Hi Phil,
That's interesting - so what your saying is you would support a dealer that supports the product you have interest in?
Also the fact that the dealer sees the Bryston 20 year warranty as a negative I find very interesting. Maybe it goes to the heart of the matter. If you put up a 'series of requirements' in order for a customer to purchase your product is that going to ultimately turn your customer away from your product or the dealer selling the product because they see it as being manipulative?
james
Yes, James. I'm happy to sit and listen to stuff. My dealer will even let people (good repeat customers) take things home (the store is closed on Sun. and Mon. and I've taking home things at Sat. closing and brought them back at lunch on Tues.). I'm not going to start price shopping for large discounts when I have a local store where I can hear and audition things. I'm also at the point where system wise (I actually have 3, main, bedroom and basement) where I expect to make wholesale changes to things. My bedroom system, as an example as zone 2 output from the rec'r going into the SP1.7 and via a speaker switcher, I feed 4 remote places (outdoor, garage on a volume control, dining room in-wall on a volume control and office on a volume control). I have an Oppo 980 (connected to a 42 inch 1080p LCD) and a Sony 2000ES CD/SACD changer, both of which I have hooked to a Micromega DuoPro DAC (which I used in the main system before getting the BCD-1) I have 3 Thiel SCS2s up front (and an old Adcom 555 driving the left and right and one of these days I might pick up a Bryston 3BST or something that is not over deep - sits behind the TV that is perhaps a bit better than the Adcom). The rec'r is 7 yrs. old and I'll probably sometime in the next 3 to 9 mos. end up with a new one and use the old one on the PC. So I might get something I could hook my Zune to (WMA lossless - perhaps the new Pioneer 1018 that has a USB input due out next month) and loop it thru the main system.
My new projector for the secondary basement system comes this week and since I don't have a DVD player down there at present (sold a Rotel a couple of mos. back) I may get the 80G PS3 with analog outs that's due in June so I can use it with my Marantz 7300 OSE rec'r down there and get some more use out of the system and an introduction into Blu-Ray until the SP3 issues get sorted out. I ran cabling from the main system to the basement and I can hook the PS3 to my network and probably have some enjoyment from that (I'll get help from a real techie). So the bottom line is I'm not probably going to make tons of changes to most of the systems. I just ran an HDMI cable to the main system projector so that when I get a more modern projector (mine is 6 yrs. old) that is in place. I was thinking about CD source for the main system but it wasn't something I planned to do as soon but with the opportunity to hear the BCD-1 I bought it. So I'm happy to support products sold by a dealer that offers me services in addition to what I can do vs. going to the internet. If I didn't have that I'd have waited and done something else, perhaps used. Where I'm left in the same boat as ordering blind w/o being able to audition something, I'll use the internet as I did with the projector.
I can tell you that over time with some customers, including me, the dealer's choices (of what to carry) are his to make but have turned some off to some degree. He sees it as a negative in that it causes auditions of what he carries and then someone can buy lightly used and he is out of the loop. Some other manufacturers (Thiel I believe is one) only let the warranty transfer when the used product is sold thru an authorized dealer. Bryston changed it's warranty policy probably as a result of unauthorized sales. I'm very happy with it as a customer. I was able to buy a 6BSST and a 14BSST and from memory the warranty is good until the end of 2022 on one and the beginning of 2023 on the other. That's still more than 14 years from today and by that time if I'm still alive and kicking I'm not sure my hearing and priorities will be the same
It was a very easy decision for me as a customer. Since I could not hear them in the store with a comparable set-up if I didn't like them I could re-sell them and not be out all that much money. As noted previously my system is such (e.g. 14BSST, 6BSST, SP1.7, BCD-1, Thiel 3.7s, Thiel MCS1, Thiel Power Points) that I've gone into many stores and had people play thing for me that they thought was the last word in audio reproduction and not that I found all or any of them terrible but to be honest I've not really preferred any of them over mine. My dealer loves a particular brand that makes active speakers and I don't think they're horrible but at about $40k/pair I don't like them nearly as much as my set-up.
So yes, the dealer sees that as a negative. He's got to pay to stock the stuff on his floor. He has customers come in to listen and then even with the new warranty policy you can find many items of Bryston's line at around his cost or less sometimes. So he'd rather sell them something else. He has $16k list monoblocks of another brand on his floor but not the 28BSST. I've don't believe (I'm 99% sure) he's ever had the 14BSST or the 7BSST on his floor to audition. As noted he has a BP26 (I believe w/o the DACs), an SP2, the BCD-1 and an amp like the 4BST and may have had the 9BSST here and there from time to time. It's the nature of the business for dealers to become an 'elite' dealer with a particular line. Then they try to push those lines vs. other ones. I certainly don't hate my local dealers 'elite' brand, but just like some people like chocolate and some like vanilla (there's no right or wrong) I probably would not buy 85-90% of anything in their line even at dealer cost. As I noted it is a 'Catch 22' scenario. If I am in the market for something, there is a good chance I'll buy something somewhere else. I've had discussions with him as we have a good relationship and he is great to his customers. There are items he does not carry for various reasons like some of the Bryston stuff but also some entry level high end stuff (he doesn't want them to take up his floor space or take away sales of more expensive things). For example, Marantz at one point (have not looked recently) had a $300 single disc CD player. I'd listen to it. If I liked it I could see the possibility of buying it for the bedroom or basement system. I've had the discussion with him about DACs before. According to him DACs are passe - a think of the late 80s and early 90s. Why? Well I know him very well and if you asked me why I thought he feels that way it is due to the fact that he doesn't want to take the time to set-up a demo with different cables and transports vs. selling a CD player. James, I don't have to tell you that audiophiles can be neurotic about things do I?
So for him, he has limited space and it is a matter of maximizing what he makes from CD playback equipment in the least amount of time. I can tell you I've been in his store when customers have come in ready to purchase something they have auditioned over and over (and he's spent many hours with) after the items has been discontinued and/or replaced.
