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This audio cable business is getting out of hand...

I remember about 8 years ago I was about to buy some expensive speakers... I knew what I wanted, I was there ready to just get on with it and have them swipe my card... until the resident sales "expert" then started to quiz me going "Great now let's talk cables, what do you have? I have the perfect match for these and can give you a great discount?" and then argued against my firm "no thanks" until I walked out of the store. $10k sale lost.
 
pablolie said:
I remember about 8 years ago I was about to buy some expensive speakers... I knew what I wanted, I was there ready to just get on with it and have them swipe my card... until the resident sales "expert" then started to quiz me going "Great now let's talk cables, what do you have? I have the perfect match for these and can give you a great discount?" and then argued against my firm "no thanks" until I walked out of the store. $10k sale lost.
Click to expand...
It's possible the margin on the cables was more than on the speakers.
 
pablolie said:
I remember about 8 years ago I was about to buy some expensive speakers... I knew what I wanted, I was there ready to just get on with it and have them swipe my card... until the resident sales "expert" then started to quiz me going "Great now let's talk cables, what do you have? I have the perfect match for these and can give you a great discount?" and then argued against my firm "no thanks" until I walked out of the store. $10k sale lost.
Click to expand...
Before I went back to study electronics I was a audio sales guy for 9 years. I worked for 3 different stores as a sales guy and one as the store manager. The first store I worked at the owner was fully gung ho sell sell sell cables and he was nagging my ass everyday multiple times a day and would walk by the accessories section and admire them and touch the cables often. It was annoying. That store aspired to be medium high end but was mid-fi all the way and the store owner was a real big big big jerkoff. I took/reported him to the Labor Relations Board 2x and he still wanted me back after both times. I hated that place and never sold expensive cables but he did often. The 2nd store I was a sales guy and then the store manager. I only sold regular speaker wire like 18G and 14G off a large spool that was economical and affordable stuff. When I was the manager a couple of sales reps stopping by the store attempted to get me onboard with them and sell expensive cables. I said NO this is not the kind of store and does not have those kind of customers. We didn't. It was a working man's store for people coming from a radius of about 200km around and we sold lots of video gear and expensive big high end camcorders, lots of big expensive ghetto blasters, some stereos but not too many and a butt load of microwave ovens everyday which where at the time ~$500 for a cheap one and we only sold Panasonic and they are good so they where more money and 10-12 foot full auto actuated satellite dishes with any sort of installation up to ~30 foot poles and anywhere they wanted it if they where willing to pay for that. Good business that store was. Some days we where doing so much sales it was amazing and we wondered if it would ever slow down and it did as all stores and repairs slowed down. Then the third store was a big company. Many stores, 700 employees and did that company buy it hook line and sinker going all out on cables. In the ~5 years I worked there I never sold any interlink cables and I only sold speaker wire. My managers said sell those cables and I was all like I am competing for sales with the competition and winning near every deal because I put all the money into speakers and the customers see that I have better deals and buy from me all the time. He actually told me to budget for cables and I told him right to his face, No! What could he do? LoL... I had the highest profit margin sales record in the entire company from selling speakers and I was always in the top ~15% or less of total sales every month. So he had to take it and not harass me to sell cables and waste my time and energy ripping off customers. Screw that!
 
Doodski said:
Before I went back to study electronics I was a audio sales guy for 9 years. I worked for 3 different stores as a sales guy and one as the store manager. The first store I worked at the owner was fully gung ho sell sell sell cables and he was nagging my ass everyday multiple times a day and would walk by the accessories section and admire them and touch the cables often. It was annoying. That store aspired to be medium high end but was mid-fi all the way and the store owner was a real big big big jerkoff. I took/reported him to the Labor Relations Board 2x and he still wanted me back after both times. I hated that place and never sold expensive cables but he did often. The 2nd store I was a sales guy and then the store manager. I only sold regular speaker wire like 18G and 14G off a large spool that was economical and affordable stuff. When I was the manager a couple of sales reps stopping by the store attempted to get me onboard with them and sell expensive cables. I said NO this is not the kind of store and does not have those kind of customers. We didn't. It was a working man's store for people coming from a radius of about 200km around and we sold lots of video gear and expensive big high end camcorders, lots of big expensive ghetto blasters, some stereos but not too many and a butt load of microwave ovens everyday which where at the time ~$500 for a cheap one and we only sold Panasonic and they are good so they where more money and 10-12 foot full auto actuated satellite dishes with any sort of installation up to ~30 foot poles and anywhere they wanted it if they where willing to pay for that. Good business that store was. Some days we where doing so much sales it was amazing and we wondered if it would ever slow down and it did as all stores and repairs slowed down. Then the third store was a big company. Many stores, 700 employees and did that company buy it hook line and sinker going all out on cables. In the ~5 years I worked there I never sold any interlink cables and I only sold speaker wire. My managers said sell those cables and I was all like I am competing for sales with the competition and winning near every deal because I put all the money into speakers and the customers see that I have better deals and buy from me all the time. He actually told me to budget for cables and I told him right to his face, No! What could he do? LoL... I had the highest profit margin sales record in the entire company from selling speakers and I was always in the top ~15% or less of total sales every month. So he had to take it and not harass me to sell cables and waste my time and energy ripping off customers. Screw that!
Click to expand...
cool story
 
amirm said:
I got tired of using my long RCA cables to interconnect small DACs and Amps so decided to get a short one. Saw one on Amazon (by "World's Best Cables') that used Canare Star-Quad cable and Amphenol connectors for just $22 shipped. My time was worth much more than that to make one so I ordered it. It came promptly. When I opened though, I was shocked to see this massive sign in there:

View attachment 27076

Are you kidding me? Even a low-cost cable using proper material spreads such a myth?

It is one thing to see this on multi-thousand dollar cables but on a $22 one?

Inside there is an instruction sheet and it says that again. To their credit they acknowledge that such burn-in will take out of Amazon's 30 day return window so they provide instructions on how to still get a return.

The danger here is that such practices will spread to the general public, not just high-end audiophiles.

Yes, it is also "directional" although here, it is due to the way they utilize the shield at one end so that bit is fine.
Click to expand...
There's a lot of deception and snake oil being sold in high-end audio. Speakers wire and cables are top of the list. If you have read some of the speaker brochures or guides from the 1970's, they suggest using lamp cord. I'm just making a simple point with that statement. It's amazing how far off the deep end we've gone with wires.

I'm not suggesting you buy lamp cord to connect speakers, but use common sense.
 
Doodski said:
Before I went back to study electronics I was a audio sales guy for 9 years. I worked for 3 different stores as a sales guy and one as the store manager. The first store I worked at the owner was fully gung ho sell sell sell cables and he was nagging my ass everyday multiple times a day and would walk by the accessories section and admire them and touch the cables often. It was annoying. That store aspired to be medium high end but was mid-fi all the way and the store owner was a real big big big jerkoff. I took/reported him to the Labor Relations Board 2x and he still wanted me back after both times. I hated that place and never sold expensive cables but he did often. The 2nd store I was a sales guy and then the store manager. I only sold regular speaker wire like 18G and 14G off a large spool that was economical and affordable stuff. When I was the manager a couple of sales reps stopping by the store attempted to get me onboard with them and sell expensive cables. I said NO this is not the kind of store and does not have those kind of customers. We didn't. It was a working man's store for people coming from a radius of about 200km around and we sold lots of video gear and expensive big high end camcorders, lots of big expensive ghetto blasters, some stereos but not too many and a butt load of microwave ovens everyday which where at the time ~$500 for a cheap one and we only sold Panasonic and they are good so they where more money and 10-12 foot full auto actuated satellite dishes with any sort of installation up to ~30 foot poles and anywhere they wanted it if they where willing to pay for that. Good business that store was. Some days we where doing so much sales it was amazing and we wondered if it would ever slow down and it did as all stores and repairs slowed down. Then the third store was a big company. Many stores, 700 employees and did that company buy it hook line and sinker going all out on cables. In the ~5 years I worked there I never sold any interlink cables and I only sold speaker wire. My managers said sell those cables and I was all like I am competing for sales with the competition and winning near every deal because I put all the money into speakers and the customers see that I have better deals and buy from me all the time. He actually told me to budget for cables and I told him right to his face, No! What could he do? LoL... I had the highest profit margin sales record in the entire company from selling speakers and I was always in the top ~15% or less of total sales every month. So he had to take it and not harass me to sell cables and waste my time and energy ripping off customers. Screw that!
Click to expand...
Only if there were more people like you in the high-end audio world, we would all be better off!
 
Pecrobet said:
There's a lot of deception and snake oil being sold in high-end audio. Speakers wire and cables are top of the list. If you have read some of the speaker brochures or guides from the 1970's, they suggest using lamp cord. I'm just making a simple point with that statement. It's amazing how far off the deep end we've gone with wires.

I'm not suggesting you buy lamp cord to connect speakers, but use common sense.
Click to expand...
Actually there's some really nice looking lamp cord available, woven cloth sleeve and all. Cheap too. Choose 2x or 3x 1.5mm² (~16AWG) and you're set. :D
 
Ropeburn said:
Actually there's some really nice looking lamp cord available, woven cloth sleeve and all. Cheap too. Choose 2x or 3x 1.5mm² (~16AWG) and you're set. :D
Click to expand...
Pretty sure lamp cord was a bit higher quality back then. Likely heavier gauge and guaranteed to be copper not plated aluminum. Plus the speakers, amps and source components in the 70s were mostly horrendously un resolving and colored, high THD and poor SNR
 
jmdesignz2 said:
Pretty sure lamp cord was a bit higher quality back then. Likely heavier gauge and guaranteed to be copper not plated aluminum. Plus the speakers, amps and source components in the 70s were mostly horrendously un resolving and colored, high THD and poor SNR
Click to expand...
Even CCA is nowhere near as bad as its reputation. A bit lower conductivity, that's all. It isn't even much. If you choose one or two sizes bigger, it's the same as copper in all things that matter for this application.
 
jmdesignz2 said:
Pretty sure lamp cord was a bit higher quality back then. Likely heavier gauge and guaranteed to be copper not plated aluminum. Plus the speakers, amps and source components in the 70s were mostly horrendously un resolving and colored, high THD and poor SNR
Click to expand...
If the lamp wire has 2.5mm2 diameter I would happily use as speaker cable.

Ropeburn said:
Even CCA is nowhere near as bad as its reputation. A bit lower conductivity, that's all. It isn't even much. If you choose one or two sizes bigger, it's the same as copper in all things that matter for this application.
Click to expand...
Naaa, let‘s not be too low end;).
 
Rider said:
If the lamp wire has 2.5mm2 diameter I would happily use as speaker cable.


Naaa, let‘s not be too low end;).
Click to expand...
Low end... :D

a8e8gu.jpg
 
jmdesignz2 said:
cool
Click to expand...

Pecrobet said:
Only if there were more people like you in the high-end audio world, we would all be better off!
Click to expand...
In my experience of the many many people that dropped into and out of sales because they realized it was not for them for whatever reasons and all the die hard sales people that stuck it out year to year the overwhelming majority did not want to sell cables. What happens is is some smooth chatty sales representative from a cable company gets into the company manager's/owner's head and then the department manager's heads and then they get in the staff's heads that cables are a essential part of the deal and must be incorporated into the sales from the beginning of the relationship with the customer to the end and also in after sales support. I have seen it many times. I have been to hundreds of product sales training meetings. For 8 months of the year they where every Thursday night without fail every year I worked for @ the big company and we had free pizza and pop to entice us. I have seen many product fantasies. The cable company sales representatives tried it with me many times to look at profit figures, sales figures and all the glorious possibilities when I was a store manager and I knew I was going to lose deals and customers by the staff pushing stuff that is not in the best interest of the customers. It's that simple. I had major influence in the stores because I just do. I tend to be the one that gets stuff done and stays till it's done. The staff recognizes this and they usually come to me for thoughts and whatever they need. So the sales representatives saw me as a key holder that must be onboard or the entire staff will not be onboard with whatever product or service is being offered. I simply was never onboard and I literally drove the cable product rack and product out of the store I worked at for 5 years. It was a dust collector and caused constant discussion that ate many many hours of our time when relating with customers. A deal can easily have 30 minutes, 1 hour and even more hours added to it for a cable deal if the sales person is a bonehead and pushes the fantasy logic and the customer is willing to listen. Some sales people will push a product even if it makes zero sense and the reasons I still don't understand because in the case of selling more expensive speakers or less expensive speakers and some expensive cables the difference in the cash to the salesperson's pocket is not substantial but the risk is great and the time consumed is critical to the operation. Some salespeople I worked with did shove cables at customers and would not take NO for an answer which is as dumb as it gets in my eyes. Sales people that run customers out the door are a liability for the other commission salespeople that would have closed the deal and had a happy customer. So F*** cables sales. LoL.
 
Whenever the topic of sales in hi-fi comes up I can't help but think of the scene in Boogie Nights where Buck Swope is trying to sell the TK421 upgrade.
 
I lately bought some new speakers (Dali Epicon 2) from my local dealer. I hadn‘t auditioned them, I knew what I wanted. When I picked them up, I also asked for a run of standard 2.5mm2 speaker cable. Immediately the owner of the shop tried to get me into buying something ‚more special‘. I wouldn‘t know what I am giving away. Yeah, right. I left it at that and bought online what I needed. This sort of advice doesn‘t exactly support the alleged and urgently wanted advanteges of local dealerships. Very sad.
 
Rider said:
I lately bought some new speakers (Dali Epicon 2) from my local dealer. I hadn‘t auditioned them, I knew what I wanted. When I picked them up, I also asked for a run of standard 2.5mm2 speaker cable. Immediately the owner of the shop tried to get me into buying something ‚more special‘. I wouldn‘t know what I am giving away. Yeah, right. I left it at that and bought online what I needed. This sort of advice doesn‘t exactly support the alleged and urgently wanted advanteges of local dealerships. Very sad.
Click to expand...
"Boo hoo traditional hifi stores are dying, people come and get our qualified advice, then buy online"
 
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