Nowhere to hear speakers and amps anymore!

In a way the secondary market has become the primary market. I have bought and sold many more used items then new. It’s a huge hassle though, I think I liked shopping better before the internet. Things were more expensive but you bought less stuff and held onto it until it broke or became obsolete. The buying process was actually enjoyable and bringing something new home was much more exciting. And you didn’t have to save the box. I mean who among us doesn’t have a pile of empty boxes in their garage? It’s kind of depressing feeling like you never really own your stuff and maintaining it in perfect condition for the next guy.

I have been fortunate to have 3 dealers I do business with. One in Nashville, one in Denver, and one in Louisiana that send me components to audition in my listening environment.  I live out in the country in South Dakota. 

I also found the post by @vinylvalet quite interesting and to a degree to be true. Not sure where he gets his or hers economic information from?  

Consumers have voted with their money; very accurate Chinese counterfeits at aliexpress for a fraction of the price including many popular cable brands, buying out of state from small mail order dealers to avoid local sales tax, plenty of great gear on the used market with a lot more to come at the next recession, many great kit and DIY options and the recent trend towards high value factory direct with little or no dealer mark up (Schiit, PS Audio). I also believe this relatively small market can’t possibly support all the brands and models available now. Many will fold in the upcoming recession and there goes your warranty, used value and repair options.

Lone Crow Audio in Santa Rosa Ca!....North Bay! Brick n Mortar store with a chill environment and plenty of audio systems to view and check out. 

Daniel Hertz, HiFi Rose, Accuphase, Audio Research, Tannoy, VPI, REL as well as many others! 

 Give us a call or stop on by....Tue-Sat!

We are music lovers and have a passion for audio.....come on down...up...or over....and hang out with our Lone Crow crew! 

You do realize ads are not permitted in the forum section.

In my experience since 2000 there has been a growing serge of home based audio dealers. They are typically somewhat well off retirees that have turned their audio passion into a small business. 

As you might imagine some of these guys are single and love to spend time online. Others are married and probably only last a few weeks in the business. The former can be very savvy, and if they are risk takers, they sell product all over the world (as discretely as possible) making lots of money but sometimes getting caught and losing contracts, but sometimes not because in the words of Big Daddy Kane, "I get the job done."

I live near near Boston and grew in in NYC so there were always lots of dealers but the true way to learn is to buy and trade if that's fun to you.