NAD.... what the hell

dave shepard

I just got the word that NAD will be pulling their lines out of distribution and will not be selling thru our B&M stores and will be going to the so called much bigger places like Amazon and Crutchfield and the like. One store I was at yesterday had told me that. He was not at all happy at all with their desition to pull their lines out of distribution and he is now looking to replace it with something else and is looking at B&K and/or Integra lines.
I think NAD is making a BIG mistake because where is anybody going to listen to and see their units to see if it is something that will work for them I guess we have those higher educated "Bean Counters" to thank for that. In a time where it is hard enough to make a sale and living now things are just going to continue to get harder.

Dave

Knucklehead

Internet sales seem to be where its at.....come to think of it.....Every peice of gear I have except my Allied Receiver was found on or bought off of the inter-web.

cnh

I have to agree...that will put them in a 'niche' market. Only those of us who have ever heard one of their units will actually 'know' what they sound like.

Bummer....there are fewer and fewer places to demo stuff these days!

cnh

hearingimpared

cnh wrote: »

I have to agree...that will put them in a 'niche' market. Only those of us who have ever heard one of their units will actually 'know' what they sound like.

Bummer....there are fewer and fewer places to demo stuff these days!

cnh

Indeed. They are making a big mistake. I first heard NADs at Bryn Mawr Stereo back in the '80s and purchased two 2200 PEs. I've since purchased two more NAD items based on that demo over 25 years ago and have made the right choice. They need to keep the younger generation as well as the old timers able to audtion their gear as it has a house sound that is different than their competition.

BottomFeeder

Yeah, disappointing, but not all that surprising. We've got a local company that sells tons of audio equipment and the vast majority is sold online.

Sign 'o the times.

comfortablycurt

Unfortunately, the internet is where the future is at for these products. There just isn't enough of a wide spread demand for them.

Every piece of gear in my rig was purchased sight unseen over the internet.

Face

Yeah, who's going to buy a $6,200 NAD M2 from Amazon?

polktiger

Just as well for me. The only authorized dealer around here is open Monday - Friday 10am to 5 pm. Its not like I am going to take vacation time to check it out for a price that is full retail with a store credit only return policy. I would order from Crutchfield, try it out, in home with my gear. If I don't like it, I can ship if back for a refund. Sure its still full retail, but it is a heck of a lot more accessable than our local brick and morter authorized dealer.

mdaudioguy

hearingimpared wrote: »

Indeed. They are making a big mistake. I first heard NADs at Bryn Mawr Stereo back in the '80s and purchased two 2200 PEs. I've since purchased two more NAD items based on that demo over 25 years ago and have made the right choice. They need to keep the younger generation as well as the old timers able to audtion their gear as it has a house sound that is different than their competition.

Yeah, but where are those stores now? I'd love it if there were more places like that, but even Tweeter - before they closed - didn't even have half of their gear setup or working properly. It wasn't the highest end stuff, but who's gonna spend thousands on stuff they can't even demo? I was always excited to go check their product out, but often left there shaking my head. I just don't think that business model works today.

hearingimpared

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Yeah, but where are those stores now? I'd love it if there were more places like that, but even Tweeter - before they closed - didn't even have half of their gear setup or working properly. It wasn't the highest end stuff, but who's gonna spend thousands on stuff they can't even demo? I was always excited to go check their product out, but often left there shaking my head. I just don't think that business model works today.

Yep, it's like buying a car sight unseen. I know I wouldn't buy one if I couldn't test drive it.

I have purchased audio gear such as the VTL 5.5 preamp without an audition. I hated it and had to resell it but that I believe was due to synergy issues.

For the most part these days, I use a brick & mortar store that is about two hours away from me where I can bring home a demo of the piece of gear, I am interested in, and listen to it in my rig for a week. No shipping costs, no dealing with customer service for RA numbers, no need to bring the unit (and some are damned heavy) to the Post Office, just the price of gas. It's a shame that the brick & mortar stores are going the way of the doo doo bird.

Another plus is that I can sit and BS with the owner about all kinds of things and spend the whole day checking out all different kinds of gear.

Just an after thought, I went there one time, having done my reseach and talking to a friend or two who owned a particular piece of gear that I had my heart set on only to have the owner of the store talk me into a much less expensive piece and let me take a demo home to listen to in my rig. I purchased it and have never looked back.

mdaudioguy

hearingimpared wrote: »

Yep, it's like buying a car sight unseen. I know I wouldn't buy one if I couldn't test drive it.

Sounds crazy, but I recently did just that! I was familiar with the brand - my third Mitsubishi in a row - and I sat in a base model Eclipse to ensure I was comfortable, but I had no interest in driving it, 'cause I knew it wouldn't perform like I wanted. They didn't have the model/color I wanted anywhere in the state, but found one in Delaware. Had it transferred to MD and signed the papers before I even drove it! Call me crazy, but I just knew I'd like it and I've been driving it for 4 months and LOVE it!

So, where's this audio store you frequent?

hearingimpared

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Sounds crazy, but I recently did just that! I was familiar with the brand - my third Mitsubishi in a row - and I sat in a base model Eclipse to ensure I was comfortable, but I had no interest in driving it, 'cause I knew it wouldn't perform like I wanted. They didn't have the model/color I wanted anywhere in the state, but found one in Delaware. Had it transferred to MD and signed the papers before I even drove it! Call me crazy, but I just knew I'd like it and I've been driving it for 4 months and LOVE it!

So, where's this audio store you frequent?

Bensalem, PA - Quest for Sound. Phil (pearsall001) and I have been planning a road trip there soon, if you'd like to tag along you are most welcome as you don't seem to be to far from where I live.

http://www.questforsound.com/index.htm

According to mapquest you are 1 hour and 45 minutes away from me.

mantis

hearingimpared wrote: »

Indeed. They are making a big mistake. I first heard NADs at Bryn Mawr Stereo back in the '80s and purchased two 2200 PEs. I've since purchased two more NAD items based on that demo over 25 years ago and have made the right choice. They need to keep the younger generation as well as the old timers able to audtion their gear as it has a house sound that is different than their competition.

You just took me back 20 years. I so miss Byrn Mawr Stereo and Video before the Tweeter days and even after.

As far as NAD is concerned , I have heard of this 2. We are a NAD dealer. I'm hoping as we have been for many many years. I hope we continue to sell their products as I love them. I was considering a T785HD upgrade or on those lines down the road after I get tired of the Pioneer (Not yet). There 2 channel stuff is amazing and on the lines of Rotel. I really like the way they sound, ugly as hell but if you close your eyes you have beautiful sounding gear.

hearingimpared

mantis wrote: »

You just took me back 20 years. I so miss Byrn Mawr Stereo and Video before the Tweeter days and even after.

As far as NAD is concerned , I have heard of this 2. We are a NAD dealer. I'm hoping as we have been for many many years. I hope we continue to sell their products as I love them. I was considering a T785HD upgrade or on those lines down the road after I get tired of the Pioneer (Not yet). There 2 channel stuff is amazing and on the lines of Rotel. I really like the way they sound, ugly as hell but if you close your eyes you have beautiful sounding gear.

Dan I was going to Bryn Mawr when they were just audio and long before they took on the name Stereo and Video. As a matter of fact, I puchased one of the first runs off the assembly line of SDA/SRSs back in 1984.

I was thoroughly disappointed when they sold out to Tweeter because I knew there was going to be a major change in how they did business and I was proven correct in my thinking.

inspiredsports

Face wrote: »

Yeah, who's going to buy a $6,200 NAD M2 from Amazon?

Some of us may not purchase high dollar items sight unseen, but those who were in their early teens in 1996 when Internet acceptance exploded don't know any different.

Bloggers with credibility make recommendations and provide links. Prospective buyers follow those links and buy. It's a brave new world. For one small example, I have been watching Lexus's on eBay for over 2 months and several $30+K cars sell every week.

I personally have a distributorship that sells 3 separate product lines 100% online with no brick and mortar retail presence. Only a physical warehouse is needed.

Polk addict

Well, I've never really seen or heard NAD, but if I had to buy a really high end receiver/amp, I would buy NAD, just cause' I hear you guys talking about them all the time...

Also, I barely heard my T15's for like 5 minutes before I bought them, because I knew they were Polk and I couldn't go wrong... The only thing I even considered besides them was something by JBL...