Why do dealers always play demo music loud?

When I had my first Naim demo of 90/92 I took 10 CDs, a little overkill but I had never done this or knew what to expect. I was listening to my Gilbert&Sullivan recording from the movie and was obsessing on it.   I ended up blowing my budget to twice what I thought I'd buy hearing the Naim system and I needed everything.  I spent the next few months/years in absolute bliss.  The other 9 CDs were not needed...  It takes time for the ear and brain to adjust from one system to the other to hear advantages or disadvantages.

When I had my first Naim demo at Billy Vee back in 1988 I came away with an Exposure 6/7/8 comboand that went onto 15 years with exposure before finally going for @ NAP300 et al. Oh an£ my first LP12. Fab dealership.

I used them when I lived in South West :London. Not for Naim though. Good dealer.

Had a dealer once who you to dance around behind the sofa in the listening room and liked to play the music at loud volumes.  

Bl***y annoying after I told him his set up was s**t.

Never went back

Many years ago I went to a HIFI dealer on Goodge Street in London , to try out typical Naim components.  The person there was very enthusiastic about Naim and he put together a Naim system with Epos Speakers (the combination at that time was considered really popular and viewed by some as the 'real thing' ).  He played the music really loud and I asked him why was it so loud?  He replied thats how Naim was supposed to be played and thats how followers of Naim played their music.  At that time I think Naim still had chrome equipment and the sound was still very basic Naim, all PRAT no soundstage (sound not yet evolved). From that experience it nearly put me off Naim for life as the sound was hard, no warmth, it was enthusiastic but a pain to listen to it.  Despite the experience I went to another HiFi Dealer few years later who put together a slightly different system with Naim components and it was an opposite effect I liked it. Its remarkable how a different dealer may bring different results in experience.

I haven't been to Grahams for a while now (sorry guys !) but I used to have to ask Paul toincrease  the volume during most demonstrations !

So this "why do dealers always play music too loud"isn't  a universal issue !

That would be a rare, but savvy dealer. Start with the volume low and let the client determine their upper limit. The SQ should get better with increasing volume, to the listener's comfort level. Do it the other way round and you have a customer with potentially ringing ears then trying to handle a critical evaluation at lower dBs.

Chaps

Dealers who play music loud and tap their feet to the sound of the music are living in the 1970's and should retire now for the sake of the industry. It's old fashioned, corny and insults the intelligence of the customer.

Regards

Mick

Mick P posted:

Chaps

Dealers who play music loud and tap their feet to the sound of the music are living in the 1970's and should retire now for the sake of the industry. It's old fashioned, corny and insults the intelligence of the customer.

Regards

Mick

Not quite sure what the decade has to do with the sound level?

But a wildly tapping foot with one piece of equipment and not with another, especially with music that doesn’t have a prominent beat (or, worse, out of time with the beat!) is a sure indication of a con-merchant, so ignore everything he or she says, and maybe ask if they’ve seen a specualist about their foot...