Beware of the audiophile scams. Article from a salesman. Price vs Value. Good reasons to Buy Direct and hear it at home.

[Ar9Jim 6,519]

Being a former audio dealer myself, I can vouch for this mans article. These are the reasons Bob Carver sells factory direct with a money back guaranty. The customers satisfaction is assured and more money stays in the product they receive, offering even greater customer value. Selling direct allows for better, more customer focused, value added policies.

 

 

 

https://www.johnwdefeo.com/articles/audiophile-scams

 

 

John DeFeo

Twenty years ago, I worked at one of the premier Hi-Fi shops in New Jersey. Our clientele ranged from NBA superstars to wealthy financiers to famous composers. 

(I fondly remember spending an afternoon with George Walker, the first African American to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Together, we listened to a Super Audio CD recording, discerning the subtle coughs, sniffles and sips of water amongst the members of the orchestra, reproduced by his stunning array of McIntosh tube amps and Avantgarde horn speakers.)

Every client whom I met was looking for the best equipment that money could buy, but what is the best, really? It was during my time at the shop that I recognized the distinction between price and value — and how the line between those two concepts is blurred by psychology.

Here are some lessons that I learned as an A/V salesman:

 

THE SALESMAN'S PLAYLIST IS A LOADED DECK

There are some songs that make cheap speakers sound great (e.g. Santa Esmeralda's version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood") and other songs that make great speakers sound mediocre (e.g. the woofer-rattling "I've Seen all Good People" by Yes). A clever salesman can use demo material to steer a listener toward whatever speakers he wants to sell. That's why it's important for shoppers to bring their own demo material to listen to; very few do.

 

AUDIOPHILE CABLES ARE A WASTE OF MONEY

For those willing to spend $32,800 on a three meter length of silver speaker wire, there are a handful of manufacturers that are happy to make it. However, even the best demo song or movie soundtrack was probably mastered on $5 worth of copper wire housed in a PVC jacket.

I know this because our house electrician specialized in wiring recording studios and he used American Recorder cables exclusively in his builds. When we tested his budget cables against “audiophile cables” from MIT, Kimber and AudioQuest, we couldn't detect a difference. Nevertheless, our customers hated the idea of cheap cables, so we dropped the line.

(Note: Some cables are legitimately expensive, like long-run optical HDMI cables.)

 

EVEN EXPENSIVE SPEAKERS ARE RELATIVELY CHEAP

In the pre-Internet era, a pair of $600 speakers cost the retailer $300. The store bought them from a wholesaler for $150. The warehouse bought them from the manufacturer for $75. And the manufacturer spent less than $40 in materials. This was a concept known as "keystone markup."

The retail supply chain has changed a lot over the last 20 years, but the ratio between a speaker's cost and its sale price hasn't changed much. The upshot is this: Never pay full price for speakers.

To illustrate this point, I present the price history of KEF's model Q150, which has a $599 MSRP (for a pair), yet is regularly discounted to $299. This kind of price fluctuation is commonplace.

 

PREMIUM BRANDS DON’T MEAN PREMIUM QUALITY

During my time as a salesman, our top-of-the-line Pioneer Elite DVD players were made by Sharp Corporation. Ten years later, Audioholics revealed that Lexicon's $3,500 THX-certified BD-30 Blu-ray player was little more than Oppo's $500 BDP-83 stuffed inside of an aluminum case. Oof!

Notwithstanding the stories above, my time on the sales floor also taught me valuable and practical lessons about physics and audio engineering. For example, "the subwoofer crawl.” To find the ideal position for a subwoofer, the listener should place the sub where he or she sits, then crawl around the listening room until finding the spot where the bass sounds best. That’s where the subwoofer goes.

Running two subwoofers in a room? There is a chance that the monaural sound waves from one of the subwoofers may cancel out the waves from its sister sub. To combat this problem, many subwoofers have polarity switches or phase shifting dials that allow 180 degree incremental changes.

The A/V world is about nuance, but in the end, what looks and sounds "the best" is as subjective as any other sensory experience and equally prone to prejudice and placebo effects.

The ultimate decision of what is good or bad, worth it or not, is for the listener to decide.

 

 

 

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HI, I’M JOHN

I’m a jack-of-all-trades who has worked as a graphic designer, magazine owner, online marketer, photographer, data analyst, writer, publishing executive and entrepreneur.

This website is a collection of my experiences in art, business, finance and everyday life.

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All text and images on this site are copyrighted by me, John W. DeFeo, unless stated otherwise.

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Ar9Jim

[3M_Audio 2,228]

Factory Direct with a generous return policy is the way to go and I've done it that way since starting my own speaker company. It lets the manufacturer keep absolute quality and inventory control plus they have the personnel to actually answer customer pre-buy/post-buy questions.

 

[Ar9Jim 6,519]

3 hours ago, 3M_Audio said:

Factory Direct with a generous return policy is the way to go and I've done it that way since starting my own speaker company. It lets the manufacturer keep absolute quality and inventory control plus they have the personnel to actually answer customer pre-buy/post-buy questions.

 

Agree 3M.. And it helps the customer avoid the cabal of old school reps, dealers and marketing publications in magazines and on-line. It's a closed loop system of deception in many cases.

By the time the customer gets their product through these "experts", the product the customer receives cost 5x the cost to make the product. How much value remains for the customer? If you want bragging rights on how much money you spent, go to a fancy showroom an listen to a sales pitch.. If you want value, buy direct and hear for yourself. Believe your ears, they won't fail you. Hear for yourself. Don't take my word for it or any other person involved in this industry.

 

The majority lie for money. I've had to deal with lies and deception in this industry myself since taking this job. I would not believe the marketing pitch any more than a used car salesman. Test drive it at home, the media value to the customer is almost nothing at this point.. Actually the media value is worse than nothing to the customer because it encourages impulse buying and unhappy customers often result. If you can't get an in-system trial without a restocking fee, it should raise a red flag.

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Ar9Jim