Milwaukee audio shop

sucks2beme

I had to kill a little time before going back into work today.
I looked up some audio shops in Milwaukee, and found one open on Sunday am.
Lev's audio. The owner greeted me and sat me down in front of a Conrad Johnson
pre/power with an Arcam cdp, and Dynaudio speakers.
Another customer popped back in bearing several albums and cd's.
He had matching sets of cd/albums so he could a/b them.
The owner synced them up so he could listen to the difference in
sound. that was interesting. One was not a very good vinyl.
The others were very good. The vinyl was warmer sounding.
The cds, of course, had much more in the way of highs.
He was sold. He worked out a deal on a TT and phone amp.
I was quite thrilled listening. The turntable brand escapes me
(senior moment) but the C/J setup with the Dynaudio booksheves were
VERY good. He asked me about my setup. And then he told me it sucked!
He's not much of an Audio Research fan. He definately knew gear.
He is right. I need to lose the Parasound pre and get my gear straight.
The AR sounds good to me, but the C/J is better. Either way,
a different pre is in my future.
Nothing like a high end shop to get the juices flowing!

AndyGwis

Sounds good, but expensive.

Reminds me of when I got my first real HT setup and popped on the forum for the first time for some advice. Most were nice enough to say "great setup," "you did well," etc. But, when I asked for some upgrade ideas, everyone immediately said "get new speakers" even though mine were about 48 hours old.

I think listening to the high end gear is helpful, if only to figure out what your current gear might be missing and point you in the right sonic direction. Of course, the best would be listening to high end gear and deciding you like your own gear's sound better. That would be a great milestone.

wingnut4772

Did he really say it sucked? That's not nice. There are better ways for him to say you could upgrade and remember, it's in his best interest to do so.

crossroads

They all will say that if you own different equipments than the one they're selling.

AndyGwis

Yeah, but they should break it to you differently rather than putting you down to get a sale.

They could have just as easily had said, "Parasound / Acoustic Research. . . I've always found their gear to be a bit <insert mild insult here> but that's just me. I think <insert gear they sell here> is a bit more refined and natural sounding. How do you feel they compare?"

venomclan

If a dealer told me that anything "sucked", I would find the nearest exit. Being in sales, I learned a long time ago that putting down a competitor is the fastest way to lose a sale. It is basically telling you that their product has no other ground to stand on then trashing everyone else.

While I would not compare a Bose Wave radio to the Wilson Watt Puppies, a dealer should have plenty more arsenal then saying "XYZ sucks".

I also find dealers putting down the "Giant Killer" products because how can they explain that their product at many times the price cannot compete?

That dealer "Sucked". Go back and tell him after given his advice, you decided on a brand new Ipod.
V

cfrizz

I would have walked out on the snobby SOB! If he can't encourage me to upgrade without putting down my gear, he doesn't deserve my business!

Everyone wants to start at the top of the heap, but then reality kicks in & you get what sounds good to you within your means.

Parasound makes extremely good gear & isn't anything to sneeze at.

What a jerk!

venomclan

P.S. What Parasound pre was he dissing?

The guy I bought my Gallos from was head of the local audio society and knows a $hitload about the hobby, for decades now. Though he uses tubed MF gear, TT, Eminent Tech speakers, he uses a Parasound amp.
V

WilliamM2

They all will say that if you own different equipments than the one they're selling.

Agreed. Reminds me of when I bought my SDA1C's. There were two audio shops in town, and I had been going to the Polk dealer to check out the SDA's. They had been telling me that SDA's were the best speaker they carried at any price range, and there was no way they could offer any sort of discount.

When I went to purchase them a month later, they no longer sold polks, and the very same salesman told me they dropped Polk, because of poor quality, and that the SDA effect was just a gimmick! Worked out well for me, as the other dealer had picked up Polk, and promptly offered me $450 off on the SDA1C's.:D

sucks2beme

I didn't mean to give a negative impression of what happened.
We had a long talk about gear prior to this and had done a lot of listening.
He did not like the Parasound p/sp100 pre. His take is, why build your system
around mid fi gear. I already knew that was a weak link. He did qualify his
take on AR as premium priced gear that doesn't perform to it's cost.
His take is build a good system based on good matching components.
There can be no doubt that Conrad Johnson is good stuff. That's the main reason
I went was to give it a listen.
I didn't word that part very well. Too much time at work that weekend.
He said somehting else that stuck in my head. Buy the best sounding equipment
you can afford. It doesn't matter if its tube or SS.
Better a good SS than a crappy tube setup.
He was a straight shooter and knew all brands of gear well, his and others.
And I got to spend time with some gear that is hard to get your ear on.

madmax

sucks2beme wrote: »

He asked me about my setup. And then he told me it sucked!

Don't let anyone tell you that! This is a journey and this guy is only a salesman. He needed to find out what you were missing and try to fill that position, not make this sort of blanket statement. If you look real hard I bet you find some things your system does better than what you were listening to there. Just the way it is.
madmax

cfrizz

EFFF HIM!
If you have the snob money than fine, go for it if not, he can go to hell!

sucks2beme wrote: »

He did not like the Parasound p/sp100 pre. His take is, why build your system around mid fi gear.[/QUOTE]