I occasionally go in to see if anything new I might be interested in. The sales people are not engaging at all. They have no idea really about audio in general. One of the stock questions they often ask is "What is your system?" They have not heard of any of the gear that I have. And they don't know any technical details regarding the gear they do sell. These people might as well be selling jewelry or cars or whatever.

If I walked into Alma and asked about DAC's then I would expect questions on what my current system is and what it is I am looking for in a DAC's sound. What I don't like about my current DAC. And then shown a couple of DAC's that are likely to work well. And when I ask a lot of detailed questions about a $120K DAC (select II) you better know every single one of them.

 

[andromedaaudio]

As an example in HIFI. There is a local brick & Mortar that has been in the same location since the late 80's.

Well if they around since the late 80 s , they for sure do something good .
It might not be your cup of tea but surely someone elses.

 

[spiritofmusic]

I'm sure someone once said of any luxury dealership, audio, car or otherwise, the first £10k should be spent on the...coffee maker.

 

[howiebrou]

Bose.

 

[gian60]

I would like my speaker Montagna,could be with new sub he is doing
For me absolutely the best speaker I listen in my life

 

[gian60]

There are many fantastic speaker
But this that I listen every day,every day enjoy and never will to change after 4/5 years