It is quite impractical for most dealers to offer a cartridge on a loaner basis, except, perhaps if the owner brings in the table for the cartridge to be mounted; there is just too much risk of damage with the average customer trying to mount and adjust a high end cartridge. My local dealer actually does loan out cartridges to his regular customers, but, that has to be something unusual. He has loaned out $6,000 + cartridges that are store demonstration cartridges (of course, a totally new cartridge would be out of the question). Lewm's analogy certainly DOES NOT fall down; if anything, it is FAR more unreasonable to expect a trial of something as dear as a top cartridge than an entree that is at a fraction of the cost. It is just unfortunately the case that one has to take a bit of a risk of not being happy with the sound when buying expensive cartridges.
I have a cartridge with a .30 Mv output specification. It is dead quiet with my phonostage which is a tube unit with a built in SUT. I haven't tried a cartridge with an extremely low output, but, I have friends who had trouble with noise with such cartridges so I am not that inclined to go with anything that has an even lower output. The setups I've heard with Koetsu's have never had problems with noise.
There are two basic Koetsu sonic signatures--the warmer, more "woody" sound of the Urushi and Rosewood type of cartridge, and the faster, slightly leaner sound of the stone bodied cartridge. I've heard both types in the same system (though not my own system). I think both lines sound quite good. Of course it is possible that neither cartridge might perfectly suit any given listener, but, I don't know of too many people who totally hate both types of Koetsu cartridges.
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Indeed we are a sucker market, I know this from having bought a luxury German vehicle. |
I give manufacturers and dealers a bit more credit for knowing what works best. It it made sense to bolster their business by offering home trials, I am certain that some of them would do that and get ahead of the competition. The fact that almost none of them do so, says something about the practice.
There would be substantial cost from loss, damaged stolen, etc. A lot of "customers" would take advantage of trials with no serious intention of making a purchase. I do know a number of dealers who do loan out gear, but, with something that is as easily damaged as a cartridge or speaker, there are fewer dealers that do this. I can get a loaner Koetsu, if I so desired, but, that comes from years of fair dealing with the particular dealer. There are simply too many out there that would take unfair advantage of dealer loans for this to be a widespread practice. I know two dealers in my area who loaned out some very expensive amplifiers to someone who then staged a "shootout" for their amusement (and to post their opinions in a blog); there was no real intention for purchase of any of the gear (this was discovered by one dealer who then confirmed what happened with the other dealer).
Of course, dealers can accept the fact that not all loans would be to someone seriously considering a purchase, and they can even accept some damage/loss, but, this would have to be factored into the price of the product. If a dealer did increase the price to offer auditions, I bet that a lot of perspective buyers would then buy on line from cheaper dealers who did not incur such additional cost. |
So, you think there is so much margin that this can be easily accommodated, and because this is not offered, dealers are rolling in dough? It is then a strange market anomaly that there are fewer and fewer dealerships when there is so much rip-off money to be had.
There seems to be so much market opportunity for manufacturers that are not really being undertaken if all of this is true. Cartridge manufacturing is a truly small affair, a lot of the cartridges we are talking about are built by just one or two people. It sounds like what is being proposed is a vast distributor network with many demonstration/loan cartridges that will have to be built that are not intended for sale, trained tech people, etc. None of this sounds particularly realistic. As for paying for installation, most dealers already offer that, most will even make a housecall to do that, but, they have to charge quite a bit for that.
If there were so much as an extra nickel that could be extracted by doing anything being proposed here, I would bet that someone would be offering this service. |
tangrramca,
There is always a possibility that there is a new model out there that someone can put into operation that would be successful. That model might include an opportunity for customers to try out cartridges in their own system. But, I have not seen anything in this thread that appears viable at all. If a manufacturer sells directly to a customer, there is no one to help with service. I don't see how a small manufacturer can employ a distributor/agent to provide service and make any money. If such middleman collects from the customer, once again that is a substantial additional cost--cost of holding an inventory of demo cartridges, labor cost for mounting the demo cartridge, etc.
If one pays a substantial amount of money for the privilege of a home trial, of course that would work; paying money is a model for a transaction that always works. |
Given the extremely high price for some items, perhaps somebody would be willing to treat audio gear like an automobile--you can lease the item, meaning the substantial depreciation in value is covered by the lease payment. How about rent to own or some other kind of lease with an option to purchase?
I dunno about the repo man though, he would have to break into the house to get back that amp or cartridge or whatever. |
tangramca,
A reasonable approach for the situation mentioned by br3098 is for the customer to agree to pay the going rate for a house call. In my area, that is $120 to $150 an hour. So, it would be something like $840 dollars. If the customer chooses to buy the expensive cartridge, a portion, if not all of that amount could be rebated. If not, the buyer would be absorbing a painfully high amount, but, it would still be better than paying thousands for a cartridge that is not loved. Given how much the value of a used cartridge depreciates, that amount is still much less than buying a cartridge and then selling it as used.
Because I have a very good relationship with a couple of local dealers, I got to buy my cartridges with a right to return them if I did not like them. These were not dealer demonstration cartridges, these where new cartridges ordered for me. I never returned the cartridges so the dealer did not lose out. This sort of arrangement is possible if there trust is developed with a dealer.
When I was in the market for a high-end linestage many years ago, I went to a dealer who carried two of the brands I was interested in. He did not have the flagship models in his store that I wanted to audition. What he offered was to buy the flagship models of both brands on the promise by me to buy one or the other. This would work out for him financially. A dealer gets a substantially lower price for the first purchase of any model of gear from the distributor or manufacturer (this is to encourage purchase of a store demonstration unit). If I bought one of either models, the cost of both would be covered by the purchase. As it turned out, I like the first model he got in and bought it, so he never had to order the model from the other brand. I got a good discount in the deal, even without asking for it. This is how an arrangement has to be--it has to be financially worthwhile for both parties. |
