Upscale Audio

mhardy6647

Not to derail the thread but I would love to see your list of tube vendors. The more the better.

Here's a post from this very forum on the topic (not mine):
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=777963&postcount=34

I cannot vouch for all of the dealers mentioned above, but I'd also recommend:
http://pages.prodigy.net/jimmcshane/
http://members.aol.com/etetubes/

Now, y'all can get back to bustin' Kevin's chops...

W WALDECKER

I have bought a couple of tube preamplifiers and several small Signal tubes from Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio and he seemed very friendly and helpful at all times. I have heard from others that he was short with them but this was never the case when i have done business with Kevin Deal.Kevin even knocked a few bucks off of the price of one of the preamps after i asked him to.I would certainly deal with Upscale in the future....WCW III

treitz3

mhardy6647 wrote: »

............but I'd also recommend:
http://pages.prodigy.net/jimmcshane/
http://members.aol.com/etetubes/

Thank you, I just added it to the list.

I-SIG

Upscale tried to call this afternoon. I meant to sent them to voicemail, but I hit the wrong button and hung-up on them. They didn't call back. Oh well...

Wes

asindc

polkatese wrote: »

my two cents, I spoke with him a couple times in the past, I agree with you. he gives me the impressions that he doesn't need my business. And, he would asked questions that has nothing to do with the subject I am calling about. I was sensing that he sort of *qualifying* the seriousness of my intent to purchase (as in don't waste my time if you are just shopping around)*. I ended up driving to San Diego, and bought it from the other guy, who are more willing to patiently answer and let me auditioned his merchandise. Hey, if you are going to spend that kind of dough, you deserve a bit more service, no?

I had the same experience with him a few months ago. I hung up shaking my head, wondering why so many people find him pleasant to deal with. Bottom line, unless he has a hard-to-find item I'm looking for or an outstanding deal too good to pass up, I'll look elsewhere.

LuSh

I don't know the person or store in question but I can tell you one thing, you won't be in the retail business long if you give final prices over the phone in regards to just about every product on the market. I suspect your local car dealer won't give you the best price plus financing over the phone either. Final prices over a phone are a death wish as about 99% of us will use it as a bench mark and shop elsewhere in search of price. Perhaps he was afraid of this as well. I would have been.

dorokusai

I like Kevin and have bought a handful of things from him. He's curt, to the point and doesn't like to answer **** questions like...."Um, what tubes would you suggest I roll in this...?"

He hates that question. Why, because he feels you should listen to the gear before you go swapping tubes in and out of it and I couldn't agree more.

That being said, the more stuff I bought from him the much cooler he became and he was uber cordial at CES when Russman and I met him for some BS'n. I've had callbacks and nothing but a positive experience with him personally so if he pisses you off, screw him, go somewhere else.

Imagine how many calls he gets on a daily basis? Sure, it's his job but just reading and typing the same response on this FORUM makes me want to go postal sometimes....at least I can ignore most of that stuff now.....he can't.

mulveling

dorokusai wrote: »

I like Kevin and have bought a handful of things from him. He's curt, to the point and doesn't like to answer **** questions like...."Um, what tubes would you suggest I roll in this...?"

He hates that question. Why, because he feels you should listen to the gear before you go swapping tubes in and out of it and I couldn't agree more.

That's great, but you don't have to pay dealer premium to know personal preference plays a big role. I buy from two places: audiogon/forums, and a local hifi dealer. Audiogon to try as much gear as possible without bleeding much money, because of that darn personal preference thing. The local dealer, I trust their ears, and I feel that their preferences match up closely with mine. They've helped point me in a different (and better) direction a few times. So, I can actually get a useful answer if I were to ask a question like that. They also do a great job setting up turntables, restoring vintage gear, have great consignment sales, have tested old tubes for free, etc. That's a ton of added value, enough to warrant certain purchases there over audiogon. Let others try to figure out what value phone-up places like Upscale add, I haven't quite figured it out yet

dorokusai

I don't place any added value in places that I deal with on the phone as I do my research before hand...otherwise I wouldn't be calling.

Prima Luna is where they are today do to the relationship with Kevin and that speaks well of his business and the product. He has the ability to run large ads in major magazines so that's also a testament to his business accumen. His CES room is one of the busiest at the show so he must be doing something right in the end. Hey, you can't please everyone, especially in this ridiculous hobby.

I hope that when/if I move up into that role that I can be as successful and perhaps bring a kinder, gentler sales approach at the same time. I don't know if I'll do business with him again as I've made more contacts since then but rock on.

beardog03

dorokusai wrote: »

I like Kevin and have bought a handful of things from him. He's curt, to the point and doesn't like to answer **** questions like...."Um, what tubes would you suggest I roll in this...?"


That being said, the more stuff I bought from him the much cooler he became

Imagine how many calls he gets on a daily basis? Sure, it's his job but just reading and typing the same response on this FORUM makes me want to go postal sometimes....at least I can ignore most of that stuff now.....he can't.

dorokusai wrote: »

I don't place any added value in places that I deal with on the phone as I do my research before hand...otherwise I wouldn't be calling.

Prima Luna is where they are today do to the relationship with Kevin and that speaks well of his business and the product. He has the ability to run large ads in major magazines so that's also a testament to his business accumen. His CES room is one of the busiest at the show so he must be doing something right in the end. Hey, you can't please everyone, especially in this ridiculous hobby.

I hope that when/if I move up into that role that I can be as successful and perhaps bring a kinder, gentler sales approach at the same time. I don't know if I'll do business with him again as I've made more contacts since then but rock on.

I have to agree...

I have spoke with Kevin a few times and done a few deals with him...

he`s a great guy and really loves what he does, and what he sells...

that being said, he does get a bazillion calls with the same questions all day everyday, and as Mark will attest, when someone asks the question and you try to answer or give advise/opinion, and they don`t listen /get it, or whatever, and it becomes a waist of both your times....it sometimes becomes difficult to not let the next one in line get some residual from the previous conversation...

especially if the conversation starts going in the same direction as the last

Kevin has done me well....and made his off of mine
..... and I will continue to work with him when I can work something out in a solid way....sometimes when dealing with vendors, or buyers, one gets an impression of the other that is not always a true representation...at the time

call back and pick up where the conversation left off, but if you are not ready to do business at the time of the call, it may be seen as just another waist of time....for someone to take their new found insight and use it else where.....and that`s bad for business....

and that`s ultimately what it is....business

just my .02

Cary on !!

I-SIG

I guess there's something I'm not understanding:

I'm ready to spend X amount of money and make it known to the retailer.

The retailer advertises the retail price of an item but states that the deal of a lifetime is waiting to be made on an open-box item, barely used, specifically the item I'm interested in.

I call said retailer and all he talks about is retail pricing and how it's going up without nailing down a price when the retailer knows I'm ready to spend some cash.

Again, please tell me how I'm supposed to make an informed decision as a consumer and audiophile?

Wes

dorokusai

It was your experience and your golden opportunity to ask questions and seek answers....how are we supposed to expound upon that exactly? I can only offer my experience and its nothing but positive. And they called back....

Good luck in your next dealings with an online retailer is about all I can offer.

beardog03

Did you ask him that ?

Not being a smart a$$, bro...just trying to figure out why he hasn`t made an offer to hook you up..

seems like he is undecided and trying to keep up with the rising costs of gear

have you spoken to him since then ?

W WALDECKER

I-SIG wrote: »

I guess there's something I'm not understanding:

I'm ready to spend X amount of money and make it known to the retailer.

The retailer advertises the retail price of an item but states that the deal of a lifetime is waiting to be made on an open-box item, barely used, specifically the item I'm interested in.

I call said retailer and all he talks about is retail pricing and how it's going up without nailing down a price when the retailer knows I'm ready to spend some cash.

Again, please tell me how I'm supposed to make an informed decision as a consumer and audiophile?

Wes

Maybe Kevin thought that you were just Kicking tires and not Ready to buy something?

asindc

dorokusai wrote: »

I like Kevin and have bought a handful of things from him. He's curt, to the point and doesn't like to answer **** questions like...."Um, what tubes would you suggest I roll in this...?"

He hates that question. Why, because he feels you should listen to the gear before you go swapping tubes in and out of it and I couldn't agree more.

That being said, the more stuff I bought from him the much cooler he became and he was uber cordial at CES when Russman and I met him for some BS'n. I've had callbacks and nothing but a positive experience with him personally so if he pisses you off, screw him, go somewhere else.

Imagine how many calls he gets on a daily basis? Sure, it's his job but just reading and typing the same response on this FORUM makes me want to go postal sometimes....at least I can ignore most of that stuff now.....he can't.

Well in my case, I called about a specific item that was listed online as "call for price." Upon asking for a price, Kevin began trying to sell me on the item for about 5 minutes (which I didn't mind much because, after all, it's his business). Then he asked me how much I was willing to pay. I hadn't expected that question since, as I noted above, the website directed one to call get a price from him. I replied by quoting something around 10% higher than the item can be bought for on A'gon. He said there is no way he could sell it for that price. I then asked, ok, what price can you sell it for? He then goes back into sell mode for another 5 minutes, at which point I gave him another (higher) offer. Oh, there's no way he could sell it for that much! Ok, then HOW MUCH? I never did get an answer from him.

To sum it up, I felt like he gave me the run-around, not the other way around. I am sincerely glad for you, however, that you have had good dealings with him. I can only relate my one experience with him, which was unlike any other experience I've had with an online retailer when calling them over the phone. I haven't ruled out dealing with him again, but I won't be as patient next time. If I'm calling to get a price after being instructed to do so, I expect to get a price. Maybe that's unreasonable of me.:rolleyes:

dorokusai

Hey, he's not the only dealer on the planet, take your money elsewhere.....I have. Simple.

dragon1952

The guy's obviously dealing like a used car salesman. It's like when you go in and they ask you what kind of payments you're looking at. I always say "$100 a month". Their expression is usually priceless. My brother told me about a guy that came in once looking at a used Thunderbird. They asked him that question and he goes , "...I don't know....$275 a month ?" This was probably 15 yrs ago so of course they could get him into it for that. This guy often deals with people that have a lot of money so I'm sure he gets some favorable answers to that question. Especially advertising at A'gon. He knows if he holds out someone will eventually hit the magic number. Underwood Hi-Fi doesn't pull that ****.

candyliquor35m

Money talks, BS walks (ie if you don't have the best prices on the net then you better have the best CS on the net or the business will dry up).

asindc

dorokusai wrote: »

Hey, he's not the only dealer on the planet, take your money elsewhere.....I have. Simple.

Already there. My second post was basically in response to those, like yourself, who have had good dealings with Upscale Audio and were implying that others had not because they were not serious buyers and Kevin must have picked up on that. I'm just giving other readers of the thread another perspective on what they might experience, precisely because he is not the only dealer on the planet.

BTW, if my experience had been positive I would have said that as well.

dorokusai

Amen.