Do Dealers think it is sinful..........

#1 sounds like our local Portland, Oregon Vandersteen dealer. Are you listening Richard V. ? My bad experience with this dealer when I was a serious 'new' buyer of Vandersteen 3a Signatures made me decide I would just buy/try on the internet. I am much happy with this choice because I now know about high end audio from experience. The money I lose buying used/selling used pales by comparison to what I would have lost in initial depreciation. I do call a few dealers when I am in the market for something specific and ask them if they have something used or on special. One interesting side effect of this is that I buy my audio supplies online too. Tubes, record cleaners, etc. I have to pay the shipping on the stuff, and it does sell for retail on the net which means I am actually spending MORE for it. I don't even know where the other retail dealers in Portland are located. ------------------------------------- I do think Notreally is being a little hard on dealers in general. It must be very frustrating to deal with 'true' audiophiles, so you must cut them some slack. On the topic of markup, I know that the Vandersteen 3aSignature sells for 2100 to the dealer who then sells it for 3500. Remember these audio dealers probably have 200K+ in capital sitting in their building plus the monthly lease and all. A function of this markup is the ongoing cost to sell ratio. There aren't too many businesses that are so capital intensive with such a tenous sell position. ----------------------- I wonder if the internet is helping or hurting dealers. It hurts them in that they don't have the 'captive' market they used to. A person can demo in their showrooms then search the whole country for that product. Their in-showroom used market profit is diminished as well. It helps them in that it removes many of the 'true' audiophiles from their showrooms. I have a feeling they make their real money from non-audiophiles. People who walk in and say "I've got 5K to spend, set me up".

Hey Nostroke. So sorry.
Do you work for the CES ? The waltz part really hurt.

I was referring to an entire system for 5K. My Vandersteen price came from a local used high end dealer who has been in audio for 20 years or so. I'm a good customer to them.

This topic addresses the purchasing ethics of high end audio and the inquisitive nature of audiophiles as related to the internet and the hardship of running a high end audio dealership.

I theorize that most dealers are audiophiles and that ironically their most frustrating customers are probably just like them. The internet has affected high end audio forever. Customers are less captive. As a correlating point I state my own purchasing choices and patterns. Good dealers do provide experience and value for their services and deserve to be paid for this. Absolutely. I made a conscious choice to not use retail dealers and do my own legwork. Completely fair. I state my own bad experience to illustrate the abrupt motivation. I gather almost all of my information from magazines, forums, friends and actual ownership. The internet has made this possible. It's more interesting too.

This particular dealer was unprofessional and did not deserve my business. If that speaker was my choice, I would have purchased it new from him. Without a doubt.

Customers are right sometimes too.

Jtinn, Echo Hifi is indeed the used equip great store in Portland that I deal with regularly. Great people with great service. Go Kurt & Jim !