Digital Smear???

I know it is not becoming to go against other's in the audio industry but Digital Ear trully tested my patience. Their attitude was very uppish. I have been to tonnes of hifi audio shops including the really really fancy ones in manhattan and no where else in my life have I felt so insulted. I went along with a friend of mine who was starting to gain interest in audio. It was a sunday afternoon and we were dressed casually. i wanted to hear the 1.6QR maggies as my friend wanted to set up his first system and I thought the 1.6's was a good place to start. I was appauled by the response from the store-owners...not only did they refuse to let us hear the 1.6's thinking we couldn't afford it ...they were extremeley rude. My friend thinks this has something to do with our race as we are not caucasian white...but it was trully insulting...we were literally thrown out of the shop. I understand my audio gear is very moderate and my entire system cost less than 20k (less than an ML No: 33) but so was what they had displayed in their showroom...inexpensive parasound and adcom gear that even goodguys carry these days....and they literally threw us out of the shop.....I wanted to give that boy a piece of my mind by telling him how much microsoft paid me...but i thought it would be as cheap as what they did
If you are a store owner...from personal experience...dont treat anyone bad...especially if they dont "look" like they can afford it....things may not be what they seem...and people have different passions..not all may want to be decked up in Armani 24-7

Subdoofus, I couldn't agree with you more. I am an engineer and I never wear a suit or even "business casual" (ok maybe a couple times a year) but never on a weekend shopping for audio gear. There are two high-end stores in my area, one I refuse to do business with because they ignore me when I walk into their store. I have to help myself to the equipment and when I do, they seem bothered that I'm touching their precious electronics. They become pushy asking me how much I expect to spend on a system today. I already own a "system" so usually I'm looking to upgrade a piece. Their college drop out sales people all wear white shirt and tie and most of them aren't even pressed and neat. I probably make several times their income in a year but I don't wear it. I wear blue jeans, sandles, and t-shirts. Because of the way I'm treated at that store, I *do* use them sometimes for auditioning gear then I leave and *buy* used on the internet or from an internet dealer. Lately I just avoid them and steer my friends to another dealer.

By contrast, there's another dealer in the Denver area who's been in the business a long time and he basically runs his store out of his house. It's an older house but large and well kept with a huge basement for the home theater gear. He carries some high-end brands and some value brands and he encourages me to play with anything I like, offers to loan equipment to me for a week at a time or longer, and gives me a 20% discount off the top w/o even asking. Anything I audition from this store, I buy. Just this past summer I bought my tube amp, a tube preamp, and FM tuner from his store. In this case it wouldn't be right for me to save a couple bucks buying off the internet. I value his service and fair price. But if there's a piece he doesn't carry and the other store does, I'll *use* the other store and buy from an internet dealer.

unfortunately for some of us in sub metropolitan areas(the boon docks) there are no small local dealers of high end equipment, i believe due to the emphasis on home theater and loss of interest by people under 50 in jazz or classical, as well as price shoppers and the internet. i envy those who can audition equipment at home on loan from local dealers before purchase. window shoppers, or price shoppers leave me cold! in my experience dealers who saw you as a regular, not necessarily exclusive,customer were willing to discount the price of their products. when you bought from them they knew you and were helpful in getting your equipment serviced, including boxing and shipping off to the mfg at times. in a perfect world these business' would suceed, however with the internet and price shopping they have not received the support needed to survive. i have no sympathy with anyone who conducts themselves as this gentleman did. he should be transported to audio hell, i.e. ny city where his attitude would be consistent with the attitudes of the audio salon owners there.