What's your experience with snooty HiFi salesmen?


I began my Hifi journey in 1976 at a shop in Birmingham MI called Audio Dimensions. He was a Magnapan and ARC dealer who was kind to a 15 year old kid who bought a set of MG 1s with paper route money. The ARC amps he carried were about $4K back then- a LOT of money in 1976. In the beginning I drove my MG 1s with an old Fisher Studio Standard integrated amp. Since those lovely innocent days I have encountered some real buttholes. They act like they are doing me a favor as they quiz me about what gear I have and if I'm listening to "approved" recordings. Needless to say I don't buy from those guys. Several wives and businesses later I'm back into the hobby with a much vengeance as a 61 year old  can muster given only so many free hours in a day and only so much cash to apply due to my other vices: Classic cars and salt water fishing. 

Have you ever encountered a really good or really bad dealer (or employee) that changed your buying actions?

Darko posted a video on this topic which I found really enjoyable. Many of you have already seen it but for those (like me) who discovered it much later here's the link: 

https://darko.audio/2022/09/audiophiles-are-snobs-with-money-to-burn/

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xyesiam_a_pirate

Showing 1 response by webking185

Snobby. Thats funny. Its like a car purchase ranked in tiers. Not many people will spend 5k on a system, let alone 100k.  In the end it plays music and no more.  Hi-fi enthusiast dont listen to music, they listen to the equipment and I have been guity of this many times.  Once the honeymoon phase is over on the.equipment, back to music.  I keep a few vintage eq to change up sound.  But for me, its all about music. If I had unlimted funds, maybe I'll spend alot on it. But right now, I enjoy what I have and its still a pretty penny for sure.  I'm listening with Luxman 590AXII with Silverline Sonata II

Tier 1

Ferrari, Lambo. Bentley

Tier 2

Mercedes, BMW

Tier 3

Chevy,  Ford