Definition of Local Dealer

Mrtennis, the advantage of a local dealer is that many of the better ones will let you take home a piece of gear to audition in your OWN home system.

If this is not possible, make sure that the particular piece of gear is mated to other equipment in the dealer's system that has a similar audio signature to your own equipment.

has this ever happened to anyone ?

you go to a local dealer to audition a component(s), and in the process you make comparisons between several components of the same type and then buy one of them.

you take it home break it in and some time either during or after the break in, you find you don't like the component ?

the point here is that auditioning a component at a dealer does not necessarily reduce the odds of making a mistake.

even if you audition the component in your own system for a day or 2, you may still make a mistake.

going to a dealer is not necessarily an advantage over not going to a dealer.

buying components is very risky. sometimes buying without the benefit of a review or listening to a component is no worse than reading a review and/or hearing the component at a dealer.

i can cite instances where i bought components after auditioning them in my system only to sell them 2 months later.

i can cite other instances where i bought a component after having spoken to a manufacturer with little or no other facts.

there are many variables here, some of a purely psychological nature.

this question could stimulate another thread, namely, the art of equipment selection, but you guys have probably heard enough from me, so i'll refrain for now, unless requested to do so.

Arkprof, is that North or South Nowhereville :-)

Live in Nowhereville, USA, and the notion of "local dealer" of necessity becomes very fluid ... mine happen to be located, at this moment, in CA, MI, PA, IA, WA, CO, IL, and KY

Elizabeth, Magnapan has some VERY strict rules for the protection of their dealers. Other manufacturers "football" their product lines [no names!], and many dealers have been hurt by these policies.

Did you call Magnapan DIRECTLY, and ask for a "drop shipment" from them, and the dealer would be paid directly by you. I had this situation with a non-audio item, and that was the solution that turned out to be a "win" situation for the dealer, the manufacturer, and myself!

Elizabeth, I understand your frustration. Manufacturers can set the rules as they please, and you have to understand the dealer was following them. As far as the dealer refusing to deliver the speakers to you, they are slitting their own throats, but that's their prerogative. As far as I'm concerned distance isn't a problem, and in fact I've sold speakers and other equipment to people much farther away than you, including delivery and setup.

For most manufacturers it is simple.
Type your state or zip code into their dealer locator.
If there is a dealer closer to your physical location than the one on the internet, the one on the internet should only sell to you if your "local" dealer is unable to meet your needs.
Your closest dealer should try very hard to meet your needs as far as audition and advice.

Good luck!

I believe this distance does vary from product manufacture to prod' mfg'. They do have different rules for distances. A few years back we had a dock strike. No product was available on the west coast. I was not able to buy on line;and I was RTB . This turned me off and I wouldn't let myself get interested in anything this co. made.---Things like this; I keep!!

I imagine it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, as it is their requirement to protect their local dealers. In the NY tri-state area, the territories could be a lot smaller than in the midwest, too, due to the number of dealers in the area. You could contact the manufacturer involved if you're really interested.

I think what the phrases refer to in principal mean that you should want to support your local dealers and buy from them, not just waste there time in getting free education at their expense and then jump online to buy from audiogon.

If the local dealers can’t pay their bills and go out of business, you’ll find it very difficult to listen to anything without making a long journey. Doing it once or twice its fun – but, doing it every single time can be tedious.

Audiogon has replaced the local dealers in some respects making it very difficult for these smaller folks to make a living, leaving them with no money to be able to afford to bring in newer product lines or to expand in anyway or even be able to afford advertisements to let us know they even exist.

I think, personally, to some extent all the verbiage may be screaming these thoughts out.

If the local dealers cant sell to consumers then the manufactures suffer as well and if they have to go online to sell directly or through audiogon and ebay then we’ll have a scenario where we’ll be relying only on hearsay of what gear sounds like and no opportunity to listen to anything or get sound advise from the dealers that actually listen to a wider range of equipment then we’ll ever have access to.

This is my take on it…