the joy of visiting hifi shops

Hi David,

Fortunately, my local hifi shoppes are more organised to do demos on the spot, with listening rooms & equipments ready to rock and roll. However, it's always a good idea to give them a call before passing by, so they could prepare up the room with equipments you're interested in.

My Naim dealer here have all their gears connected and warmed up, sitting on multiple Fraim stands. It's quite an impressive wall to see, with all those black boxes lined up like this.

Bye.

What was the reply when you asked?

Also, what were looking to buy?

I was not looking to buy anything, but!!!!

If there was something interesting being played and i was able to have a listen, then who knows i might have been tempted to book a formal demo and consider purchase.

When you go into a shop you want to have an experience. In HiFi this means hearing something.

Stoik seems to have dealers which are more aware of what potential customers are looking for.

What is going on here was a rhetorical question, not one aimed at a specific dealer.

In olden times. ok 20 years ago, there was more going on in a HiFi shop and seemed that staff were more interested.

I have been to some excellent dealers over the years, hence i am a bit of a hifi enthusiast with a high value system. These dealers enabled me to become enthused about the equipment and also the music being played.

As for HMV in Norrich that too was poor. I was looking for an intetesting cd to buy, but the store is dark and poorly laid out with not a great choice. So went home no poorer.

In Sydney JB HiFi, which is a big music and budget hifi store, always had a fantatsic choice of music and competitive pricing. hence i spent a whole heap of money with them. My local HiFi dealer Pymble HiFi was a great place to go. Val one of the salesman was a real enthusiast and always had a great system running in the main area, set up correctly and playing interesting music. Cups of tea too were on offer with no blackmail. It was a successful shop with a loyal client base. Yes i did buy stuff there.

I just feel that buying high value hifi should be an enjoyable experience. I have friends who live in Norwich but spend their money about 40-50 miles from Norwich. So perhaps i should take a trip in another direction.

regards david

The secret to decent audio dealers in Suffolk and Norfolk is out-of-town locations.  No sitting in traffic jams to get there; easy parking; treated like you're welcome and wanted; always something interesting to listen to; and probably a coffee and a hob-nob.  Signals and Basically Sound.  Sorted.

Perhaps we have different expectations of a dealer. I'm interested to hear what others think.

I have never walked into a HiFi shop just to 'browse'. I genuinely do not know what I'd be likely to learn from such an experience. Over the years I've either gone into a shop to have a discussion about what was available that might interest me and how/when to organise a dem, or for a pre-booked dem. Generally now if I ever buy kit I dem it at home, perhaps because my dealer knows me well enough to let me walk out with his stock under my arm!

I'd not be looking for a HiFi dealer to snap me into a dem room on an un-announced visit, although I guess it might be nice if they said 'Hey come and have a brew and listen to this great set up we have in the room just now'. I know the outlay is (a bit) different but I'd not expect a car showroom to take me out for a drive when I was just casually dropping in, and really had no intention to buy.

I want my dealer to be interested, and interesting. I want them to have an opinon, and also respect mine. I want them to be technically up to date and also enthusiastic. I also want them to be loyal, as I am to them, providing me service over a decent time as I provide them business. I'd not expect such customer loyalty to be nurtured if I flitted from shop to shop on 'spec' in the hope of an ad hoc dem, and I wonder if that was their approach to your visit too?

Bruce....who is a one-dealer man.

I'd have to say....decide what you are after, select a dealer and then ask them to set-up a demo.

I would be sure they'd be happy to do it.

After all, they all have to make a profit and in the world of hi-fi people walking in off the street and buying on the spot are very, very rare.

I have a personal hate of people going into WH Smith and reading magazines without buying when I know exactly what I want but can't get near the bloody rack.

Book a demo - see what you get, then you'll know how good the dealers are.

Alternatively, walk into a Mercedes/BMW/Bentley showroom, look at the cars, then complain because they won't let you take them out on the road before booking in advance.

I always wander in, I make a point of it. Often have a chat with the chaps inside too if I / they have time.

Many shops I have come across in that way have been ripe for improvement, others have been little gems. I think I would enjoy hi fi retail, could not afford to do it though...

Slag is a bit rich!

I do think that with high value purchases of any nature the key to a good buying experience is often a two-way process of good customer sevices but also respect from the customer being an honest and decent consumer too. Such a relationship really helps if anything goes wrong too!

Bruce

If a retail shop is not set up for walk-in business, then they should have a sign over their locked door saying "By Appointment Only".   This would make them no different than dealers of boutique brands who operate out of a room in their homes.

I empathize with the OP, but have not experienced this at any of my local hi-fi shops.  They are all set up properly for walk-in business.  They encourage browsing, always have music playing, and can often have a demo set up "on demand" in a relatively short time.  Otherwise, for those with a more casual interest, they have plenty of stuff on display to look at.   Their philosophy is that "first timers" may need or want to initially acquaint themselves with the premises -- its people and its merchandise -- and only later commit to a demo (since that typically implies a more serious interest).  Good guys all.  In fact, their only failing is that none of them carry Naim.

Honestly, I do not see how brick-and-mortar stores can afford to be antagonistic to casual visitors.  Even the "tire kickers", if they are treated nicely, may tell friends about their positive experience, and the friends may be closer to making a purchase decision.  Got to believe that hi-fi, like any other retail sales, is a numbers game, but would be interested in hearing more from trade members on this.

That said, I recently read some posts by a guy who was testing new DAC's.  He owned a DacMagic, and was looking for something better.  So he home demo'ed Naim and Bryston and....well, just about every other freaking dac you can think of.   Then I discovered he had been posting his experiences on several different hi-fi fora, and over a period of many months!   So indecisive, and such an egomaniac!   All he seemed to care about was being told how valuable his in-depth reporting was.  Hopefully this joker is an exception, but I suspect each and every retailer knows at least one or two of these oddballs.  Just one of the costs of doing business I suppose.

Hook

Thanks HOOK i enjoyed your reply.

I could fall under the title of tyre kicker, hopefully not a DEALER SLAG.

My local Branch of Jessups, where i spend a reasonable some of money on photo processing, know that it is my intention to buy a new camera in the near future.

So ask each time i go in how are things and have i seen the new Canon EOS 600 etc etc. I have had a good look at the Nikon D90 and Canon EOS 500 and 550. So by allowing me to be a tyre kicker and humoring me when i ask to look at a camera, they know they will eventually be rewarded with a sale.

Yes Tony i  miss Andy's Records as well. Spent too much money there.

I believe any retail store no matter what it is selling needs to cater to the tyre kicker as it may pique a latent desire to buy.

After all the potential customer has walked into the store and is probably intetested in something, and you never know it might be playing music in the shop as you walk in. As opposed to collecting dust on a shelf, and requring at least half an hour to dig out set up and switch on.

Masters of listen and buy is BOSE. Now i hate BOSE with a passion, but go into the shop and you are always asked have you heard BOSE before Sir?

Answer NO and you will then have your ears assaulted by several of the systems set up and ready to roll.  This is the same with the B&O stores, when you get past the arrogance of the salesman.

Heres a scenario.

I have a pretty fine system in my attic. I keep my laptop up there, and a Cambridge Audio DACmagic would be pretty fine to connect laptop to HiFi system. So why did i not buy one the other day, or even the ARCAM cheapo dac. Simple neither shop with them was in any position to be able to give a quickie dem using the shop laptop into a system. Simple. So i sit here still considering this option. Now what would have happened if one of the shops had done a decent, or reasonable dem, of a laptop into a system to show me how easy it was to do and some decent sites for music. This could have taken 10 mins and i probably would have purchased. But they did not , so neither did i. it is still being considered.

Buying HiFi should be an enjoyable process whether you book a 2 hour demo at a specialist dealer such as Basically Sound or a 10-15 min one at a walk have in and have you got the ************* in your dem room.

David

Spot on David!

I do understand where people are coming from, they actually go into centres of population,  I try not to.  So my solution is ideal for me, though I appreciate that for others it may seem long-winded.  (Mind you, I've never had to 'book' ahead; though I do usually give acourtesy call to make sure they're free - wouldn't want to intrude on an actual sale )

I bet loads of people drop into a naim dealer, happen to listen to £50K of electronics and buy immediately.

Other people with a few minutes of spare time, or perhaps it is raining, would like to sit in comfort and listen to music.

Browsing in HiFi shops in Norwich seems a popular pastime.....

NFN

What ever happened to Tandy ????

Derry,

you walk into your local friendly NAIM dealer and you hear a decent piece of music that you are familiar with.

You think to yourself, that sounds a pretty good system. So you spend a few minutes listening.

The salesman comes over and asks are you enjoying the music on the NAIM system Sir.

You reply Yes i am it is indeed very fine.

There are more cd's over on the shelf, go pick a couple and have a proper listen

I only have a few minutes as i am meeting somebody at MEGA FAT BASTARD Corp so i am killing a few minutes here.

Thats OK still have a listen.

10 mins passes and you have heard 3 further tracks and your pecker is up.

Would you like to have a proper listen at a more convenient time.

Indeed i would you reply, and what was i was listening to. 

It is the NAIM xxxx system sir with the NEW Ovator 400'S. NEXT SATURDAY SAY 3-4 DO.

Done, and all because he had a spare 10 mins before a business meeting.

So a tyre kicker is still a potential.

My i am getting boring on this, but it is so important.

David

The good old days

Laskeys??

Cheers

Don

I thought it mildy annoying that my local dealer found from the the Naim website had hardlly anything in stock, but could order it. Hardly ideal if you want to compare different combinations of products.

In the end I tried elsewhere, and found an excellent dealer, who will in time be seeing my credit card again.....

Dave

I think you have a point, but shop keepers have a right to run their own businesses as they see fit.

If that means no tyre-kickers and dems ONLY by appointment, well IMHO, that's their business.

I guess they must be able to cope with the occasional person who books a dem of half a dozen combinations - say A, B and C only to find out that person has also booked dems elsewhere of C, D and E and then still decides to buy a Technics mini-stack at Curry's.

I agree that there is little opportunity to "browse" these days and i think that's a shame.

Cheers

Don