Have you ever wondered why speaker manufactures do not consign speakers to dealers?

My experience in Colorado has been most of the dealers here work out of their homes with a shoe string budget.  As a result, they will often only carry the lower cost speaker models.  For example, I went to a dealer who carries both Monitor Audio and Paradigm speakers.  I wanted to compare the Paradigm Prestige 85F towers to their 95F towers and compare both of these to the Monitor Audio Silver 8 and Silver 10 towers.  The only speakers they had on their floor to demo were a pair of the Monitor Audio Silver 8's and a pair of the Paradigm Prestige 85F towers.  I felt the dealer assumed their customers would not spend the extra money on the larger more expensive speaker models.  Based on this scenario, how is it possible for Monitor Audio to sell their Monitor Audio Silver 10 and Gold series speakers or Paradigm to sell their larger Prestige speakers and Persona speakers if a customer is not able to listen to them?

I am not a big fan of Best Buy.  However, they do have multiple levels of speaker models to listen to.  They have it set up so you can listen to a pair of Bowers & Wilkins and by pressing a button you can listen to a pair of Martin Logan Motion 60's within seconds to compare.  They also have that same setup to compare amplifiers and receivers.

I attended the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival last October and realized the value of spending a few days listening to higher end gear.  It was also very helpful to talk to people attending the show to ask their opinions about certain manufacturers.

This is quite a fascinating hobby and I am just getting started.  What amazes me is how few of us are out there.  Most of the public has never heard a high end 2 channel system and as a result they do not know what they are missing by not having a music listening room to come home to.  I attend open houses in our neighborhood and I have yet to find a home with even two speakers in either their family room or living room.  

Thank you all for your feedback and discussion.

I personally feel most of the dealers operate their business on a shoe string and they are often located out of their residence.  Because of limited resources, I feel manufactures need to consign 3 or 4 speakers so customers can listen to different price points.  I think customers might surprise the manufacture by deciding to spend more money after they hear the more expensive speakers.  Once people hear something better than the price range and budget they have targeted, they realize they will not be satisfied with the less expensive speakers long term.  

I think manufactures are making a huge mistake by not consigning inventory because they will limit themselves to selling just their low end lines.  They could perhaps consign them for 3 to 6 months and then charge the dealer if they are unable to sell them.  However, if they can't sell them in 30 to 60 days, they might as well close shop because they are going to starve to death.  This is where salesmanship comes into play.  They just need to learn how to ask for the order and turn their inventory.  Anybody can sit down with a customer to show and tell, but this is not going to generate income and keep the doors open.  If they need to provide a discount, they could increase the size of the order by adding an amplifier or something else to build gross profit dollars on the sale.

Dealers also need to market themselves.  Just waiting for the phone to ring will put anyone out of business.  This is why the Hi-Fi market is stagnant.  Dealers need to educate the public to teach them about what they are missing out in terms of home entertainment.  I would partner with a new home builder and perhaps install a two channel system in one or two of their model homes, with music playing in the background.  I also have noticed home builders need to layout their floor plans to 

acomodate a 2 channel system.

a 2 channel system.  They need to provide space for a component cabinet as well as where you locate the speakers to create a good sound stage.  This will help home buyers imagine entertaining their friends with a great sound system being played in the background.  This in turn might motivate their friends to want to buy a 2 channel system for their home.  People do want to keep up with the Jones's these days in order to show off their success.  What is the cost of a $10,000 to $20,000 2 channel system when comparing it to the price of a $500,000 new home.  It's like being penny wise and pound foolish.

There are only about three retailers in Colorado who have a significant amount of gear on their floor to listen to.  However, most of the retailers work out of their homes and are lucky to have two pairs from a speaker manufacturer to listen to.  The ones they have on their floor are the least expensive models.  What if you wanted to listen to a pair of Paradigm Prestige 85F and 95F speakers and they only had a pair of the 85F's to listen to?  You certainly aren't going to buy the 95F's without listening to them first are you?  Also, what if while you were at the Paradigm dealer you wanted to listen to the Paradigm Persona 5, 7 & 9 and they didn't have any Persona's to listen to?  Do you think you would buy any of the Persona models before you listened to them first?  So then, how is Paradigm ever going to sell their Persona line speakers unless they consign them to the retailer so they can be heard?  Here is a case where Paradigm is their own worst enemy.  You would think they would prefer to sell their higher end line over their lesser expensive models wouldn't you?  In this case, how does Paradigm ever sell a pair of their Persona's if they are not on a retailers floor to listen to.  A manufacturer could consign speakers to a retailer for 3 to 6 months and then charge the retailer after that consignment period to motivate them to sell them.

I think this is why Hi-Fi sales are so slow throughout the country and why this hobby has been stagnant for so many years.  The industry needs to change in order to attract more people into this hobby.  How many of the people you know have a pair of speakers set up in their living room or family room to listen to?  The Hi-Fi industry needs to learn how to market themselves and to educate the public so they can become aware of how nice it is to listen to music in their homes the way it deserves to be listened to.  This is an untapped industry and you can't just wait for business to walk through your door without doing something to motivate people to explore this incredible entertainment platform.

I think the answer would be for manufactures to set up a consignment store containing 10 speaker lines with low, middle and high end models so customers can listen to them.  Along with that, add electronic manufactures to show case their amplifiers and receivers.  Add also manufactures to showcase accessories such as speaker wire and inter connecting wire.  Each manufacture pays a percentage of the store's overhead.  I would make the store look really beautiful and located it near the Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, Colorado.  This is located in Douglas County which is 8th in the country for per capita income.

I am new to this hobby and I can see why it is in stall and decline mode.  When is the last time you have turned on the TV to watch a commercial selling 2 channel sound systems?

I look at home listings on the MLS and look at hundreds of homes that don't even have a pair of speaker in a room.  If this industry is to survive, manufactures need to educate the public to make them aware of another form of entertainment.  What about trying a direct mail or email campaign and researching a certain demographic more likely to be afford a nice system.  

I also like the idea of retailers setting up a really nice two channel system and home theater in a new home model home.  Then introduce the concept of developing a music room.  I think if home buyers were able to listen to a really nice 2 channel system, they just might want to create a listening space in their new home.

Thanks to all for this discussion.