A new hifi store recently started up in my nearest city. I ventured to have a look, they had advertised special opening deals. I noticed an amplifier I didn't know much about, the assistant asked if I was interested, I said yes, "how many watts is it? "how many do you think you need, 5 watts will drive any speaker". He then wandered away and looked on the net, "x watts he replied". I asked "is that into 4 or 8 ohms" again I got the question back, "does it matter?". Well clearly it does to me, the customer. It became clear the assistant knew rather less about the product than they should, and after 10 more minutes it was obvious they knew very little at all. Now this amplifier is approaching $10,000. Unfortunately today this behaviour is common. Having been involved in this hobby for over 40 years it is clear that many dealers today seem to think all their clients are millionaires and idiots. Most people spending $10,000 on amplifiers are likely both reasonably well-off and knowledgable about hifi, yet many stores don't seem to have the faintest idea of how to communicate with them.
Hi-end audio is a big zero
This is no knock on dealers, It's just how hi-end audio is.
I go listen to some speakers. He has them set up like crap - jammed between 3 other pair. Running on electronics I would never choose so I have to try and compensate for what I imagine they are contributing to the sound. Then after 30 minutes, I am expected to shell out the $4,500.00.
I narrowed it down to two transports from an online retailer. And who knows if those 2 are even a good choice? Told point blank, I am not allowed to buy both and return the one I don''t want. Just pick one and buy it. Shell out $1,000-$3,500 based on what?
One e-tailer will allow purchase 3 speakers totally $12K and return the two I don't want. Sorry, i have a conscience and can't do it to him.
Read all you want. Talk all you want. Listen at dealers all you want. But unless you listen in your own room, it's all meaningless. I'm talking even just 5 to 30 minutes can be all it takes. But that is basically impossible.
Sure you can buy and sell on A-gon or Ebay if you find what you want have the time to go through the process.
If the prices weren't so high or I did not care about sound quality maybe it would not matter.