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In Reply to: RE: Gordon Gow got it posted by Bill Way on May 20, 2016 at 16:53:12
I knew Gordon Gow -- and his son Frank -- rather well. Gordon was a high flier but I never heard him say anything like that, or thought he was quite that cynical.
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There was nothing cynical about it - he just knew his customers. He knew there was the doctor/lawyer who wanted "the best" and once it was home would use it forever and not think about it. *That* customer was unlikely to ever trade in/trade up.
Then there was the customer who wanted the best *and* loved the look and feel of the piece. That customer would respond well to the McIntosh story, was interested in the gear as much as (or more than) the music, *and* loved the black glass with lit blue lettering, the shiny chrome, and of couse meters. That customer would respond to a phone call saying, "You need to come in and see the new C28 - it's great." He would bring his amps in for clinics, and was *always* a good target then for a trade-in. The piece of gear gave him (always him never her) at least as much pleasure as the music, and often much more.
There was also the conspicuous consumer, who loved having Mac gear because of what he felt it said about his good taste, knowledge, and income.
The "immature adults" line, which he repeated whenever talking to salespeople, was in no way cynical or condescending. He respected his customers. He also realized that understanding his customers was key to selling them McIntosh products.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
I heard a C-28/2105 combination.
Nice light show but insipid sound quality. Maybe some of those folks never actually auditioned them.
Insipid is the word. I bought a C-26 from the factory when I was selling their gear. Loved it. Then heard a beat-to-s**t Dyna PAS-3 that just blew it away. It was a moment of great enlightenment.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Everything you wrote about Gordon Gow is consistent with what I knew, and is a good contribution to the history of audio business. And make no mistake. Gordon was a bright engineer, but he was also a superlative entrepreneur. He also cared a great deal about the quality of the brand, and how it reproduced music.
I worked for Dave Lebous, at Audio Service Company, in Binghamton, in the early 60s. We were McIntosh's sole hometown dealer and knew them all -- Gordon, Maurice, Sidney, Dirk, Dave, AP...
I was later a manager at IBM in their great days, but I can confidently state that I never knew a finer enterprise than the McIntosh Lab of that era.
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