And We Thought High End Dealers Were Bad…?

[krabapple]

Obviously loudspeakers were included in the term “ audio gear” and since I found your claim to be false in the case of loudspeakers, that’s the example I chose to discuss.

So are you ever going to tell us why you include loudspeakers in your claim, and why it is ridiculous or borderline useless to audition them at a store?

Or is the hand-waving just going to continue?

I see another poster dared to assert store auditions to be of 'minimal help'.

I see you pestered him about it.

I think I see the problem here.

 

[MAB]

I see another poster dared to assert store auditions to be of 'minimal help'.

I see you pestered him about it.

I think I see the problem here.

It actually worse than that, in-store demos are often misleading, and often lead to needlessly expensive and/or bad-sounding purchases.

Same for show demos, very misleading. Can only hope the halo wears off before purchase.

 

[brucedgoose]

I was describing "mid-fi" and big box stores. Had a lot of good experiences at db audio in Berkeley, they essentially sold high-end goods (I got my Stax Lambda Pro/SRM T-1 energizer/amplifier there). The closest they got to mid-fi were Nad amps and Rega turntables. They had a Keith Monks record cleaning machine they let you use for $1 an LP. Used that a lot.

I used to go there, too! That was a good store.

 

[brucedgoose]

Probably my nicest Hi-Fi or audiophile experience came from auditioning loudspeakers in-store. A good salesman left me alone with a big pair of Infinity Kappa 8s, if I remember correctly. My first pair of floorstanders. Bought them after listening for maybe 40 minutes and took them right home and set them up. They sounded good in the store and even better at home. Stayed up literally all night that night listening. Kept them a long time.

Much more fun than any other way of buying speakers!

 

[EJ3]

Never liked any of the BB/Magnolia stores I visited. That they set things up well, meh.

The fairly successful Magnolia HiFi name was bought by BB so that they could see how much they could ruin it while spreading their idea of Magnolia around. The problem is that what Magnolia was & what BB did to the concept are only vagally similar (at best) in any way.
At least that is what I have been told.

 

[EJ3]

They had a Keith Monks record cleaning machine they let you use for $1 an LP. Used that a lot.

The place I went to did the same.
Read Brothers Stereo (which was a quite large room (like a large mansion's living room inside of a much larger ornate Read Brothers fabric shop).
They would also let you take gear home to try it (with a deposit if you where not well known to them).
It has been closed for a # of years now (due to the several hundred year old building's deuteriations (and not long after that the owners passed away...)

 

[MattHooper]

I see another poster dared to assert store auditions to be of 'minimal help'.

I see you pestered him about it.

I think I see the problem here.

Strange take on somebody presenting an opposing opinion to your claims… but whatever…

It actually worse than that, in-store demos are often misleading, and often lead to needlessly expensive and/or bad-sounding purchases.

Sure, there are bad or misleading store demos.

But it’s not an intractable problem.

I mean, it doesn’t strike me that it takes that much to be savvy about store demos.

It’s not that hard to notice if a pair of loudspeakers have been set up in way that is going to be particularly challenging for them to sound their best.

If you’re really serious about trying to get as good a understanding of how the speakers might sound as you can, then you can try and have the speakers and seating positions rearranged to allow for better performance.

And, especially when there were more high-end audio stores around, you could choose to demo speakers at those dealers who are amenable to this type of flexibility.

I really didn’t have much problem at all this way. I was able to demo speakers set up at stores in a way that was very similar to how I would listen to them at home, and they performed very similarly in my room. So the demos were extremely helpful and informative.

And even audio shows can sometimes give you a significant glimpse as to something loudspeaker is doing really well, and you can seek out a better demo at a dealer. That’s also how I ended up with quite a number of loud speakers that I really enjoyed.

I certainly get that people have had some bad experiences in stores, but this leap to the idea that store demos are as fruitless as some seem to suggest is more than a bit baffling to me, since I and many other audiophiles have used this method successfully for plenty of speaker purchases.

 

[EJ3]

I see another poster dared to assert store auditions to be of 'minimal help'.

I see you pestered him about it.

I think I see the problem here.

Could be that you looked in the mirror?
If it does not work for you, then it doesn't work for you.
That does not mean that it is not helpful to others.
Not everyone is the same.

 

[RKV1]

The fairly successful Magnolia HiFi name was bought by BB so that they could see how much they could ruin it while spreading their idea of Magnolia around. The problem is that what Magnolia was & what BB did to the concept are only vagally similar (at best) in any way.
At least that is what I have been told.

You were told correctly. It was sad to watch the MHF to BBY transition up close