PS Audio terminates all Dealers in the USA

[Masterlu]

[timm]

This decision to me just hurts the customer. Only masterlu could answer - but it would seem like there was a lot of wiggle room on PSA equipment to either allow the dealer to make more profit per transaction or to give the customer a better price and sell more volume. This was of their own making wasn’t it?

I made the same point on their website - especially in regards to speakers. I drove 5 hours to listen to Maggie 20.7s and would not have purchased unless I heard them for all of the reasons masterlu mentioned. I’m not buying a 15k ‘we’ll see’ product. Especially one that is essentially impossible to move / crate / get a shipper to pick up / taking a day off to do it... I mean the list goes on and on. It’s one thing to commit to a large speaker. It’s another thing to wonder about the logistics to either get it in the house...down the steps... setup...possibly needing to get help - only to find it’s not for you.

If ted smith leaves - and I know he’s not an employee...I’ll cry.

[Vintage Pete]

I don't think this is a good move but what do I know?

[Allman779]

Originally Posted by telematic

It looks like High End audio market is dying.

I have no experience with PS Audio but i’ve seen other dealers/manufactures/distributors providing horrible service or lack of it, a friend mentioned to me he was absolutely shocked given the extreme prices of products and the amateurism showed. It’s imo going downhill compared to 5/10 years ago (i’m talking Europe not USA)I wish PS Audio all the best but these things usually don’t end up well or are born out of absolute necessity to survive, not a great position to be in.

[Catcher10]

It seems to me that PSA may have caused this issue for them, Paul is complaining about how his product was going to market. Well to me that is where he lost control of who was selling it, once it leaves his building he has lost control of how it gets sold by a wholesaler/re-seller or audio sales agent type business.

Keeping control of who sells your product is a 24/7 battle, that's where written agreements come into play. He may have found himself competing for his own business in some cases.

The internet has surely changed retail in a massive way, you could live in the boondocks in the middle of the mountains and still order a Sonos system or buy a pr of $20K speakers.

PSA products possibly will still be on Amazon or ebay or audiogon or craigslist.....For sure PSA will have to create an "Outlet" store on their site or use audiogon to sell what they will accumulate in the coming years, like an SVS does now.

I think they will do just fine........McIntosh went to Music Direct 2yrs ago?? I am a huge supporter of my local brick and mortar stores, but I buy as much online too from a selection point of view, the stores cannot stock everything. And we all want to save money especially sales tax which can approach 10% nowadays.

What PSA saves in sales commissions they will need to spend on going to audio shows to highlight their products, especially the new speakers. Today you need a few high end reviews on youtube and some raving magazine articles and sales should be fine.

But I am sure we will see.....I have no interest in his products, he seems to not be to analog friendly in his old age

[TimF]

Tough on the dealers for sure that will lose PSA, but lets not roll them in the hole in the ground and start filling it in with the dirt. They aren't dead yet. In the end, it just might end up being a really good thing. One never knows!

[Poppyhome]

I haven't bought audio from B&M in years — only on-line, forums like this, A'goN, and so forth. So after thinking about this, because of the changing scope of business in today's marketplace, there's a good chance it could work out with proper logistics management in place.

Ron

[godwinaj]

The more I think about this the more bizarre it seems to me.

My company sells and services two-way radios, mostly Hytera and Kenwood. I see a lot of parallels between us and the Hi-Fi business. Mostly in the fact that the manufactures are blind to how unaware the general user base is to their product unless your Motorola, which I'd say is analogous to a brand like McIntosh. People that are "in the industry" or are avid hobbyists know who the brands are and what's happening. But most of the people we work with are masters of their own business realm. Maintenance and Plant managers don't know what DMR Pseudo trunking is, and they don't care. They just want to push the big button on the side and have their people hear them.

So, for a brand how do you get exposure? You go to a dealer. Unless you already have instant brand recognition like Motorola or McIntosh or B&W or Tesla the general population isn't going to know who you are.

For me even, who has always been interested in Hi-Fi my first set of speakers were B&W. It was the brand I knew. When I wanted to upgrade I went to listen to more B&W speakers. I purchased my 703 because that is what the dealer had. Then when I wanted to upgrade again, B&W wasn't carried by that dealer any more. So I went to a different dealer and listened to B&W, Focal, Dynaudio, Magico, Paradigm, and a bunch of others. I never would have purchased Focal 936 or Dynaudio Special 40 if my dealer didn't have those. Even though every review I read loved them.

[Poppyhome]

Who is Tesla?

Ron

[bart]

Originally Posted by Poppyhome

Who is Tesla?

Ron

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla