raygunn
Well-known member
Gordon, around that same time period, ML had a huge...
presence at the Stereophile Show in LA. They filled a ballroom with chairs and packed people in to listen to their Statement E2's power by 6 or 8(?) VTL Wotans!
I was fortunate to have had a decent enough listen on the Trade-only day, where only maybe a quarter of the seats were occupied.
On the actual days of the Show, there was so much buzz and chatter over how tremendous the sound was, that they filled the room hours in advance by sign-up sheet and were actually shut down by the LA fire marshall a couple of times during the course of the two days due to the extreme heat in the room from all of the tube gear and people.
In the end, I wonder if it just simply wasn't worth it for ML to do all of that. I doubt that it generated any sales for E2's that they wouldn't have otherwise generated at dealerships.
I think that staying away from outrageous exhibits like that makes perfect sense if they want to generate sales and excitment for their lower end bread-and-butter products that the younger audiophile can find affordable. These same buyers can aspire to go up the food chain as their budgets allow.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that ML is not the same company that it used to be, but that may also not necessarily be a bad thing if in the end it enables self-preservation.
presence at the Stereophile Show in LA. They filled a ballroom with chairs and packed people in to listen to their Statement E2's power by 6 or 8(?) VTL Wotans!
I was fortunate to have had a decent enough listen on the Trade-only day, where only maybe a quarter of the seats were occupied.
On the actual days of the Show, there was so much buzz and chatter over how tremendous the sound was, that they filled the room hours in advance by sign-up sheet and were actually shut down by the LA fire marshall a couple of times during the course of the two days due to the extreme heat in the room from all of the tube gear and people.
In the end, I wonder if it just simply wasn't worth it for ML to do all of that. I doubt that it generated any sales for E2's that they wouldn't have otherwise generated at dealerships.
I think that staying away from outrageous exhibits like that makes perfect sense if they want to generate sales and excitment for their lower end bread-and-butter products that the younger audiophile can find affordable. These same buyers can aspire to go up the food chain as their budgets allow.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that ML is not the same company that it used to be, but that may also not necessarily be a bad thing if in the end it enables self-preservation.
