Place this in the category of “ sharing bad audio experiences.”
Remember those times long ago when we actually had high-end audio stores to visit and check out gear? Fortunately, in my city, there are still a number of those. But I know they have disappeared in large part especially outside the bigger cities.
Anyway, thinking back on those times…
I just came across a very old post of mine - from 2001 - on an old audio forum. It detailed a day of perusing the mid-fi/lower end audio/video stores in my city around 2001. It’s wild reading it because every single bizarre moment came back vividly to my memory.
I posted here mainly as a discussion point, for anybody who wants to muse about their old (or new) experiences in audio stores.
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Date: June/2001
THE HORROR: A day in mid-fi shopping Hell…
(...Or "How I learned to re-appreciate high-end dealers." )
Spent the day at various low/mid-fi AV shops. What was I doing there? Checking out TV sets mostly - might be replacing mine soon. Also, I kept my eye out for any interesting low-budget audio gems.
Ok, I admit it: I'm spoiled. I have some pretty good high-end dealers where I live. But I have to say, even some of my worst high-end dealer experiences (usually out of town) don't compare to the shallowness and brusque attitude exhibited by the characters who sell mid-fi gear.
I drove to a street lined with AV and Consumer Electronics superstores (and some smaller AV stores), so I was able to hit quite a few places in a row.
The first store: I walk in, stand in front of a TV looking at the picture for less than thirty seconds, and the store manager walks up to me saying:
"Is this the model you want?"
I have no time to answer.
"Make me an offer! You can walk out of here with it right now"
I say "Hold on a sec, I'd like to look at the various models for a moment."
He snorts: "Oh, that's not how we work. You make us an offer, you can walk out with a TV right now. Let's make a deal!"
"But I haven't even looked at any TVs yet."
He snorts again, shakes his head and walks away pissed off.
Any technical questions I had were answered with a long cold stare, followed by a mumbled single, unhelpful word or two. It was clear that any customer who did not walk into his store already committed to buying one of his TVs was simply not worth the breath it takes to form
words. I left this place quickly.
Next Store: A little nicer looking. Neater layout, and they had the Sony XBR and Panasonic Tau I'd been wanting to investigate. But, as was the case for virtually every AV store I walked into - even those with pretensions to a "higher-end" atmosphere - all the TVs had pictures that were horribly out of adjustment. I mean, simple things like the brightness turned way up or way down, and most often the color turned up so incredibly high that the screens looked like three-year-olds were hired to colorize the images - color bleed like hell.
Yet, as usual, the salesman were leaning on the sales counter chatting away to each other (it was not a busy time of day). Now, if I were selling TV sets it seems to me that, at *some* point in the day, I would take a break from chatting to walk around to inspect the sets on display. And I'd take that god damned one minute to actually adjust the picture so that all the expensive televisions I was trying to sell DIDN'T LOOK LIKE A PILE OF SHIT! I dunno, maybe that's just me. But I just couldn't believe this fundamental blunder blighted almost every store I visited.
Anyway, I make the mistake of asking the gum-chewing salesman a question. He swaggers over, snapping his gum. "What can I do for you, guy?"
I ask him a question about the difference between two Sony TVs. He launches into a bunch of BS that I can easily tell he is fumbling and faking through. The best part is that every time he makes a point about the TV he does it by placing his hand on the screen: "Now this set..(hand hits screen, pulls away leaving big smear).."this is the newest model, whereas this one.." Jabs fingers over and over along screen, mottling the glass with fingerprints, "is kind of old technology now, I wouldn't feel good about selling it to you really." This guy massacres each screen this way - and I can't help but notice every time he takes me over to a new model I can see his hand prints all over the screen from previous sales pitches, even before he adds a fresh layer of grime. The guy occasionally caught me chuckling to myself everytime he ruined a screen, but didn't catch on. (BTW, two other sales guys at other stores did the same thing).
Well, hard to tell what those TVs really look like, so on to the next store...
This next store had many speakers for sale. And HEY, LOOK AT THAT! It's the little Sound Dynamics RTS-3 stand mounted speaker, the much raved about giant killer I've always wanted to hear. But, of course, it's sitting on stands inches underneath a shelf lined with receivers, squeezed between many other sets of speakers. I ask for a listen. The salesman says "sure," and walks over with a CD. I have some CDs of my own (just in case), which gets me a wary, impatient look from the salesman. He starts playing my CD through the RTS-3 speakers and I point out to him the speakers are not going to sound quite their best while recessed two feet underneath a shelving unit (I could barely even see the speakers). I said I'd like to also check out their imaging. He sighed, grudgingly pulled them out a bit - they were placed about three feet apart at best - and began playing my cd again. I had to kneel to get level with the speakers, and the salesman stood DIRECTLY BETWEEN the speakers, each speaker being just outside each leg, with his hand dangling at his side in front of me, loudly clicking his pen in and out over and over while he stared into space. How was the imaging? Well...like a guy's waist, as far as I could ascertain. Sound? Who knows? Like sort of like a pen clicking, I guess. The guy would occasionally look down at me with a
slightly puzzled look, wondering why I was staring at his waist between the speakers. He just was not catching any hints, so I finally told him to move out of the way. That was the last I saw of him. The Sound Dynamics speakers were impossible to audition in that set-up. Off I go...
I visited several other stores. Rows and rows of speakers squished beside each other, booming away. Receivers eq'd into the "smile" pattern, blasting distorting R+B radio signals. And tirelessly pushy sales guys who always do all the talking, never asking questions, always steering me only to the product they're told to sell that day:
"This is the one you want to buy, trust me. Will that be cash or charge?"
I suppose my sensibilities have been made tender by patronizing only the finest and fairest of my local high-end dealers (and others in North America). But my God, what a truly awful auditioning/buying environment it is that greets the average consumer looking for a new TV or stereo system. I suppose this is the end result of viewing audio systems as a commodity. Stack receivers and speakers up like microwaves; consumers are to make their choices before they enter the store, armed with a Consumer Reports review, or advertisement specs and a horrid demo to go on.
Yeah, I know that it's hardly news that the low/mid-fi emporiums are just plain silly. But it's still a bit shocking every time I enter one of these shark ponds to purchase an item. In contrast, my recent visits to some high end dealers were informative, amiable and relaxing - much more conducive to a satisfying purchase.
Just had to vent. Can anyone commiserate? Or am I just "out of touch"
