[srb]

The last two posts demonstrate why it is important to use the Quote function instead of just copying and pasting someone else's reply into your own.
 
Steve

[Curly Woods]

The last two posts demonstrate why it is important to use the Quote function instead of just copying and pasting someone else's reply into your own.
 
Steve

All,

  I hope that I have not somehow made myself out to be somehow self righteous.  I used a term that I did not think was wrong or demeaning in anyway.  If I have made anyone feel as if I was condescending, I sincerely apologize.  It is never my intent, unless I am unjustly attacked.

[srb]

Michael, it was I who said to Gerald:  (Please people, use the Quote function!)
 

I think you may not understand the terms "unwashed" or "unwashed masses".
 
In this context, that refers to those that are uneducated or uniformed in the subject of high fidelity.

I wasn't trying to be glib or scarcastic.  I really did think that Gerald was possibly unfamiliar with the term "unwashed", as there is no way that I could possibly construe your statement as condescending or demeaning!
 

The connotation of "unwashed" is condescending. It connotates that those "in the know" are somehow superior.

They are superior.  Superior in their knowledge of high fidelity compared to someone who knows little or nothing about it!
 
Michael, no apology required, at least not to me!  (This is ridiculous!)   
 
Steve

[James Tanner]

Who's on first? 

james

[toobluvr]

The condescending attitude will turn them off. Unfortunately, this is also the attitude of more than a few high end salesmen & owners of B&M stores who prejudge prospective customers by rolling out the red carpet when they leave.

WOW!  I have never seen this attitude except in a few shops in NYC.  I guess people in the Midwest are a bit more friendly oriented.  Why would a dealer want to run off a perspective client by displaying an attitude towards the possible buyers?   (snip)

Why?   You're kidding....right?!     

This is why, from the salesman's perspective:

They work on commissions.  They don't wanna diddle around with a guy that's looking to spend 500, or 1000, or even 5000 and possibly lose out on the wealthy guy that walks in with no audio knowledge and short time, looking to be told which $100k system to buy!

This attitude is probably a function of location, and what the wealth demograpics are like.  But I can tell you that this is definitely how it was in NYC in the 90's.   They definintely engaged in profiling based on the way you dressed and how you answered their questions.  If you didn't look the part, or didn't answer their questions "right", or if they so much as got a whiff that you were not gonna spend large, they had no interest in doing their jobs.

Or they begrudgingly went through the motions and tried to rush you out the door.  In general, they made things so uncomfortable with their nasty, snotty and unhelpful attitude that I just stopped shopping there.  As did many others.  I know this for a fact.

[Curly Woods]

The condescending attitude will turn them off. Unfortunately, this is also the attitude of more than a few high end salesmen & owners of B&M stores who prejudge prospective customers by rolling out the red carpet when they leave.

WOW!  I have never seen this attitude except in a few shops in NYC.  I guess people in the Midwest are a bit more friendly oriented.  Why would a dealer want to run off a perspective client by displaying an attitude towards the possible buyers?   (snip)

Why?   You're kidding....right?!     

This is why, from the salesman's perspective:

They work on commissions.  They don't wanna diddle around with a guy that's looking to spend 500, or 1000, or even 5000 and possibly lose out on the wealthy guy that walks in with no audio knowledge and short time, looking to be told which $100k system to buy!

This attitude is probably a function of location, and what the wealth demograpics are like.  But I can tell you that this is definitely how it was in NYC in the 90's.   They definintely engaged in profiling based on the way you dressed and how you answered their questions.  If you didn't look the part, or didn't answer their questions "right", or if they so much as got a whiff that you were not gonna spend large, they had no interest in doing their jobs.

Or they begrudgingly went through the motions and tried to rush you out the door.  In general, they made things so uncomfortable with their nasty, snotty and unhelpful attitude that I just stopped shopping there.  As did many others.  I know this for a fact.

  I believe that I stated that the worst treatment that I ever received in any audio stores were in the NYC area.  It was unbeliebeably rude.  Hell I was a salesman and told them that.  I was just visiting from out of state.  After the treatment that I receivced, I would hate to be a real customer in those stores. 

  I was always on commision, but I found out that it was easier to set up great systems than to brow beat any customer into submission.  I have never worked in any audio stores where people were treated with less than the utmost respect.  We wanted people to buy from us not offend them and never see them again. The plus side of it was that they would bring their friends back too!  What a concept.  Treat people decent, show them how good stuff can sound and answer their questions honestly.  Maybe I should patent this  aa

[vegasdave]

Hey Laundrew, did you see my post?

[Laundrew]

Purchasing from an audio dealer and manufacturer that offers great service certainly was personified in the second week of November when I experienced my first component failure in my new audio system. Needless to say I was very surprised and disappointed that a component failure occurred approximately after 200-300 hours of operation.

A mechanical failure occurred in the CD drive unit in my Esoteric X-05, actually the clamping disc that is used to stabilize the CD, separated from the entire drive assembly. I remember when it happened between the third and forth track fade out /fade in on the CD I was listening to. It is amazing the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when a horrible noise is emitted from your most cherished CD player  

I called Rob and Ron at Altronics and informed them I had experience a drive failure with my X-05. They told me to bring it in and they would look after it. Ron and Rob were outstanding and kept me up to date on the repair progress. Esoteric flew out a complete replacement drive assembly and I had my X-05 back on the shelf in about 4 weeks time.

I understand that mechanical equipment fails from time to time, so hopefully they are no more Gremlins lurking around in my audio equipment (I always assumed that the type of music I listen to would scare the little critters away ). So, at the end of the day - two thumbs up for Ron and Rob at Altronics and Esoteric for their great service - thank you.
During the repair period, I had to "sub" in my former carousal CD player - talk about cruel and unusual punishment! Now that the X-05 is back in the system, I am back and totally immersed  in musical nirvana.

Be well...

[sfraser]

WOW!  I have never seen this attitude except in a few shops in NYC.  I guess people in the Midwest are a bit more friendly oriented.  Why would a dealer want to run off a perspective client by displaying an attitude towards the possible buyers?   (snip)



Why?   You're kidding....right?!     

This is why, from the salesman's perspective:

They work on commissions.  They don't wanna diddle around with a guy that's looking to spend 500, or 1000, or even 5000 and possibly lose out on the wealthy guy that walks in with no audio knowledge and short time, looking to be told which $100k system to buy!

This attitude is probably a function of location, and what the wealth demograpics are like.  But I can tell you that this is definitely how it was in NYC in the 90's.   They definintely engaged in profiling based on the way you dressed and how you answered their questions.  If you didn't look the part, or didn't answer their questions "right", or if they so much as got a whiff that you were not gonna spend large, they had no interest in doing their jobs.

Or they begrudgingly went through the motions and tried to rush you out the door.  In general, they made things so uncomfortable with their nasty, snotty and unhelpful attitude that I just stopped shopping there.  As did many others.  I know this for a fact.

Last spring I was in Anthwerp and I was walking through the diamond district and ran across a rather large hi-end audio store. I walked in and started browsing around what turned out to be a very impressive shop. Had a great disscussion with a salesman, I explained I was from Canada, and the various system's I had. He knew  the chance was nil that i would be purchasing anything that day, but he was still extremely friendly and sat me down in front a very impressive system with a touch screen hard drive driven source with thousand of FLAC files, fetched me up a cup of coffee and said enjoy. I was very impressed, both with the system i was listenign to,  and the way I was treated. I also made sure i stepped out of the away when another customer came in and was interested in one of the components i was enjoying.

Regarding the future of 2 chan music. My kids (16 & 19)  are not interested in the sound quaility of the music they listen too at all. 128kbps mp3 is more than fine. I find this interesting, we have several decents systems throughout the house, all connected to a Squeeze server with 30k+ FLAC files. While they do appreciate and enjoy  the exposure to the wide variety of music, but the playback system is not important to them at all. An  ipod with one earbud working is fine. It is interesting when they "discover" a new artist or band. Several years ago my son and I were both humming along to a Deep Purple track, when he turned and looked at me and stated that he was surprised that i even knew who Deep Purple was. I smiled back and answered that being that the album (Machine Head)  was made when I was 7-8 I was surprised that he knew who Deep Purple was. One other thing I have noticed, my kids do not listen to music anywhere near as loud as i did/do. While I have done a good job of introducing them to a wide variety of music (Billy Holiday to The Gourds), I am still hoping I can  pass down my Bryston amps to them in future (I'm sure they will still be working).

Couple of the postive things I seen in 2009 is the interest in higher bit recordings  and a  greater push from the recording engineers to stop recording new material with so much gain and lack of  dynamic range. While I don't believe that new music is garbage , alot of it is recorded that way. And like they say "you can't polish a turd" . Alot of new music does not
"shine" very well on a decent system.

Cheers,