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In Reply to: RE: HELP - Wendell, Josh, whomever!! posted by BDP24 on June 19, 2017 at 17:39:39
Right? It takes me a loooong time to make a decision. Then I finally decide 'yep I'm gonna do this' and I can't get two dealers to take the order. I understand - odd circumstances - possibly a guy in failing health and another constricted by rules meant to protect dealers. Yet if only one dealer in the Midwest stocks them - why not give the guy the territory for that speaker if someone wants to do business with him? This guy ponied up the money to buy them etc... but was told he couldn't sell them to me. And the frustration for me was completely unbelievable.
Here is the good news. They will be arriving :). I don't necessarily fault anyone. But I gotta tell you it was an odd experience not being able to buy a product for two weeks at this price point. I also find dealers that don't stock them - don't know them. Confused with the logistics of transfer of something this size. And this creates issues for the consumer
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Unfortunately, I don't think Magnepan has much of a choice. There just aren't that many dealers left. They'd love to have them all show the 20.7 but it's the dealers who decide what to stock and dealers now just aren't seeing much high end audio traffic anymore, they're getting a lot of their revenue from custom installations now. So presumably all but the biggest can't afford to stock big expensive items the way they used to.
At one point, they even offered to fly prospective 20.7 buyers out to the factory at their cost for a demo and a tour. Not sure if that deal is still on . . .
Good points everyone. From reading them something occurred to me: The Vandersteen and Wilson dealers I was thinking of, who stock and demo those companies highest priced models, are located in S. California, where there are a lot of people with considerable discretionary money to spend on Hi-Fi (not me ;-). The dealer margin on those speakers provides him a lot of income from the sale of even a single pair, unlike the more moderately priced Magnepan speakers, even the 20.7---which is cheap compared to the Vandersteen 7's, not to mention most of the Wilson's, which are grossly over-priced imo.No one wants Magnepan to go the "high-end" route, making products they charge more for, so they can sell less of them a quarter and stay in business. They are to be applauded for staying "blue-collar". I admit it, I don't have the solution either!
Edits: 06/21/17
That's another problem that they have -- the middle class has pretty much disappeared since the Great Recession. The people who are spending money are the rich -- precisely the sort of people who will go in and buy overpriced Wilsons.
It is fun to imagine what a cost-no-object planar would be like. I think I'd go with a triple ribbon, Maggie ribbon in the center with two 1" midrange ribbons on either side. Then yuge planar panels for the bass and midbass. And yuge dynamic woofers for the bottom octave. Or a phased array electrostatic line source with planar woofers. Maybe some motion feedback H frame dynamic woofer towers for the bass instead of the planar panels?
It makes one wonder about Magnepans judgment in assessing their dealers. I had a friend (R.I.P.) who was a Vandersteen and Wilson Audio dealer, and let me tell ya, those two companies take their dealer's abilities and qualifications VERY seriously. ARC also expects their dealers to perform at a certain level, and pulls their line out of ones that don't. Magnepan's products are too important and valuable to the audiophile community for them to let this kind of situation exist!
You know.... The shops that I have been in that have maggies have been pretty good.... I will say that I think this situation that I had was a little different.... and I hope everything just works out for me in the end.... Saying that....
I think a purchaser of a 20 series is a bit short-changed...Not just because of the lack of dealers that have them.... but because of the lack of knowledge it seems of the speaker because if you can't hear them .... guess what? Dealers can't either. Then there is the 'uh-oh' moment when you realize..... How do these exactly get to my house and into my house? Does a dealer that doesn't stock them have the utility to make that happen? I had one dealer say - 'we must deliver them and set them up in your home'.... Well the distance was too great so that wasn't happening.... So now they are getting drop shipped .... which is good..... One dealer wanted to see what kind of car I drove - I think to see if they would fit!!
Two out of the three dealers seemed to have trouble with discussing price and taxation..... The one I gave my credit card to was straight up - this is it out the door.... Maybe because in one case I was on the phone - but hey - when you are the only store in the Midwest that stocks them.... you are going to get calls and requests after you have gone... listened.... mulled it over etc....
I'm actually thinking of giving Magnepan a call to make sure everything is 'ok'... I guess there has been some controversy that I don't really want to get into.... :)
Many Vandersteen dealers have even Richard's most expensive speakers in their showrooms, for potential buyers to audition. How else can they expect to sell them? Wilson dealers too, so I don't know why Magnepan dealers can't afford to have the $14,000 20.7 model in their shops. My local dealer has the 1.7i and 3.7i, but no 20.7. Why? That's like a Chevrolet dealership not having a Corvette for customers to test drive! Hi-Fi dealers work on a great margin, about 40%. Get with it or get out of the game, I say.
Edits: 06/20/17
well... I just purchased these.... I don't want ANYBODY getting out of the game.... lol
You are buying the speaker, not so much the dealer. Hopefully you will not need dealer support going forwards.
"You are buying the speaker, not so much the dealer. Hopefully you will not need dealer support going forwards."After the speakers have been delivered and shown to be working properly the dealer doesn't need you (either).
On second thought maybe he has some amplifiers he'd like to sell to you
Edits: 06/21/17
And cables, subscribe to the newsletter We have a great new $20k TT you just have to hear, comes in next month. ..
Yes ... and thank you.... I hear you about 'buying the speaker'.... that is truly what I am doing.... Dealers are far and few and even when they are good -- I rarely use them .... I wasn't necessarily adverse to used .... but in this case --- with the shipping .... and possible issues surrounding ... plus this is going to be my 'I'm dead' speaker...... I decided to enjoy the smell of new .....and the breakin...
What Satie said -- congratulations! With all the talk about dealers it's easy to lose sight of the important thing, your new speakers themselves. :-)
Haha!! No joke!! And this has been a 4 year "I think I can...." effort with my brother and son sending me audio porn pictures .... and pictures of salesman's cards as a teaser...... So when I finally made the 'Go' decision.... OMG!!! you can imagine!! LOL....
Maybe Wendel will give me a special edition or a BOGO!!! haha...
That has to be a marketing director's nightmare . . . no dealer able to sell his top-of-the-line product to an eager customer, LOL.
Congrats! may I ask what you're going to power them with? again congrats!!
I will be powering them with a sunfire signature 425/850 watts.... seems to have a large power supply etc.... So - hoping things go swell....
Next step is speaker cables of some sort....... My current ones will not work...
We're all envious---20.7's! But if Vandersteen and Wilson can find dedicated, serious dealers, I don't see why Magnepan can't. Your experience shows they are not handling the dealer network matter very well. Yes, they're doing product development, manufacturing, and pricing/value VERY well, but sales, not so hot. If a Magnepan dealer can't afford to buy a pair of 20.7's for his showroom, how good a dealer is he?
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