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In Reply to: TAS and manufacturers who sell by direct posted by bwkendall on May 17, 2004 at 19:18:15:
and without high end retailers, there would be no high end audio. Personally, I first discovered TAS and high end audio at a retailer (Havens and Hardesty in So. CA in 1975 - the same Hardesty that now write "Audio Perfectionist"). Where do you think people are discovering high end audio today - on the internet? Reviewing a speaker that is sold direct is like biting the hand that feeds them. After all, Stereophile won't review a product unless it is sold by at least 5 retailers.
Regards,
Mike
Follow Ups:
Yep! That's exactly where I "discovered" it.Have not purchased from a "high end retailer" for over 30 years. All vintage purchases eBay, AudioGon plus parts over the internet. Last couple years I've been building my own equipment from either kits or from, all with information gathered over the internet.
Can learn more here that at some high end audio salon.
Kiss you high end retailers goodbye;-)
Worked for me, and I have way better performance than I could otherwise have afforded because of it.For that matter, Borders puts TAS and Stereophile in more peoples' hands than all the high end salons combined.
Welcome to the 21st C. Like it or not that's the way it is.
__________
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - JRRT
(nt)
Discussion forums like AA and Audiogon led me to links to web sites of every description. Imagine an audio magazine where, in addition to reading whatever is presented, you can:
- post questions to a worldwide body of experienced enthusiasts
- search for information on any imaginable topic and get answers/opinions going back several years
- find immediate links to up-to-date literature from nearly any manufacturer, as well as dealers, critics, labs, etc.
- get advice directly from product designers/buildersOh. And you can do this all in real time while sitting at your desk at work or home. If you care at all about music reproduction in the home, how could you NOT find high end audio on the internet?
__________
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - JRRT
Speaker building friend gave me a link to a web page on speaker building. That led to other pages on building speakers.Next, a guy at work bought an old Heathkit tube amp on eBay, and it's been downhill ever since.
Been a regular at CES for the last few years, plus HE-2003 and VSAC. Met others with the same interests via boards like this. Got to know a few of the "heavy hitters" on Asylum;-).
Don't subscribe to either TAS or Stereophile, and really don't need "high end audio stores" but that doesn't mean others don't. To each his own.
here at our own beloved AA. I have learned enormous amounts about high end gear from the nutcases at this site. Also at Audiogon and many other sites. I have learned much less in real life, so to speak. That's partly due to the fact that there are no high end dealers near me. (See above post.)
and the marketplace will support both types of sales. Both will have to adapt somehow, but that is only healthy. Those that fail to adapt will suffer. Those are words of experience from the early days of PC's, when certain manufacturers dismissed direct sales as merely a temporary fad.
> Stereophile won't review a product unless it is sold by at least 5
> retailers.
We do review mail-order products, but my criteria for a product
qualifying are more subjective. Again see my essay on this subject .
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
That's where I found out about it.
_____________________________"The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world."
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