Everyone,
The recent audiophile get together at my place shed some light on some things. I've made some decisions. The end result is that I am clearing out a lot of gear that is sitting around collecting dust and will be solely focusing on a very, very, very small group of products.
Shane,
Can you tell us exactly what was cleared up and what products you will be focusing on or is that a business strategy you want to keep close to the vest?
--Michael
I basically decided to focus on what was selling instead of trying to shove a square peg into a round hole (i.e. convert folks that want home theater stuff into mid level to high end 2 channel audiophiles).
I have a LOT of nice products on display here in my showrooms. But 99% of my local business if to folks looking to put in a home theater setup, with either a flat panel, or a projector/screen combination. They want to spend 70% of the budget on the video. The audio portion is less important and convenience and aesthetics is the #1 decision factor. They want a receiver and speakers for effect. They may listen to music, but it's a secondary concern of theirs. So for those folks, a Denon receiver like the AVR-3806 with the Audyssey system to help correct the room a bit is what they want. The Usher V series of speakers is a phenomenal value that doesn't break the bank. Even the little S series of speakers (S-520 & S-525 center), since they are using a subwoofer, is killer for even less money. I do my own custom subwoofers and my cabinet manufacturer will veneer match the subs to the Usher speakers (or any other speakers) so it looks like a set. I do some pretty insane sub designs and sell them as part of my packages for material costs plus a couple bucks for my final assembly time. Throwing in the sub (which would normally retail for >$4-8K) seals the deal for folks.
I'm keeping a dedicated 2 channel, high end room for myself. I don't care if the products in it don't sell locally. I'm keeping the Usher Be-20 speakers on display because I like them more than anything else in the same price range. I'm keeping the Butler Audio Monads because I've not yet heard an amplifier I like more for under $50K.
I have Butler 2250 demos for sale above not because I'm letting Butler go. On the contrary, they are definitely staying. The Butler 5150 is a popular choice for local customers to upgrade to if they do have a bit of audiophile tendencies or want to improve their systems. Adding the external amplifier is the next logical upgrade step for them, at least until we can get some good prepros on the market with HDMI switching *and* room correction capability. It's just that local customers usually add the 5 channel Butler, not the 2 channel 2250. The vast majority of my 2250 sales are to non-local audiophiles. I think that will continue to be the case. So I will stock new in the box 2250s to fill those orders. I just won't have the 2250 on display. I could have put a pair of the 2250s monoblocked in the main listening room.... but when I already have the Monads, who needs 2250s?
I'm a tube junkie from way back. I've built and/or purchased so many tube amps over the years, I can't count them all if I tried. But the truth is that I just don't encounter enough local customers to justify having a bunch of tube amps on display. I really, really enjoy the tube electronics I carry. But its not about displaying gear for my own enjoyment. It's about displaying gear that my customers are interested in purchasing.
So that's the long and short of my very verbose reply. I'm keeping one room for me, and using the remaining demo space to display midlevel surround sound receivers and entry to mid level Usher speakers..... because that is what is selling for me locally right now. I will still have stock of new in box products for those non-local orders. But there's just no sense in having showrooms full of stuff that I want to listen to and not have enough space to show off the products that local customers want to buy..... I hope that makes sense
....
