Why do dealers always play demo music loud?

I agree completely.

Mine just gives me the remote and in the old fashioned way insists that I bring my own music with me.

When I demoed the Uniti range last year, the dealer set up the Atom/Neat SX1 system I’d asked to start with, checked whether I wanted him to stay, checked I was OK with the IOS app, handed me the IPAD and said that I should call for him when I wanted to change the system. He then swapped in the Nova/various speakers over the next few hours and allowed me space  to make up my own mind. A very pleasant experience.

Used to have a dealer who could only play things at ludicrous volume and no piece of music would go beyond 4t seconds to 2 minutes. Thinking on it I really ought to have demoed with hardcore punk.

Thread title is contrary to my experiences  -  I'm usually the one turning it up, especially when it comes to sussing out speakers, as I've often discovered issues in doing this e.g. some legacy B&W models which hardly stirred with Naim amps and/or which went all bass-lumpy. 

The nice thing about the Uniti Core is I pull out the sled and hard drive take it to my dealer who puts into their Uniti Core, I then get left to enjoy my music. They sit in from time to time, and last time just before I could make a comment about the NDX sounding a bit thin, they put on a power supply. At the time I was listening to Naim 282 vs 252.

Just enough interaction without feeling any pressure, just how I like it.

Low volume will expose the transformers hum.

Haim Ronen posted:

Low volume will expose the transformers hum.

Post of the day
Actually, I like loud music.

I just bought the Star and was surprised having the HD outside and connected with short USB cable, that is cool and would be so helpful when I back up my collection.  I'm with a new dealer in Los Angeles and he was great.  I wanted to heat Neat speakers and we had them on while learning about setup and yes it was a bit loud, we toned it down.  Then I asked to hear the Harbeth 7s and was duly impressed with them in Eucalyptus, the sound just flowed and was clearer for me.  I'm also looking to set up a good friend with a small system and think the Atom and my gift of Rega Apollo plus the Harbeth's will impress him.  He's already put his music on a hard drive before he moves.

Frank Yang posted:

Haim Ronen posted:

Low volume will expose the transformers hum.

Actually, I like loud music.

Ditto, though it depends on the music and mood, and a dem needs to encompass all.

My question about deakers is why do they all seem to select jazz? 

Eoink posted:

When I demoed the Uniti range last year, the dealer set up the Atom/Neat SX1 system I’d asked to start with, checked whether I wanted him to stay, checked I was OK with the IOS app, handed me the IPAD and said that I should call for him when I wanted to change the system. He then swapped in the Nova/various speakers over the next few hours and allowed me space  to make up my own mind. A very pleasant experience.

I had exactly the same experience when trying DACs a couple of years ago. Yes, it Is great when the dealer hands over the remote and leaves you to it, 

Ravenswood10 posted:

Mine just gives me the remote and in the old fashioned way insists that I bring my own music with me.

That's fair and begs the question for me "what does bring your own music" mean these days? A smartphone or a USB device?

When I began demoing Naim gear seven years ago I always brought 2 or 3 CDs with me. More recently it seems dealers no longer have CDPs in the demo room. I get handed an i-pad and accept my demo will use canned music, even though I don't stream at home.

Innocent Bystander posted:

My question about deakers is why do they all seem to select jazz? 

Maybe you walk in wearing a beret and sunglasses? Perhaps graying at the temples?

One reason might be that jazz is cleaner, typically well-recorded, and not as demanding on speakers as stuff like heavy production rock or electronica.

I agree, I think many jazz recordings are not at all demanding and relatively sparse so fairly easy to show off audio equipment of differing abilities ... it’s the equivalent of having the vibrancy and contrast on max in a TV show room.... 

joerand posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

My question about deakers is why do they all seem to select jazz? 

Maybe you walk in wearing a beret and sunglasses? Perhaps graying at the temples?

One reason might be that jazz is cleaner, typically well-recorded, and not as demanding on speakers as stuff like heavy production rock or electronica.

I) no, I) no, iii) hmmm!

Good point re speakers, though on 2 (of 3) occasions I am thinking of I had come to audition speakers that do bass well. However I suppose it just becomes the norm for them.

joerand posted:

That's fair and begs the question for me "what does bring your own music" mean these days? A smartphone or a USB device?

When I began demoing Naim gear seven years ago I always brought 2 or 3 CDs with me. More recently it seems dealers no longer have CDPs in the demo room. I get handed an i-pad and accept my demo will use canned music, even though I don't stream at home.

For people who do stream it is easy to take a USB stick with a selection of music, to plug in or easily transferred to the dealer’s system if he doesn't have on his already (of course to be deleted when you leave).

But maybe these days one has to check first what sources the dealer has. It would be a siMple matter to take one’s own CD player - and highly desirable anyway if the dealer doesn't have an identical model. Ditto streamer, potentially at least, but probably not so TT.

When I recently auditioned DACs I took my Mac Mini (and RF isolator) with me, so it was on my own renderer, so I had all my music to choose from! 

God, I feel sooooo out of date.........

........my demo choices are all on 12” vinyl !!!!

I have heard of mp3 devices but don’t really understand them, and what I have heard didn’t sound too clever to my ears. And when my dealer has used his I-pad or whatever, he can’t always get the tracks that I would like to hear, or his “device” freezes up. And this “freezing” up has happened at two Naim demos that I attended in the past 12 months !

I do have back-up demo music on CD, 7½ tape and cassette but presumably theses are also a bit old fashion ?

The dealers playing from tablets, in my limited experience, have been using them to control streaming devices playing non-lossy digital files, so reference to a phone or tablet doesn’t therefore mean mp3, and indeed I doubt ever would with a Hifi dealer trying to sell decent gear.

I insist on wax cylinder recordings for all demos.  It cuts out all electronic distortion from the recording process.

It can even swallow the artist from time to time, if they are not up to standard.

My last one was a couple of weeks ago and it was almost compulsory to bring my own music along, which was easy to do - select a selection of styles and drop them as FLACs from the NAS onto a mem stick, which was in the 272 before you could say hat when I got there.

It took about 3 seconds to establish that a) I know how to use the app, b) ditto the streamer and c) that I'll be fine left to it on my own thanks hugely. Except for a brief interruption to deliver the coffee and another to check on one of my tracks, and occasional requests for the dealer to swap things about that was it for couple of hours doing back to back comparisons. Volume was entirely personal choice - it's useful to be able to check out the kit at various levels. The same thing happened at a different dealer with the speakers; here's a coffee, the iPad - give us a shout when you want to swap over to a different pair. I can't imagine the volume and everything else being the choice of the demonstrator.

My last visit  listening to Neats and Harbeth C 7 it took me a while to adjust my ears because it was all new equipment;ment as we talked and showing me the app.  The music was contemporary jazz, not what I cared for, when he plugged in the C7s there was a major difference.  Then I found on a compilation record for movie Almost Famous, the Allman Bros and that was so clear and gave a good complex rock  sound stage.  I think everyone should take a couple CDs of their own that they can easily spot good and bad points in a speaker or system.  I've heard systems that were too edgy and detailed, I'd get fatigue very easily.  Naim has done it right.

mudwolf posted:

My last visit  listening to Neats and Harbeth C 7 it took me a while to adjust my ears because it was all new equipment;ment as we talked and showing me the app.  The music was contemporary jazz, not what I cared for, when he plugged in the C7s there was a major difference.  Then I found on a compilation record for movie Almost Famous, the Allman Bros and that was so clear and gave a good complex rock  sound stage.  I think everyone should take a couple CDs of their own that they can easily spot good and bad points in a speaker or system.  I've heard systems that were too edgy and detailed, I'd get fatigue very easily.  Naim has done it right.

I think this neatly explains the i portance of taking some music you are familiar with (or checkling the dealer has) - and covering the range of types of music you like, as some systems seem only to work well with limited types.

Innocent Bystander posted:

mudwolf posted:

My last visit  listening to Neats and Harbeth C 7 it took me a while to adjust my ears because it was all new equipment;ment as we talked and showing me the app.  The music was contemporary jazz, not what I cared for, when he plugged in the C7s there was a major difference.  Then I found on a compilation record for movie Almost Famous, the Allman Bros and that was so clear and gave a good complex rock  sound stage.  I think everyone should take a couple CDs of their own that they can easily spot good and bad points in a speaker or system.  I've heard systems that were too edgy and detailed, I'd get fatigue very easily.  Naim has done it right.

I think this neatly explains the i portance of taking some music you are familiar with (or checkling the dealer has) - and covering the range of types of music you like, as some systems seem only to work well with limited types.

I was lucky that a while back a friend of a friend left his NDX and HDX with me while he was moving house, with the intention I’d keep them powered up, I got to listen to them in my system, so that when I moved to hard drive and then streaming I’d already had home demos. My Uniti Atom/Nova demo was thus the first I’d done since my 1993 upgrades. Back then I always took my own CDs and LPs along. for the Uniti I trusted the dealer to have some music I’d know and like on their NAS, they did, but if I were to think about an ND555 I might take a NAS with me just in case.

Equipment demos at the dealer are done at our preferred volume. Roadshows, dealer invitation events, and a factory visit have all been  characterised to date by being way too loud. I am confident that I would only get away with that sort of sound pressure at home if my neighbours were deaf/dead/out/several hundred metres distant. 

Maybe another reason is that dealer's rooms are generally heavily damped with acoustic panels, unlike typical domestic situations. Perhaps the music would otherwise sound dead if they didn't play it loud.

As was once pointed out to me, you can interpret distortion as "too loud', whereas undistorted,  loud  music can be enjoyable. In this case, I  didn't realize just how loud  the  music was  until  I tried to speak  to the dealer.