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Could you please elaborate about what his problems are? (LONG BUT I THINK IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ)

Dear Don,

I __think__ I have an idea what a dealer's problems with the major magazines are, but it would help if you could be a little more specific and even give some more examples.

The one example you give is a dealer who discovers and attempts to promote a worthwhile piece of gear, and the dealer does not have that much success. A magazine then endorses the piece, and the customers suddenly think it is great.

I understand the frustration. But, what would the dealer like the magazine to do differently? What I am getting at, is, is this a magazine problem, or, is it a __reader__ problem? If readers ignore my telling them to first educate their ears, and then, choose what works for their room and their tastes, what does the dealer want me to do, enter a Trappist monastery and take a vow of silence?

Lots of readers don't read very carefully or thoughtfully. And lots of people remember things they want to, not what happened. I was at a pro audio event earlier this month and one person--right in front of me--told a third person that I got so mad at Arny Krueger at HE 2005 that I almost took a swing at him--he was right there and he saw it. Excuse me, that wasn't me. I was trying to drag away the person who was acting like he wanted to take a swing. And, in my book, looking like one wants to take a swing is different from almost taking a swing. But hey, it was a good story. I have also given up on trying to correct people when they quote me about the Benchmark DAC, and quote things I never said or meant.

Back to your dealer. Some months ago, I wrote an article about the factors that work __against__ a buy-it-once-and-buy-it-right buying experience, and among the factors I mentioned were The Tyranny of the New, and magazine publishing cycles. See the link below. Does the fact that four speakers tied for __this year's__ Speaker of the Year mean that any one of them is better for a given listener than the QUAD 989 that was speaker and component of the year a couple of years back? Not necessarily. I do make efforts in my own column to revisit particularly worthwhile components, to keep them from dropping off the radar screen, but that is a Sysiphean task.

If a dealer loves a product that falls off the magazines' radar screens, it is not as though the manufacturer and dealer have no self-help options. Any dealer who dumps on the magazines is entirely welcome to issue his own four times a year newsletter. It need not be glossy or even have photos. But it would let him tell his side of the story. If he can't write or is too busy, he can hire a writer, they are in the phone book under copywriters or advertising agencies.

And as far as my opening an audio shop, forget about it! Here's why:

(1) The products and systems I like deliver the music, not slam, bam, boom, and tizz, so they are not as impressive in a brief in-store demo as a system that exaggerates certain exciting but ultimately fatiguing aspects of the music.

(2) They are also products designed for lasting value, so my hypothetical customer would send me a Christmas card with warm thanks every year, but not keep trading sideways.

(3) Too many audiophiles pimp dealers for their knowledge and research and setup labor, and then shop on audiogon.com.

(4) Too many audiophiles think that the name of the game is to avoid paying list price, not getting good sound. Whether list is fair, and good value for money, never comes into it.

(5) Most non-audiophile customers don't give a crap and it is too expensive to try to teach them to give a crap. How can I do in half an hour what years of parenting and public education failed to do?

(5) Years ago, in the Golden Age of high end audio, Hugh Hefner and Penthouse and Esquire, at least once a year, ran aspirational articles on high-end audio. A swingin' bachelor pad had a huge stereo with floorstanding speakers. These days, the aspirational goods are huge plasma TVs.

(6) At some time in the 1960s, what the musicians were dressed up as and which moves they were making became at least as important that what they were playing sounded like. When the Beatles first toured the US, they wore dark business suits, white shirts, and narrow ties. Fast forward to Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. People lost the ability to assess the quality of music without visual cues and clues. Most people can tell the difference between a hi-def plasma TV and a non-hi-def plasma TV. For most people, the money increment is worth it. Most people can recognize exceptional audio performance when the stumble upon it (viz., Michael Fremer's water-heater man), but not many are willing to pay the price. If the budget is $10,000, $9,000 goes to the plasma and the rest goes to an HTIAB. It's a visual world, and the music business has to bear part of the blame.

As I said in a more recent column, the industry has done a poor job of selling the value proposition of high-end audio to people who may love music but don't want to own their own soldering iron. And this is in part because many people know the stereotypical audiophile who has 50 CDs, has spent a fortune on cables, and keeps complaining about his sytem, and keeps losing money on lateral trades. I personally think that spending $50,000 on a billiards table that looks like it belongs in Marie Antoinette's boudoir is silly, but lots of McMansions have them, and over on the sideboard is a Bose Wave Radio.

Scotty, stick a fork in it, it's done.

So, about the idea of John Marks Fine Music in the Home, LLC: have you heard the Travis Tritt joke that ends, "Shoot me first, please"?

Sorry for the length.

Please let me know more about Mr. Dealer's beefs, and, if there is anything I can change in my coverage to meet valid constructive criticisms, I shall try.

Cordially,

JM

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