Listened to vantages/ krell 400xi today

[eknuds01]

Erik & Sleepy,

You guys have hit on a topic that I believe is part of the reason for the slow demise of the high-end audio store as we know it. When high-end home theater and home video became a mass-market commodity, stores started carrying those products in order to make a buck. Pretty soon, you can't make a buck as an audio-only store -- you must carry audio and video and do complete installation as well in order to compete.

As you mentioned, video equipment takes a lot of showroom space, a lot of stock room space, a lot of sales and marketing time and resources, and most importantly, a lot of money invested in inventory. If a dealer carries multiple brands, they often have a commitment with each manufacturer to keep a certain dollar amount in inventory to keep the brand. With video equipment taking up a lot of those dollars, there are just less to invest in audio equipment. And lets face it, most of the people that are putting in home theater equipment are putting in less-than-stellar audio equipment to go in their theater. Usually its a mass-market integrated receiver with some basic in wall speakers and a cheap sub.

Seven years ago I think there were at least three high-end audio stores in my town. Now there is only one, and they really keep minimal inventory levels of audio gear, focusing instead on home theater and whole-house automation installation. Meanwhile, Tweeter, Best Buy and Circuit City are thriving.

Ding. Ding. Ding!

We have the winner.

My mom is an interior designer in Naples. As such, her firm doesn't work on a house unless the client is spending over a million (house + what's in it).

She tells me that most clients want the jazzy plasma, or maybe a projection screen unit. They are also really into in-wall speaker units. They don't want tons of amps, wires, and equalization equipment. In fact, the less 'boxes' the better.

Rich has made many valid points. It boils down to how the resources are being spent. And right now it appears that the 'smart money' is TVs and TV installation. What these guys charge for remotes, mounting, and the installation is utterly insane.

Rich, FYI, I used to do some work for NASA when I was a grad student and spent some time in Huntsville, AL.

Erik

 

[asindc]

Ding. Ding. Ding!

We have the winner.

My mom is an interior designer in Naples. As such, her firm doesn't work on a house unless the client is spending over a million (house + what's in it).

She tells me that most clients want the jazzy plasma, or maybe a projection screen unit. They are also really into in-wall speaker units. They don't want tons of amps, wires, and equalization equipment. In fact, the less 'boxes' the better.

Rich has made many valid points. It boils down to how the resources are being spent. And right now it appears that the 'smart money' is TVs and TV installation. What these guys charge for remotes, mounting, and the installation is utterly insane.

Rich, FYI, I used to do some work for NASA when I was a grad student and spent some time in Huntsville, AL.

Erik

I have a friend in the business who's first love is high-end audio. He recently abandoned it because while he was lucky to net 10% profit from it, he routinely sees at least 33% profit from HT. It is becoming more difficult for even chain stores to justify devoting much floor space to high-end audio. Certainly doesn't help when most people seem satisfied with mp3 quality...