Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

RE: You Might Know the Answer...

Well, that is a downside to Audio Note.

With some brands, you have to ask a dealer. They're not sold through online stores or sold at big-box chains with weekly fliers advertising a price.

Besides Audio Note when they list a price they tend to put a "high" sticker price up to mitigate the exchange and tariffs and shipping increases. So you will always pay less than you probably expected to pay or what the sticker price quotes.

If a CD player is sold at Music Direct for $2999. You pay $2999 but the AN CD player may list $3699 but you actually pay $2800. And it's the better-sounding CD player than the thing at Music Direct. Sometimes it's worth the pain in the ass. Plus, I think they want people to actually listen to stuff before they buy it.

They make so much stuff - they have something at almost all price levels above a certain minimum. So they have speakers for $700, $1000, $1500, $2000, $2500, $3000, $3500, $4000, $4500, $5000 - onwards up to $350,000.
Something like 35 speakers and they're not a speaker company - it's a tertiary business.

I also think it is not a bad business idea. You go in and you listen to an OTO and it is say $3500 - but then you hear the Sig version at $5000. Maybe you decide that $1500 is a lot but it is doable given the improvement so you elect to spend the extra.

If you went to a store selling say a Roksan Kandy integrated for $3500 - there is not sig version to entice you to part with an extra $1500.

That is what happened to me - back in 2003 I auditioned the AN J/LX which was like $2200 and I loved it - the dealer then brought in the AN J/Spe which was $2500 and I could not go back to the other one - it was considerably better and for a doable $300 more. And that was a few hundred less than the inferior B&W 805 which was the speaker I intended to buy.

Not making excuses for them or anything - Just stating my perceived opinion on what they're doing. I am sure they lose a lot of sales with this policy but obviously, on balance, it seems to work for them. Getting people to hear the difference in parts quality - going from one model than to the next one or two versions up.

Someone noted to me that Audio Note sells you the gear you can dream on. Almost no other company does that.

So the dealer here sells AN and Roksan. A person comes in and plops down the money for the Roksan. You as a dealer sold 1 customer 1 item and you may never see them again. There is no vastly better-sounding Roksan amp after that. One and done - you made your profit and that's it.

With Audio Note - you buy a basic OTO and if you loved it and your CD player dies - hey why not see if that synergy thing is real - makes sense that the caps and wiring in the CD player match the ones in your amp and the structure is the same in the speakers and IC and Speaker wire and that the caps are voiced similarly in the CD player as the amp. So the customer comes back to buy a CD player. Comes back for the cables.

Then if he liked it - well now - there are 8 integrated amps 6 above the OTO and various versions of each. Or maybe he decides to go separates - wow - 9 preamps with like 5 versions of each one. Power amps? 10 Stereo power amp models and 14 monoblocks - usually 3 versions of each. (Regular, Silver, Silver Signature)

Prices? Bwahahaha - I think often they don't know until someone orders it. Then they say okay someone ordered the Onkoru II - this uses this transformer and this silver - how much is the silver costing us today - X what about Brexit - X - how much is shipping that all went up X - Calculate calculate - here is the price.

I saw an Audio Note radio tuner in a second-hand shop. What? Is it real? I asked Peter why it is not on the website. He replied, "If we put it on the website someone might order it." I get his sense of humor.

When I bought my speakers - they were not on the website - it was a requested design by the Hong Kong dealer - Audio Note elected to make it - it became a popular seller (even though expensive a lot less expensive than others) and eventually, they put it on their website. There could be a dozen products not listed.

In the end - it ain't going to be for everyone. That's why there are thousands of companies out there.






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