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In Reply to: RE: Sam's increasing presence here posted by johns dad on February 20, 2015 at 16:07:01
After all, who knows, maybe "Lord Gravitas" does shoot writers that disrespect him, it happens in football, it could happen in audio.
Or it could be exactly as it appears to be, an excellent writer who is unhappy at being pressured to meet deadlines while being made to wait for his pay, and a conscientious editor who has to do the things that editors do, while being somewhat constrained on the fiscal side, with no small thanks to the owners.
Who can tell?
Daniel
Follow Ups:
I think that the whole point is that you cant tell unless someone at Stereophile talks. The manufacturers that I have talked with at shows sure have some interesting theories about how Stereophile really works. TAS isnt any fun because they dont take the high road and are obviously corrupt. I dont think that any publication that takes advertising dollars can be objective. I dont like JA and dont like the way he runs Stereophile but I dont envy him and the tightrope he is forced to walk.
JA runs the place on the up and up.
Thanks!
Agree and the dog should appear to come from the left loudspeaker ...... :)
And Mike Fremer paid dealer cost for his billion dollar home system.
(nt)
i thought the term referred to borrow, not buying.
roger wang
No, accommodation refers to buying from the manufacturer at dealer cost. It's also sometimes called a trade discount. Manufacturers sell to each other at dealer cost all the time. A speaker manufacturer might sell a pair of his top of the line model to an amp manufacturer at dealer cost, for example. Audio equipment manufacturers extend this trade discount to writers.
Back when I wrote for Listener , editor / owner Art Dudley enforced a strict set of rules about accommodation purchases. Art arranged all such purchases, the buyer had to keep the purchased equipment for at least a year, and gear bought at accommodation could not be resold for more than the purchase price. Violation of these rules resulted in the "death penalty": dismissal from the magazine's staff. That happened to one writer who broke the rules. I think Stereophile operates under similar rules.
You're probably thinking of Harry Pearson's infamous "long term loans" of equipment that seemed to never be returned, or was kept for years. At Listener the rule was that equipment lent for review must be returned in a reasonable amount of time, usually 30 days unless Art and the manufacturer agreed to an extension.
When I was in the industry, as a Retailer, "Industry Accomodation" prices were often below Dealer Cost, as the Importer / Distributor also sold without their usual markup. It didn't make a huge difference (maybe 5~10% less than Dealer Cost) and usually came with similar conditions such as no selling for 1 year, only one IA purchase per year from the same Distributor, etc.
As strange as the following sounds, it didn't prompt staff to buy gear at a rate any higher than out customers. You still had to choose amongst gear you could afford. Staff carefully considered the gear just like a consumer would, and only purchased what they really wanted at home.
If retail prices fell by 40% overnight, the same issues would exist. There is always the budget to consider, and if the price drop meant you could get better gear for the same $$ as before, you still faced the situation whereby there was always something "better" out there.
It is what it is. Everyone gets the best stuff they can afford and justify. Price does not equal value, for audio or anything else.
My second career, in the Outdoors field, has even more generous Staff Pricing ... 60% or more off. Again it's a situation where people just get better gear for the same dollars they would be willing to spend outside the industry.
I am well aware of this accommodation and think it is more than fair. My point is that unless this discount is about 90% off retail I remain skeptical that MF actually paid the claimed price.
Perhaps ST, WP and Sue will start an Audiophile blog or something...
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