Quote:
Originally Posted by joey_v
If you want to see what happens when you don't control your pricing and protect your dealers - check out Cary Audio.
Good gear, I own their preamp...
But piss poor resale value. And I have no reason to buy them from a local dealer because of the ease of which you can call around to get the best deal.... hence, there are really no local dealers.
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It is a tough problem to protect the value of the product but to open up to a wider audience. I think Mcintosh and its affiliated brands have done a good job walking this fine line by opening up the lower end of products to online/phone sales and keeping the higher end dealer only...and as far as I can see Mcintosh resale values are very good even for the products that can be shipped. As a side note B&W products are available for online sales in their home market and other countries.
There are also a lot of people who take offense with these products being sold at BB Magnolia stores, but the way I see it this is a positive in getting the products visibility among mainstream customers. High end audio stores are a great avenue for audiophiles to purchase products, but not such a great avenue to reach a broader customer base which is important to stay in business. The ability of these companies to innovate and bring us the great products we all enjoy (at somewhat affordable prices) is predicated upon them being to sell some models at volume....the other option is for a brand to make great products but keep prices super high and unattainable to almost anyone (ie. magico, gryphon etc).
Most of the (bigger) audiophile brands have been purchased by venture capital firms, and other investors over the past few years. These investors main goal is to make profits, not the hobby. To keep the stream of new gear coming will require the opening up of new markets to satisfy the investors' return on capital. Also, there is now a competitor with very deep pockets, vast R&D capabilities, large distribution network and huge opportunities for synergistic sales (Samsung) with a big presence in this space, so other brands will have to aggressively seek out new customers while trying to hold on to their own.